And it wouldn’t be because Katy was human, but because I’d never taken Ash to the lake when we’d dated. The lake had been a sanctuary for just Dee, Dawson, and me since we moved here. Part of me couldn’t even believe that was the plan I’d come up with to spend the day with Katy. Thinking with the wrong head, most likely.

I reached down, sending a quick text back. Can’t.

Ash’s response was immediate. What are u doing?

Got stuff to do.

Walking over to my closet to grab a shirt, I smiled slightly when I saw her response. So? I’m bored. Entertain me.

Can’t.

I’d made it downstairs before she replied. You suck.

We have that in common then , I replied back.

UR an ass. Whatever. Go do ur STUFF.

Planned on it. Leaving my phone on the counter, I didn’t worry about locking up after I grabbed a towel and then left the house, heading toward…Kat’s.

Huh.

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I guess she was no longer “that girl” every time I thought of her. For some reason, I didn’t like the name Katy. It didn’t suit her. Kat did, I decided. So did Kitten. I smirked, recalling how much she hated that nickname.

Last night, I’d texted Dee and let her know what I was doing. Her series of exclamation points and shocked emoticons was a little on the excessive side. She would play along with the whole keys thing, but I wasn’t looking forward to the million questions she was going to have when she got home.

I wasn’t sure how today was going to end, either. The potential outcomes varied. Maybe I would get lucky and discover something about her that would steer Dee away. What, I had no idea, but damn I was hopeful.

Climbing the porch steps, I knew I was early when I banged on the door with a closed fist, but it amused me to keep her on her toes. A handful of moments passed and the door opened.

Kat appeared, her gray eyes wide as they met mine for a fleeting second.

“I’m a little early,” I told her.

“I can see.” She sounded like she was about to leave for a dental appointment. “Change your mind? You could always try lying.”

“I’m not a liar.” I was totally a liar right now.

“Just give me a second to grab my stuff.” Then she slammed the door in my face.

I coughed out a laugh. She really was like a prickly, pissed-off little kitten. A part of me actually wanted to show her I could be a nice guy. I hadn’t been an ass to her because of who she was—well, other than her being human. While she’d given as good as she’d gotten, though, I’d noticed the flickers of hurt in her eyes at being attacked for no reason. The whole situation was messed up. If I wasn’t mean to her, I could be putting us in danger, but being mean to her was upsetting as well. There was no win here for anyone.

She finally reappeared, careful to not brush against me as she stepped outside, closing the door behind her. I wondered what she had on under the shirt and shorts.

“Okay, so where are you taking me?” she asked, not looking at me.

“What fun would it be if you knew? You won’t be surprised then.”

We stepped off the porch and started down the driveway. “I’m new to town, remember? Everywhere is going to be a surprise for me.”

“Then why ask?” I raised a brow.

She bristled as I led her past the cars. “We aren’t driving?”

Picturing us trying to drive around the trees, I laughed. “No. Where we’re going, you can’t drive. It’s not a well-known spot. Most locals don’t even know about it.”

“Oh, I’m special, then.”

I looked over at her, studying her profile as we walked down the driveway, and I found that I had a hard time looking away. She was something all right. “You know what I think, Kat?”

She glanced over, catching me staring at her. The tips of her cheeks flushed. We passed the empty house at the end of the road. “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.”

“I think my sister finds you very special.” The next words came out without my really even thinking about it, but once I said them, I figured they were true. “I’m starting to wonder if she’s onto something.”

A humorless smile appeared on her lips. “But then there’s all kinds of special now, isn’t there, Daemon?”

I jolted at the sound of my name. Was this the first time she had said it? I liked the sound of my name on her tongue. Looking away, I exhaled slowly as I led her across the main highway and into the dense tree line on the other side of the road.

“Are you taking me out to the woods as a trick?” she asked.

I glanced over my shoulder at her, lowering my lashes. “And what would I do out here to you, Kitten?”

She didn’t reply immediately. “The possibilities are endless.”

I winked. “Aren’t they?”

She didn’t answer as she tripped through the thick brush, avoiding the mass of vines tangled along the floor of the woods. “Can we pretend we did this?”

Pretend to go on a walk with me? I blinked, speechless for probably the first time in like…ever. I was actually being nice right now. She didn’t like Dickhead Daemon and she didn’t like Nice Daemon? What the hell ever. My God, this girl had me coming and going so much, I didn’t know what I was thinking. Did I want to be nice to her now? Or was I just being nice to get closer to her and drive Dee away? Jesus, all this thinking about my feelings and hers was probably going to give me a period. “Trust me, I don’t want to be doing this, either.” I jumped over a fallen tree. Spinning around, I offered her my hand. “But bitching about it isn’t going to make it any easier.”




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