I halted. “Of course.”
“He’s been bringing you stuff to school.” Adam leaned his head back, eyes narrowed. “I’ve never seen him act like that with anyone. Not even my sister.”
“And you guys have been spending a lot of time together,” Dee added.
“So? You’ve been spending a lot of time with Adam.” As soon as it left my mouth, I realized how stupid that was.
Dee smiled, eyes glittering. “Yeah, and we’ve been having sex. Lots of it.”
Adam’s eyes went wide. “Wow, Dee, put it all out there like that.”
She shrugged. “It’s true.”
“Oh, geez, that’s not what’s happening here.”
Moving to the couch, she sat beside a red-faced Adam. “Then what is happening?”
Crap. I hated lying to her. “He’s been helping me study.”
“For what?”
“Trig,” I said quickly. “I suck at math.”
Dee laughed. “Okay. If you say so, but I hope you know that if you and my brother have something going on, I’m not going to be mad.”
I stared at her.
“And part of me understands why you two would keep it hidden. You guys are known for your word war and everything else.” She frowned. “But I just want you to know that I’m okay with it. It’s crazy and I hope Daemon is prepared for what’s going to happen, but I want him happy. And if you make him happy—”
“Okay. I got you.” So not a conversation I wanted to have with Dee in front of Adam.
She smiled. “I wish you’d reconsider doing Thanksgiving dinner with us. You know you’re welcome.”
“I seriously doubt Ash and Andrew would be happy with meat the table.”
“Who cares what they think?” Adam rolled his eyes. “I don’t. Neither does Daemon. And you shouldn’t either.”
“You guys are like a family. I’m not—”
Tingles spread over my neck. Without thinking, I spun around and raced across the room. Throwing open the door, I rushed out into the cold night air.
I didn’t even think.
Daemon had reached the top step when I rushed him, wrapping my arms around his neck, squeezing him tight.
He seemed stunned for a second, and then his arms swept around my waist. For several moments, neither of us spoke. We didn’t need to. I just wanted to hold him—for him to hold me. Maybe it was the connection wrapping us together. Maybe it was something infinitely deeper. At that moment, I didn’t care.
“Whoa there, Kitten, what’s going on?”
Burrowing closer, I drawled in a deep breath. “I thought the DOD carted you off to some lab to keep you in a cage.”
“Cage?” He laughed a bit unsteadily. “No. No cages. They just wanted to talk. It took longer than I thought. Everything’s okay.”
Dee cleared her throat. “Ahem.”
Stiffening, I realized what I was doing. Oh, so not cool. Disentangling my arms and wiggling out from his, I backed up and blushed. “I…I was just excited.”
“Yeah, I’d say you were,” Dee said, grinning like an idiot.
Daemon was staring at me like he’d just won the lottery. “I kind of like this level of excitement. Makes me think of—”
“Daemon!” both of us shouted.
“What?” He grinned, tousling Dee’s hair. “I was only suggesting—”
“We know what you were suggesting.” Dee darted out from underneath his hand. “And I really want to keep my food down tonight.” She smiled at me. “See. I told you. Daemon is fine.”
I could see that. He was also smokin’ hot, but back to the whole point. “They didn’t suspect anything?”
Daemon shook his head. “Nothing out of the norm, but they’re always paranoid.” He paused, his eyes searching mine in the dim light of the porch. “Really, you don’t need to worry. You’re safe.”
It wasn’t me I’d been worried about, and oh boy, that was bad. My sense of self-preservation was messed up. And I honestly needed to get out of here. “All right, I need to go home.”
“Kat…”
“No.” I waved him off, starting down the steps. “I really need to go home. Blake called and I need to call him back.”
“Boris can wait,” Daemon said.
“Blake,” I said, stopping on the sidewalk. Dee had wisely gone inside, but Daemon had moved to the edge of the porch. My thoughts, my emotions, felt overly exposed when I met his eyes. “They asked me a lot of questions—especially the lady.”
“Nancy Husher,” he said, frowning. A second later, he was standing before me. “She’s apparently a big deal within the DOD. They wanted to know what went down Halloween weekend. I gave them the Daemon-edited-version.”
“Did they believe you?”
He nodded. “Hook, line, and sinker.”
I shivered. “But it wasn’t you, Daemon. It was me. Or it was all of us.”
“I know, but they don’t know that.” His voice lowered as he cupped my cheek. “They won’t ever know that.”
My eyes closed. The warmth of his hand eased some of the fear. “It’s not me I’m worried about. If they think you blew a satellite out of orbit, they could see you as a threat.”
“Or they could just think I’m that awesome.”
“It’s not funny,” I whispered.
“I know.” Daemon moved closer, and before I knew it, I was in his embrace again. “Don’t worry about me or Dee. We can handle the DOD. Trust me.”
I let him hold me for a couple of moments, soaking up his warmth, but then I slipped free. “I didn’t tell that lady anything. And the damn phone rang as I was getting out of the car. She knew we were lying about why we were there.”
“They’re not going to care about us lying over the phone. They probably think we were out there getting it on or something. You don’t need to worry, Kat.”
Anxiety didn’t fade. It snaked through me. There had been something about Nancy. Calculating. As if a pop quiz had been sprung on us and we’d failed. I lifted my eyes, meeting his. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
He smiled. “I know.”
I could have stood there staring at his sparkling eyes all night, but something urged me to run as far away from him as quickly as I could. Something bad was going to come from all of this.
I turned and walked away.
Chapter 16
As expected, I spent the better part of Thanksgiving poking around the house alone. Mom really got shafted, pulling a double shift that took her out of the house from around noon Thursday until noon on Friday.
I could’ve gone next door. Both Dee and Daemon had invited me, but it didn’t feel right busting up their alien Thanksgiving. And from the amount of creepy peeping I was doing from my window every time I heard a car door close outside, I knew everyone showing up was secretly an ET. Even Ash arrived with her brothers, looking like she was going to a funeral rather than a dinner party.
Part of me didn’t like that she was there. Yeah, I was jealous. Stupid.
But I’d made the right call by not going.
I was an anxious wreck. Today alone, I’d tipped over the coffee table, shattered three glasses, and blew a lightbulb. Being with people probably wasn’t a good idea, but it would’ve been nice to lose myself in the holiday festivities for a little while. The only good thing was the fact my head didn’t feel like it was being ripped apart after the shenanigans.
Around six in the evening, I felt that now-oh-so-familiar tingle on the back of my neck right before Daemon knocked. A ball of confusing feelings unfurled inside me as I hurried to the door.
The first thing I noticed was the large box beside him, and then the scent of roasted turkey and yams.
“Hey,” he said, holding a stack of covered plates. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
I blinked slowly. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“You going to invite me in?” He held up the plates, wiggling them. “I come bearing gifts in the form of food.”
I stepped aside.