Jennifer Armentrout - Obsidian

I stumbled for anything to say. “It’s beautiful out here.”

He watched me for a moment and then thankfully disappeared under the water. Water dripped down his face when he popped back up. Needing to cool my face off, I went under. The cold rush was invigorating, clearing my thoughts. Resurfacing, I pushed the long clumps of hair out of my face.

Daemon eyed me from a few feet away, his cheeks above the waterline and his breath blowing the occasional bubble to break the surface tension. Something in his gaze beckoned me closer.

“What?” I asked after a stretch of silence.

“Why don’t you come here?”

There was no way I was going near him. Not even if he dangled a cookie in his hand. Trust and his name didn’t go together. I twisted around, dipping under the water, heading for the rocks I’d seen in the middle of the lake.

I reached them in a few strong strokes and pulled myself out of the water, onto the warm, hard surface. I started squeezing the water out of my hair. He treaded water in the middle of the lake. “You look disappointed.” Daemon didn’t respond. A curious, almost confused look crossed his face. “Well…what do we have here?”

I dangled my feet into the water and made a face at him. “What are you talking about now?”

“Nothing.” He waded closer to me.

“You said something.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“You’re strange.”

“You’re not what I expected,” he said in a hushed voice.

“What does that mean?” I asked as he made a grab for my foot, and I moved my leg out of his reach. “I’m not good enough to be your sister’s friend?”

“You don’t have anything in common with her.”

“How would you know?” I shifted again as he reached for the other leg.

“I know.”

“We have a lot in common. And I like her. She’s nice and she’s fun.” I scooted back, completely out of his grasp. “And you should stop being such a dick and chasing off her friends.”

Daemon was quiet, and then he laughed. “You’re not really like them.”

“Like who?”

Another long moment passed. The water lapped around his shoulders, tiny ripples echoing from his chest as he pushed away.

Shaking my head, I watched him disappear under the water again. I leaned back and closed my eyes. The way the warmth of the sun fell against my upturned face, and the way the heat from the rock seeped through my skin, reminded me of dozing off at the beach. Cool water tickled my toes. I could stay here all day, basking in the sun. Minus Daemon, it would’ve been perfect.

I had no idea what he meant by the whole not like them or needing a friend like me. It had to be more than him being a psycho overprotective brother. Pushing up, I expected to see him floating on his back, but he had disappeared. I didn’t see him anywhere. I stood up, careful of the sloping rock, and scanned the lake, studying the twinkling surface for a mass of black, wavy hair.

I made another turn on the rock as unease bubbled in my stomach. Did he leave me here as a joke? But wouldn’t I have heard him?

I waited, thinking that any second he would break out of the water, lungs gasping for breath, but seconds turned into a minute, and then another. I kept searching the calm surface for any sign of Daemon, growing more frantic with each sweep of my eyes.

I dragged my hair behind my ears, cupping my hand against the harsh sun. There was no way he could’ve held his breath this long. No way.

My breath hitched, then turned to ice in my tight chest. This was wrong. I scrambled across the rock and peered down into the still water.

Had he hurt himself somehow?

“Daemon!” I screamed.

There was no response.

“Daemon!”

A hundred thoughts raced through my head. How long had he been under? Where had I seen him last? How long would it take for me to get help? I didn’t like Daemon, and yeah, I might have briefly considered the idea of drowning him, but I didn’t really wish the guy dead.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “This can’t be happening.”

I couldn’t afford to think anymore. I had to do something. Just as I took a small step to dive into the water, the surface heaved and Daemon burst from the water. Surprise and relief rushed through me, followed by the intense urge to vomit. And then hit him.

He levered himself onto the rock, the muscles of his arms popping from the strain. “Are you okay? You look a little freaked out.”

Snapping out of it, I grabbed his slippery shoulders in an effort to assure my queasy stomach he was alive and not brain damaged from lack of oxygen. “Are you okay? What happened?” Then I smacked his arm. Hard . “Don’t you ever do that again!” Daemon threw his hands up. “Whoa there, what is your problem?”

“You were under the water for so long. I thought you drowned! Why would you do that? Why would you scare me like that?” I hopped to my feet, dragging in a deep breath. “You were under the water forever .” He frowned. “I wasn’t down there that long. I was swimming.”

“No, Daemon, you were down there a long time. It was at least ten minutes! I looked for you, called for you. I…I thought you were dead.”

He climbed to his feet. “It couldn’t have been ten minutes. That’s not possible. No one can hold their breath that long.”

I swallowed. “You apparently can.”

Daemon’s eyes searched mine. “You were really worried, weren’t you?”

“No shit! What part of ‘ I thought you drowned’ don’t you under-stand?” I was shaking.

“Kat, I came up. You must not have seen me. I went right back down.”

He was lying. I knew it in every bone in my body. Was he just able to hold his breath for an extremely long time? But if that was the case, why wouldn’t he say so?

“Does this happen often?” he asked.

My gaze snapped back to his. “Does what?”

“Imagining things.” He waved his hand. “Or do you have a horrible issue with telling time.”

“I wasn’t imagining anything! And I know how to tell time, you jerk.”

“Then I don’t know what to tell you.” He stepped forward, which wasn’t very far on the rock. “I’m not the one imagining that I was underwater for ten minutes when it was like two minutes tops. You know, maybe I’ll buy you a watch the next time I’m in town, when I have my keys back.” For some stupid reason, one I would probably never know, I’d forgotten the reason why we were here. Somewhere between seeing him half naked and then thinking he was dead, I’d lost my mind.

“Well, make sure you tell Dee we had a wonderful time so that you can get your stupid keys back,” I said, meeting his eyes. “Then we won’t need a replay of today.”

The smug smile was plastered across his face. “That’s on you, Kitten. I’m sure she’ll call you later and ask.”

“You’ll have your keys. I’m ready—” My foot slipped over the wet rock. Thrown off balance, my arms flailed in the air.

Moving lightning fast, his hand shot out and grabbed mine, pulling me forward. The next thing I knew I was against his warm, wet chest and his arm was around my waist.

“Careful there, Kitten. Dee would be pissed at me if you end up cracking your head open and drowning.”

Understandable. She’d probably think he did it on purpose. I started to respond but couldn’t. There wasn’t much separating our skin in terms of clothing. My blood was pumping way too fast. It had to be the whole almost-drowning incident.

A strange edginess swamped me as we stared at each other, the slight wind brushed along wet skin that wasn’t pressed against one another, making the parts plastered together seem even hotter.