Jennifer Armentrout - Onyx

“I know you didn’t do it on purpose, Kitten.” His hand pressed a soothing circle against my back. “Simon was drunk, so there’s a good chance he won’t even remember. And if he does, no one will believe him.”

Hope sparked. “You think?”

“Yes. People will think he’s crazy.” Daemon pulled back, lowering his head so we were eye level. “No one will believe him, okay? And if he starts to talk, I’ll—”

“You’ll do nothing.” I shimmied free, drawing a deep breath. “I think you’ve already scarred the boy for life.”

“Obviously not,” he muttered. “What were you thinking back there? You were upset. Why?”

Heat infused my cheeks, and I started walking toward my house.

Daemon let out a long, suffering sigh. He was right beside me. “Kat, talk to me.”

“I can make it back home without your help, thank you very much.”

He held a branch out of the way so I could pass under it. “I would hope so. It is right there.”

“Shouldn’t you be making out with Ash right now anyway?”

He stared at me like I’d grown two heads. I recognized my mistake immediately.

“That’s what all of this is about?”

“No. It had nothing to do with you—or her.”

“You’re jealous.” He sounded smug. “I’m so going to win this bet.”

I stomped forward. “Me? Jealous? You’ve lost your mind. I wasn’t the one trying to scare off Blake.”

He grabbed my arm, stopping me just as my porch came into sight. “Who cares about Ben?”

“Blake,” I corrected.

“Whatever. I thought you didn’t like me?”

My hand curled in the air. There was no breaking his hold. “You’re right. I don’t like you.”

Anger flared in his eyes. “You’re lying—blushing cheeks and all.”

The worst case of verbal diarrhea happened. “You were kissing me a few days ago and now you were having fun with Ash? Is this what you normally do? Jump from one girl to the next?”

“No.” He dropped my arm. “That’s not what I do. I don’t .”

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but you are doing it.” And so had I. What was I doing? I couldn’t be mad at him when I had done the same thing, but I was. It was ridiculous. “God, I am being such a whiny girl. Just forget I said anything. You can do whatever you want and I don’t have any right—”

Daemon cursed, dropping my arm. “Okay. You have no idea what was going on between Ash and me. We were only talking. She was messing with you, Kat.”

“Whatever.” I whirled around, walking again. “I’m not jealous. I don’t care if you and Ash make alien babies together. I don’t care. And honestly, if it weren’t for this stupid connection, you wouldn’t even enjoy kissing me. You probably already don’t.”

Daemon was suddenly in front of me. I took an involuntary step back. “Do you think I didn’t enjoy kissing you? That I haven’t thought about it every second since then? And I know you have. Just admit it.”

In the pit of my stomach, tight coils thrummed. “What is the point of this?”

“Have you?”

“Oh, for crap’s sake, yes, I have. I do! Do you want me to write it down for you? Send you an e-mail or a text? Will that make you feel better?”

Daemon arched a brow. “You don’t need to be sarcastic.”

“And you don’t need to be here. Ash is waiting for you.”

He cocked his head to the side in exasperation. “Do you really think I’m going to go to her?”

“Uh, yeah, I do.”

“Kat.” He shook his head, his voice a soft denial.

“It doesn’t matter.” I took a deep breath. “Can we just forget this? Please?”

Daemon smoothed a finger over his brow. “I can’t forget this and neither can you.”

Frustrated, I turned on my heel and stalked toward my house. I half expected him to stop me, but after a few successful steps away I realized he wasn’t going to. I had to fight turning around to see if he still stood there. I’d made enough of a fool of myself tonight. Kicked a hissy fit over Ash and Daemon, stormed out of the party, and nearly decapitated Simon. All of this before midnight.

Awesome.

Turning eighteen wasn’t as exciting as I’d thought it would be when I was a kid, but some pretty cool stuff happened. I made it most of the day not worrying over what had happened last night. Blake called to chat, and I received a shiny new laptop already set up with everything installed.

Before I did anything else, I logged into my blog and wrote a quick “I’m Back!” post. A huge chunk of my life that had been missing returned. Mom had to pull me away from the laptop pretty quickly, though. I spent the rest of the day traveling a great distance with Mom to meet Will at the nearest Olive Garden.

Will was the touchy, feely sort.

I wasn’t sure how to feel. Not once did he take his hand off my mother’s during dinner. It was cute, and he was charming and handsome, but it was just weird to see her with another dude. Weirder than I’d thought it would be. But he did give me a gift card to the local bookstore. Bonus points there.

The customary ice-cream cake was different this year. Will joined us at home for it.

“Here,” he said, taking the knife from Mom. “If you run it under hot water, it’s easier to use.”

Mom beamed up at him like he’d just discovered the cure for cancer. They chatted while I sat at the table, trying not to roll my eyes.

Will placed a slice in front of me. “Thank you,” I said.

He smiled. “No problem. I’m just glad you’re completely recovered from the flu. No one wants to be sick on their birthday.”

“I second that,” Mom said.

She didn’t take her eyes off him until it was near the time for her to get ready for her shift in Winchester. Will remained in the kitchen with me, finishing off the last of his cake while the silence between us grew to an awkward level of epic proportions.

“Have you been enjoying your birthday so far?” he asked, dangling the fork from his long fingers.

I swallowed the last of the crunchy part, which was the only section of the ice-cream cake I’d eat. “Yeah, it’s been really nice.”

Will picked up his glass, tipping it toward me. “Well, let’s toast to many more in the future,” he said. I picked up mine, clanging it off his. He smiled, crinkling the skin around his eyes. “I plan on being here to share them with you and your mother.”

Unsure of how to feel about him being here a year from now, I set my glass down and bit my lip. Part of me wanted to be happy for Mom, but the other part felt like I was betraying Dad.

Will cleared his throat, inclining his head to the side as he watched me. Amusement flickered in his eyes that were so pale, they were almost gray like mine. “I know you probably don’t like the sound of that. Kellie told me how close you were to your father. I can understand your reluctance to having me around.”

“I’m not reluctant to the idea,” I said honestly. “It’s just different.”

“Different isn’t bad. Neither is change.” He took a drink, glancing toward the door. “Your mom is a great woman. I thought that from the moment she came to work at the hospital, but it was the night you were attacked that things went from a professional working relationship to something more. I’m glad I could be there for her.” He paused, his smile spreading. “Strange how something good can come from something horrible.”

My brows furrowed. “Yeah…that is strange.”

His smile tipped higher, almost condescending. Mom returned, ending his totally weird attempt at bonding with me…or marking his territory. He stayed right up to the moment she left for work, sucking up her time. I went to the window, seeing them kiss before they got into separate cars. Gross.