I didn't even know this guy.
Daemon's eyes narrowed. "Matthew, if you value the ability to walk, I wouldn't go there." Weirded out to the max, I stepped to the side. "I think I should go."
"I'm thinking Matthew should go," Daemon said, stepping in front of me, "unless he has another purpose other than sticking his nose where it doesn't belong."
Even Daemon couldn't block the revulsion in the man's stare. "I'm sorry," I said, voice wavering, "but I don't know what's going on here. We were just swimming."
Matthew's gaze swung on Daemon, who squared his shoulders. "It's not what you're thinking. Give me some credit. Dee hid my keys, forced me take her out to get them back." A hot flush swept through me. Did he really need to tell some dude I was a pity date?
And then the man laughed. "So this is Dee's little friend."
"That would be me," I said, crossing my arms.
"I thought you had this under control." He gestured toward me, sounding as if I were a homicidal clown standing next to Daemon.
"That you'd make your sister understand."
"Yeah, well, why don't you try to make her understand," Daemon retorted. "So far, I'm not having much luck."
Matthew's lips thinned. "Both of you should know better."
A crack of thunder startled me as they stared down at one another. Lightning streaked overhead, momentarily blinding. Once the light receded, dark, tumultuous clouds rolled in.
Energy crackled around me, flashing across my skin.
Then Matthew turned away, casting another dark look in my direction before heading inside Daemon's house. The moment the door slammed shut behind him, the clouds parted. I stared at Daemon, mouth hanging open.
"What...what just happened?" I asked.
He was already walking into the house, the door smacking off the frame once again like a shot in a canyon. I stood there, not sure what happened. I looked up at the clear sky. No trace of the violent storm. I'd seen that happen a hundred times in Florida, but what occurred seemed way too freakish. And thinking back to the lake, I wasn't sure what had happened, but I knew Daemon had been underwater far too long.
I also knew there was something not normal about him.
About all of them.
Dee called that night, and even though I wanted to tell her that my time with Daemon hadn't been all puppy dog tails and rainbows, I lied. I told her he was great. He earned his keys and then some. Otherwise, she might make him take me on another outing.
I almost felt bad for lying when she sounded happy.
The next week crawled by. I had endless time to dread the fact there was only a week and a half left before school started. Dee still hadn't come back from visiting family or whatever she was doing. Left alone and bored out of my mind, I'd gotten reacquainted with the Internet intimately.
It was early Saturday evening when Daemon unexpectedly showed up at my door, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. His back was to me, head tipped back as he stared up at the cloudless blue sky. A few stars were starting to appear but the sun wouldn't truly set for another couple of hours.
Surprised to see him, I walked outside. His head whipped down so fast I thought he would pull a muscle. "What are you doing?" I asked.
His brows slanted low. Several seconds passed and then his lip tipped up at one corner.
He cleared his throat. "I like staring at the sky. There's something about it." His gaze returned to the sky. "It's endless, you know." Daemon almost sounded deep. "Is some crazy dude going to run out of your house and yell at you for talking to me?"
"Not right now, but there is always later." I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.
"I'm okay missing 'later.'"
"Yeah. Busy?"
"Other than messing with my blog, no."
"You have a blog?" He faced me, leaning back against the post. Derision pinched his features.
He'd said blog like it was a crack habit.
"Yeah, I have a blog."
"What's your blog's name?"
"None of your business," I said, smiling sweetly.
"Interesting name." He returned my smile with a half grin. "So what do you blog about?
Knitting? Puzzles? Being lonely?"
"Ha. Ha, smartass." I sighed. "I review books."
"Do you get paid for them?"
I laughed out loud at that. "No. Not at all." Daemon seemed confused by that. "So you review books and you don't get paid if someone buys a book based on your review?"
"I don't review books to get paid or anything." Although that would be sweet, which reminded me I needed to get a library card. "I do it because I like it. I love reading, and I enjoy talking about books."
"What kind of books do you read?"
"All different kinds." I leaned against the post opposite of him, craning my neck back to meet his steady gaze. "Mainly I prefer the paranormal stuff."
"Vampires and werewolves?"
Man, how many questions could he ask?
"Yeah."
"Ghosts and aliens?"
"Ghost stories are cool, but I don't know about aliens. ET really doesn't do it for me and a lot of readers."
One single eyebrow arched. "What does it for you?"
"Not slimy green space creatures," I replied.
"Anyway, I also appreciate graphic novels, history stuff - "
"You read graphic novels?" Disbelief colored his tone. "Seriously?" I nodded. "Yeah, so what? Are girls not supposed to like graphic novels and comics?" He stared at me a long moment, then jerked his chin toward the woods. "Want to go on a hike?"
"Uh, you know I'm not good with the whole hiking thing," I reminded him.
A grin appeared. There was an edge to it.
Rough. Sexy. "I'm not taking you up on the Rocks. Just a harmless little trail. I'm sure you can handle it."
"Did Dee not tell you where your keys were?" I asked, suspicious.
"Yeah, she did."
"Then why are you here?"
Daemon sighed. "I don't have a reason. I thought I would just stop over, but if you're going to question everything, then you can forget it."
I watched him go down the steps as I chewed on my lip. This was crazy. I'd been dying of boredom for days. Rolling my eyes, I called out, "All right, let's do this."