AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fear creeps upward in my gut, and I can’t help but check him surreptitiously for weapons under my eyelashes. Though I’m pretty sure the handle of an ax would be hard to miss without something more substantial than sweatpants and a t-shirt.
“Well, I wouldn’t say a full night’s sleep,” Kayde replies, a little bashful and a little teasing, as he answers Liza’s insinuation. “But I try not to keep her up all night. Judging by the sounds coming from your cabin though, I’d say you weren’t so considerate to poor Kins, were you?” His gaze is both direct and taunting, but I’m still trying to figure out where in the world he’s been so that he looks like he’s come straight from the lake.
God, I hope he wasn’t disposing of a body.
They trade a few more teasing barbs, and before I know it, Liza is tugging the bag of trash out of my hand and heading toward Otter Hall to start breakfast. Her grin in my direction is confusing, and I wonder what I’ve missed in my moment of panic, since there’s definitely something I’m not getting.
Kayde shifts closer to me, and with a jolt, I realize he’s no longer four or five steps away. Instead, he’s right in front of me, fingers tipping up my chin. “Would you like to stop checking me for blood and weapons now?” he purrs softly, all hints of that sweet, golden retriever facade gone with the trash in Liza’s hand.
“Hmm?” I ask, eyes wide and innocent as I look up at him. “Me? No, I?—”
“Baby girl, you’re so easy to read.” His voice is sharper than I expect, and I blink in surprise as he continues, “You think I’ve killed one of your precious goblins and sunk them in the lake. Would you like to check me a little more thoroughly for blood?” He casts a glance around before tugging me toward the trees, his grip on my wrist tight. By the time we’re not so easily noticeable from the cabins, Kayde has his shirt rucked up in one hand, and presses my palm against his skin with the other.
“Didn’t do anything to break our deal,” he breathes, dragging my hand over his chest, his stomach, and down to his hip. “Didn’t kill your kids, Summer. Stop looking at me like that.”
My nose scrunches in irritation, and I glare at him while sinking my nails into his hip, just to be petulant if he’s going to keep dragging my hand all over his warm, sun-kissed skin.
“Where were you?” I ask finally, searching his gaze. “Did you not sleep? You look—” He cuts me off by surging forward to kiss me, his lips forcing mine open before he thrusts his tongue between my teeth. It’s uncomfortable at first, with his unexpected aggression and the way he turns the kiss filthy in seconds. My hands find his shoulders, fingers digging into his shirt as I whimper my protests against his teeth.
One arm circles my waist, keeping me pressed to him with nowhere else to go. But then again, if I’m honest with myself, I’m not exactly fighting to get away. Not like I should be, anyway.
When Kayde pulls back, it’s only so he can gaze down at me, studying my face as he strokes a finger along my lower lip. “It’s none of your business where I was, sweetheart,” he murmurs at last, leaning forward to bump his nose affectionately against mine. “The more you know, the more dangerous it is for you.”
Goosebumps trail over my arms, and a shiver travels up my spine.
“I wasn’t being?—”
“You’re so nosy,” he croons playfully. “It’s what got you into this mess in the first place.” He seems more like the first time I’d met him, instead of the Kayde from last night, and it’s unnerving as hell that he can switch between personas so easily.
It makes me wonder which is the act, and which is the truth.
“Kayde—”
“No more questions, nosy thing.” He laughs lightly. “Open your mouth for me.”
I do as he says without thinking, only for him to tilt my chin up and spit like he had that first night, when we were standing in the trees and I’d just promised him I would do anything to save the kids of Camp Crestview.
I can’t help the soft whine, or the way I flinch away from him as his saliva pools thickly on my tongue. This feels so strange. It always has. Like he’s placing some claim on me and making sure I won’t forget it, or him, or this deal.
“Close your fucking mouth and swallow it,” Kayde murmurs dangerously quiet. Nostrils flaring, I do so, never looking away from him until he grips my jaw and forces my mouth open, as if he needs to check to ensure I’d done what he asked.
“And what do you say, Summer?” he goes on, shaking my face almost like I’m a dog.
Distaste bubbles just under my skin, along with something hotter that I refuse to name. “Thank you,” I hiss resentfully, and the memories of last night’s Kayde are chased away, replaced by the feeling of him spitting in my mouth and making me thank him for the humiliation.
“Good girl,” he taunts, finally letting go. “Now go turn tail and run back to your cabin, baby. Before I decide I want to spit somewhere else.”
I can’t decide what the strange, hot feeling that floods my body is, but I just look at him, a blush staining my cheeks, I’m sure. His brow jerks upward, eyes darkening, and I can feel my humiliation growing in the seconds before he smiles.
“No, really?” He chuckles, reaching out to grip the base of my throat. “Seriously, Summer? You’re going to stand here and get all hot and bothered imagining me spitting on you? On your pretty little pussy or your?—”
“No,” I hiss, sure my face is beet red. “No, I’m not—” I shove away from him, nearly tripping and falling flat on my face. But he lets me, only watching me with bemusement on his face. “Fuck you, Kayde,” I snap, before I wheel around and march back toward my cabin, refusing to listen to his soft, purring laugh behind me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“You can’t kill anyone,” I remind Melody, only half joking.
The twelve-year-old fixes me with a look from eyes that feel older than twelve, and she folds her arms over her chest to glare up at me. “We’re not going to kill anyone,” she promises me patiently, as if she’s the adult and I’m the feral child. “Glow stick necklace, please.” She holds out a hand expectantly, and I hand her both the glow stick necklace and the regular glow stick she can use to cheer on the other cabins. Not that she will, I think. Melody is only a team player for her team.
