Obsidian (Lux 1)

Before the teacher could catch on, I opened the note and slid it under my book. When he turned back to the chalkboard, I lifted the edge of my textbook.

Holy Hawt Chemistry, Batman!

I looked over at her, shaking my head. But there was a fluttering deep in my chest, a breathlessness that shouldn’t be there. I didn’t like him. He was a jerk. Moody. But there had been brief moments that I’d spent with him—like a nanosecond—when I thought I might have seen the real Daemon. At least a b etter  Daemon. And that part made me curious. And the other side, the jerky one, yeah, that part didn’t make me curious.

It sort of excited me.

Chapter 14

I tried paying attention in my classes, but my mind was on Daemon and what he wanted to talk to me about tonight. Thankfully, I only had to muscle through half a day before it was time to go get my splint removed.

As expected, my arm was completely fine.

On the way home, I stopped at the post office. There was a ton of junk mail in our box, but also a few yellow envelopes, which brought a big ole smile to my face. Media Mail was stamped across them. Gathering my goodies, I headed home and piddled around the house. Anxious energy jolted through my system like I’d chugged one of those cheap energy drinks.

I changed several times, settling on a little sundress after going through my closet and finding nothing I wanted to wear. Changing didn’t get rid of the anxious feeling.

What did Daemon want to talk about?

I ended up rearranging my entire blog design trying to pass time. And that only made me more anxious about everything, because I was sure I’d screwed up my header and the banner at the bottom. Only when a book release countdown widget had completely disappeared, lost to the realm of the Internet, did I force myself away from the computer.

Turned out I had a while to wait and see. It was after eight when Daemon showed up at my door, a few minutes after my mom left for Winchester. He was leaning against the railing, staring up at the sky like usual. With the moonlight slicing over half of his face and the rest cast deep in shadows, he didn’t seem real.

Then Daemon zeroed in on me, his gaze sliding over my dress and then back up. He looked as if he were about to speak but thought twice.

Gathering up my courage, I walked over and stopped beside him. “Is Dee home?”

“No.” He returned to staring at the night sky. There were a thousand twinkling stars. “She went to the game with Ash, but I doubt she will stay long.” Daemon paused, glancing down at me. “I told her I was going to hang out with you tonight. I think she’ll come home soon to make sure we haven’t killed each other.” Looking away, I hid my grin. “Well, if you don’t kill me, I’m sure Ash will be more than glad to do so.”

“Because of the spaghetti-gate or something else?” he asked.

I shot him a sidelong look. “You looked mighty comfy with her in your lap yesterday.”

“Ah, I see.” He pushed off the railing, coming to stand beside me. “It makes sense now.”

“It does?” I held my ground.

His eyes gleamed in the dark. “You’re jealous.”

“Whatever.” I forced a laugh. “Why would I be jealous?”

Daemon followed me down the steps until we were standing in my driveway. “Because we spent time together.”

“Spending time together isn’t a reason to be jealous, especially when you were forced to spend time with me.” I realized how lame it was that I was sort of jealous. Ugh. “Is this what we need to talk about?” He shrugged. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

Watching him, I smoothed my hands over my dress. “It’s kind of late, don’t you think?”

“I think and talk better when I walk.” He held a hand out to me. “If not, I turn into the dickhead Daemon you’re not very fond of.”

“Ha. Ha.” I stared at his hand. There was a fluttering in my stomach. “Yeah, I’m not holding your hand.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to hold hands with you when I don’t even like you.”

“Ouch.” Daemon placed his hand over his chest, wincing. “That was harsh.”

Yeah, he needed better acting classes. “You’re not going to take me out in the woods and leave me there, are you?”

“Sounds like a fitting case of revenge, but I wouldn’t do that. I doubt you’d last very long without someone to rescue you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He tossed me a brief grin, and we walked in silence for a few minutes, crossing the main access road. The night air was definitely chilly compared to when I’d first put the dress on, and I was beginning to wish I put tights on, too. Fall was well on its way.

Soon we had moved deep into the woods, where the moonlight struggled to make it through the thick trees. Daemon reached in his back pocket and pulled out a thin flashlight that gave off a surprisingly large amount of light. Every cell in my body seemed to be aware of how close he was while we walked in a cocoon of darkness, the light bouncing in front of us with each step. And I hated each of my traitorous cells with a vengeance.

“Ash isn’t my girlfriend,” he said finally. “We used to date, but we’re friends now. And before you ask, we’re not that kind of friend even though she was sitting on my lap. I can’t explain why she was doing that.”

“Why did you let her?” I asked, wanting to smack myself afterward. It wasn’t my business and I didn’t care.

“I don’t know, honestly. Is being a guy a good-enough reason?”