A huge amount of suspicious noises were coming from the dark corners of the large house, distracting me from my thoughts. I then briefly saw Adam, who appeared to be stalking Dee through the crowd. I made a mental note to ask her how her call with him had gone.

“Want to get a drink?” Blake asked. When I nodded, he led me toward the dining room, where we could see several bottles. There was even a punch bowl. Spiked, no doubt.

“We had parties like this back home,” Blake said, handing me a red plastic cup. “In beach houses, though, and everyone smelled of sea and suntan lotion.”

“You sound like you miss it.”

“I do sometimes, but hey, change isn’t too bad. It makes life interesting.” He took a sip and coughed. “What did they put in this? Moonshine?”

I laughed. “God only knows around here.”

Wild giggles came from the kitchen. We turned just in time to see Carissa rush from the room, an annoyed look on her face as she bolted to where Dee was in the doorway. “Dee, your friends are crazy.”

“They’re your friends, too,” Lesa commented dryly, coming up behind Dee. She saw Blake and me and came to a stop. Then she bumped me with her hip. “Yay.”

Carissa folded her arms over her chest. “My friends would not do that with whipped cream.”

I busted into laughter at the horrified look on Dee’s face and the curious one that crossed Lesa’s. Blake smiled at me, as if he liked the sound of my laugh.

“What?” Dee screeched and took off toward the kitchen.

“I have to see this,” muttered Lesa, following quickly behind the flurry of white.

I glanced over at Carissa, whose cheeks were as red as my sweater. “You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head emphatically. “You have no idea what Donnie and Becca are doing in there.”

“Aren’t they the two who planned to get married after graduation?”

“Yep. And I can tell you they have not waited for marriage for most things.”

I giggled. “Awesome.”

Carissa shuddered. “I’m not trying to be a prude, but who acts like that in public or at a friend’s house? I mean, come on. It’s disgusting.” She took a deep breath, her dark eyes flicking up. “Hi, Blake, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. Whipped cream should only be used on pies.”

I had to look away to stop from laughing. It was kind of gross, but I still found it entertaining. Not sure what that said about me. And who was I kidding? Last Friday I’d been getting all hot and heavy in a library.

At the reminder, my stomach knotted again and my gaze darted around the room.

We were briefly interrupted by a group who wanted to talk to Carissa about her older brother, who was away at college. I’d forgotten that she had older siblings. Mental note number two: pull head out of ass.

Blake must’ve made a lot of friends quickly, because most of the kids were talking him up. And a lot of girls kept stealing looks at him. This filled me with an obscene amount of glee. I leaned into Blake’s arm, mostly for show, and then I stayed there, liking the way the bulge of muscles in his upper arms felt against my chest.

He didn’t seem to mind. The hand on my back bunched into the silk of my dress, and he stopped mid-sentence to lean down and whisper, “I really wish I were staying,”

I turned my head, smiling. “Me, too.”

His hand slid across my back, curving around my waist. I liked this—whatever this was. It seemed natural to be close to a guy, to be flirting, having fun. Kissing. It all felt easy. We stayed like that after Carissa drifted away, and then it was time for him to leave.

I walked him to the door, his arm still around my waist. “We still on for dinner?” he asked.

“You bet. I’m actually—” My back was to the stairs, but I still knew the second he came down. The air changed, grew heavier and warm. The nape of my neck tingled.

Blake frowned. “You’re actually…what?”

My heart sped up. “I’m…I’m looking forward to it.”

He started to smile, and then he glanced up. His eyes widened slightly, and I knew Daemon was there. I didn’t want to turn around, but it seemed unnatural not to.

And it was like being struck by lightning. I hated his effect on me, but at the same time it thrilled me. Nothing was easy about it.

Daemon was dressed casually compared to the rest of us but still looked better than any guy in the room. He had on a pair of old, distressed blue jeans and a shirt that bore some long-forgotten band name. He absently tucked a strand of dark hair behind his left ear and flashed a wolfish grin at something someone said. Those magnetic eyes shimmered under the dim light of the candles. This was the first time I’d really seen Daemon around anyone other than his family or a friend or two outside of school.

Daemon had this effect on others, no matter their gender. It was obvious that people wanted to be around him, but at the same time, it seemed like they were afraid to come too close. They were drawn to him, like I was, whether they liked it or not. People approached but stopped just a few feet from him. But the whole time, he had his eyes fixed on me.

In that second, I completely forgot the boy with his hand on my waist.

Daemon stopped in front of us. “Hey there…”

Blake’s hand pressed into me as he leaned around. “I don’t think we got the chance to introduce ourselves the other night at the diner. My name is Blake Saunders.” He offered his free hand.

Daemon glanced at Blake’s hand before returning his gaze to me. “I know who you are.”

Oh, geez. I twisted toward Blake. “This is Daemon Black.”

His smile faltered. “Yeah, I know who he is, too.”

Laughing under his breath, Daemon straightened. At his full height, he was a good head taller than Blake. “It’s always nice to meet another fan.”

Yeah, Blake had no idea what to say to that. He shook his head slightly and faced me. “Well, I need to get going.”

I smiled. “All right. Thanks for…everything.”

He smiled a little as he leaned in, wrapping his arms loosely around me. Acutely aware of Daemon’s intense stare, I placed my hands on Blake’s back and leaned up, pressing my lips against his smooth cheek.

Daemon cleared his throat.

Blake laughed softly in my ear. “I’ll call you. Behave.”

“Always,” I said, letting go.

With one last grin tossed in Daemon’s direction, Blake sauntered out the door. Had to give it to the boy, he held his own—sort of—against Daemon.

I faced him, scowling as I started fiddling with the obsidian around my neck. “You know, you couldn’t have been much more of a jerk if you tried.”

He arched a brow. “Thought I told you not to hang out with him?”

“Thought I explained that just because you say I can’t doesn’t mean I won’t.”

“You did?” His gaze followed the obsidian, and then he lowered his head. “You look really nice tonight, Kitten.”

My stomach hollowed. Must ignore—must ignore. “I think Dee has her hands full, but she did a great job decorating the house.”

“Don’t let her fool you into believing she did all of this herself. She recruited me from the moment I got home.”

“Oh.” Surprise shot through me. I couldn’t picture Daemon stringing paper lanterns without lighting them on fire and then throwing them. “You both did a great job.”

Daemon’s gaze dipped again, and I shivered under his intense scrutiny. Why, oh why, did Blake need to bail early, leaving me behind with Daemon? “Where did you get this dress?” he asked.

“Your sister,” I told him blandly.

He frowned, looking half disgusted. “I don’t even know what to say about that.”

“Say about what, babe?”

Daemon stiffened. Tearing my gaze from him, my eyes locked with Ash’s. Holding my stare, she smiled sweetly and wrapped a thin arm around his narrow waist. She leaned into him, as if she were all too familiar with the lines of his body. And she was. They’d been dating on and off for a while.

Oh, this was fabulous. He’d just given Blake the stink eye and now Ash was leeched to his side. And God, I didn’t like that at all. Irony was such a bitch.

“That’s a cute dress. It’s Dee’s, right?” Ash asked. “I think she got it when we went shopping together, but it usually looks looser on her.”

Oh, that felt like a jellyfish sting. An unreasonable emotion crept up my spine the longer she stood there, in her skintight sweater dress that ended an inch below her butt. “I think you forgot some jeans or the bottom part of your dress.”

Ash smirked, but then turned her attention back to Daemon. “Babe, you rushed off so fast. I had to search the entire upstairs for you. Why don’t we go back to your room and finish what we started?”

The punched-in-the-gut feeling nearly doubled me over. I had no idea where it was coming from or why I felt that way. It wasn’t reasonable. I didn’t like Daemon—I didn’t. He could make out with the Pope for all I cared, and I’d just kissed Blake. But that hot feeling was there, stealing through my veins.

Daemon stepped out of Ash’s embrace while scratching a spot above his heart. He caught my eyes, and I raised my brows expectantly. He wanted to be with me? Yeah, seemed like it…in between whatever he was doing with Ash.

I turned away before I said something that would embarrass me later. Dee’s high-pitched giggle followed my steps. Daemon spoke, but it was lost in the crowd of people. Needing air and distance, I stepped out onto the crowded front porch.

I couldn’t figure out what was going on. There was no way I was jealous. That so wasn’t what I was feeling. And I had a date coming up with a hot, normal human boy. There was no way I cared that Daemon and Ash were doing whatever.

Then it struck me as I headed down the steps. Oh my God, I did care. I cared—I cared that he’d been upstairs with Ash doing things that…I couldn’t even wrap my brain around without wanting to do physical damage. My head spun. Images of Ash kissing him sucked the air out of my lungs. What was wrong with me?

Dazed, I started walking. At some point, I kicked off my heels and tossed them aside. I kept walking, my feet bare against the cold grass and gravel. I didn’t stop until I stood beside the empty house at the end of the road. Taking several gulps of fresh, clean air, I tried to get control of my overexposed emotions. Part of me knew what I was feeling was ridiculous, but it still seemed like the world had stopped spinning. I felt like I wanted to explode and everything was hot and cold at the same time.

My breath shuddered in my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut and swore. What I was feeling wasn’t right. The last time I’d been this jealous was when all the bloggers went to a book conference last year and Mom wouldn’t let me go. Hell, this was worse. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run back in there and pull out every strand of Ash’s hair. Jealousy I had no right to coursed through my veins, blinding any rational thought trying to tell me I was being stupid. But my blood was boiling. My palms were sweaty and they felt foreign and cold. My entire body was shaking.

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