He caught the door. One dark eyebrow arched. “Knowing you, I can’t even begin to imagine how much trouble you’d get in.”
“Oh yeah, because Simon’s going to leave a trace on me that attracts killer cows instead of killer aliens. Let go of my car door.”
“You are so frustrating,” he snapped, eyes flaring with irritation. “He has a reputation, Kat. I want you to be careful.”
I stared at him for a moment. Could it be that Daemon was genuinely concerned about my well-being? As soon as that thought popped into my head I pushed it out. “Nothing is going to happen, Daemon. I can take care of myself.”
“Fine.” He let go of the door so fast that I yanked it back. “Kat—”
Too late. The door caught my fingers. I yelped as pain shot over my hand and up my arm. “Ouch!” I shook my hand, trying to ease the pain in my fingers. The pointer finger was bleeding. The rest would definitely be bruised and look like sausages by morning. Tears were already streaming down my cheeks. “Christ! That hurt.” Without warning or saying a word, his hand shot in, wrapping around my palm. A flash of heat went through my hand, tingling, spreading to the tips of my throbbing fingers and down to my elbow. In an instant the pain was gone.
My mouth dropped open. “Daemon?”
Our eyes locked. He dropped my hand as if I’d burned him. “Shit…”
“Did you…is there another trace on me?” I wiped the blood away from my finger. The skin was pink, but already sealed up. “Holy crap.”
He swallowed. “It’s faint. I don’t think it will be a problem. I can barely see it, but you might—”
“No! It’s faint. No one will see it. I’m fine. No more babysitting.” I drew a shallow breath. Knots formed in my belly. “I can take care of myself.”
Daemon watched me for a moment. “You’re right. Obviously you can as long as it doesn’t involve car doors. You’ve lasted longer than any human that’s known about us.”
…
Daemon’s parting words hung over me like a thick, foreboding cloud the rest of the night and well into Saturday. I’d lasted longer than anyone else that had known the truth about them. I couldn’t help but wonder when my time would be up.
I left with Dee, and we picked up the girls after lunch. It didn’t take long to get to Cumberland and find the dress shop they’d wanted to go to. I’d expected there to be nothing left to pick from when we walked into the Dress Barn, but their racks were full.
Carissa and Lesa already had an idea of what they wanted: something tight. Dee seemed to navigate toward the pink and frilly. I wanted a dress that didn’t look like it’d been bedazzled by a grandmother or swallowed by a bow factory.
Dee ended up picking out a red Grecian-style dress for me that cinched under the waist and hung loose around my hips and legs. It had a scallop neckline, a little daring but nothing like what Lesa and Carissa strutted out in.
“What I wouldn’t do for a chest like that,” Lesa muttered, looking disgusted as she stared at Carissa’s chest spilling out of her dress. “It’s not fair. I have an ass and no boobs.”
Carissa eyed herself in the wall mirror while Dee tried on a pink knee-length dress she’d found. Twisting her hair up off her shoulders, Carissa grinned at her reflection. “What do you guys think?”
“You look hot,” I told her. And she did. She had the perfect hourglass figure.
Dee stepped out, looking absolutely stunning in pink. Her dress had tiny straps and hugged her willowy frame. She took one look at herself, nodded, and went back in to change.
I exchanged a grin with Lesa. “Our opinion was not needed.”
“Yeah, cause there isn’t anything in this world that Dee doesn’t look good in.” She rolled her eyes, grabbing her dress to try on.
When it came my turn to try my dress on, I had to give it to Dee. She had a remarkable eye for style. The dress fit my body like it’d been made for me. With its built-in bra, it also made me feel like I could stand beside Carissa and not feel like a little girl. I twisted in front of the mirror, checking out the back. Not too bad.
“You should pull your hair up,” Dee said, appearing beside me. She reached up, artfully twisting my long hair atop my head. “You have such a long neck. Show it off. I can do it for you if you like and your makeup, too.” I nodded, thinking it would be fun. “Thank you. I would’ve never thought I’d look good in this dress.”
“You’d look good in any of these dresses.” Dee let go of my hair. “Now you need shoes.” She nodded over to the shoe racks. “Anything red or clear would work. The more strappy the better.”
I poked around the shoes, thinking of a pair of strappy heels I had at home. God knows this dress was going to cost every last cent my mom had happily handed over this morning. I picked up a pair of red heels, though. They were divine.
A skeevy feeling coursed over me as I stood there. I glanced around. The girls were in the back, looking at clutches, and the clerk was behind the counter. The door opened, making a wind chime sound. No one was there.
The clerk looked up, frowning. Shaking her head, she returned to reading her magazine.
I shivered as my gaze crawled past the door to the windows in the front of the store. Beyond the garbed mannequins, a man stood on the sidewalk, looking in. His dark hair was combed back from his pale face. Most of his features were covered with a pair of oversized sunglasses that seemed out of place on such an overcast day. He was wearing dark jeans and a leather jacket.
And he gave me the creeps.
I moved behind the racks and pretended to be checking out another dress. Causally, I lifted my head and peeked over the rack.
He was still there.
“What the hell?” I muttered. Either he was waiting for someone in here or he was a total creeper. Or an Arum. I refused to consider the last one. Glancing around the near-empty store, I was going to go with creeper.
“What are you doing?” Lesa came out, tugging on the zipper to a pink trumpet dress that gave her boyish figure curves. “Hiding behind racks?”
I started to point out the stalker, but when I looked at the window, he was gone. “Nothing.” I cleared my throat. “You guys ready?”
She nodded, and I darted back to the dressing room and quickly changed. The whole time we checked out, I kept glancing at the window. That eerie feeling was still there, following us back to where Dee had parked. I expected the dude to jump out and scare the living crap out of me at any moment.
We folded up our dresses carefully and placed them in the trunk while Carissa and Lesa climbed in the backseat. Shutting the trunk, Dee turned to me. A small smile was on her face. “I didn’t tell you this because I’m sure you would’ve changed your mind about the dress.”
“What?” I frowned. “Does it make my butt look big?”
She laughed. “No. You looked stunning in it.”
“Then what’s the deal?”
Her smile turned downright mischievous. “Oh, you know, just that the color red is Daemon’s favorite.”
Chapter 22
The night of the dance I was full of nerves. A huge part of me wanted to call Simon and beg off, especially since he nixed the whole carpool idea from the get-go, but my mom had bought the dress and Dee had done an outstanding job making me look pretty.
My hair had been curled and twisted up, exposing my neck. A few strategically placed curls hung over my temples and rested on my bare shoulders. She even sprayed this vanilla-scented glittery stuff in my hair, so when I turned, my hair shimmered. My eyes were a warm brown due to the smoky outline she’d given them. I was also pretty sure she’d applied fake eyelashes, because my lashes had never been this long or thick. Her final touch
