“You wouldn’t?” I caught that damn piece of hair and tucked it back behind her ear. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

She stepped sideways, keeping distance between us. “There’s nothing to see.”

Challenge filled my entire being. “If you say so, Kitten.”

Folding her arms across her chest, she faced me. “This isn’t a game.”

“I know, but if it were, I’d win.” I moved around the room and then stopped. I watched her grab hold of her hair and start twisting it nervously. She was stressed. Understandable. I had done something to her, maybe irrevocably, like I had feared when she had gotten sick. For some reason, as I watched her, I thought about what I heard at lunch. My hands closed into fists. The last thing she needed to worry about was the shit Simon was spewing about her.

“By the way,” I said. “I’ve heard what Simon has been saying.”

Pink swept over her face. “Yeah, he’s being a douche. I think it’s his friends. He actually apologized to me, and then when his friends showed up, he told them I was trying to get with him.”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s not okay.”

“It’s no big deal,” she said, lowering her gaze.

“Maybe not to you, but it is to me.” I paused, my shoulders squaring. “I’ll take care of it.”

Kat plopped down on the couch, her back to me. “You always do that, don’t you?”

“Do what?”

One shoulder rose. “Take care of things.”

I drifted toward the couch quietly.

She peeked at me through her lashes. “You took care of things after…after Dawson. You took care of things with me—before and after I found out the truth. And now? You’re going to do it again.”

“I…I don’t look at it that way.”

“Of course you don’t.” There wasn’t an ounce of rancor in her tone. Her brow wrinkled as she opened her hands and flipped them palms up. She stared at them. “It’s just got to be a lot of responsibility.”

My mouth was open and wordless.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to mine as her fingers closed, pressing into her palm. “I just…I know you don’t need this—whatever this is with me—and I’m—”

“Don’t apologize,” I bit out harshly. Her eyes widened. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Kat. Nothing. You saved Dee’s life. You saved my life, and in return, I’ve done…I don’t even know what I’ve done to you.”

Her head tilted to the side. “You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Does my lack of intent matter?” I asked her, a hundred percent serious.

Thick lashes lowered, shielding her beautiful gray eyes. “I guess not, but…but I know you’ll help me.”

That was true. I wanted to help her—I would help her, but most importantly, I wanted Kat to trust me. Now, more than ever, she needed to, because I had a feeling that stopping the branch and moving a glass of tea without touching it were just the tip of the iceberg.

Chapter 9

Unable to sleep most of the night, I patrolled the county until early morning. I wasn’t able to shut my mind down. I needed to figure out what was going on with Kat, but it wasn’t like I could ask around without rousing suspicion or like I could Google it.

We were on our own with this.

I was restless during trig class, wholly aware of Kat. She didn’t seem to be faring much better. Shifting a lot in her seat. Messing with her hair. About halfway through class, I realized that she was spending a lot of time staring at the back of Simon’s head.

And the asshole was well aware of it, too.

Just below his cropped hair, his neck was beet red. Every so often, he’d glanced over his shoulder at Kat and then at me, which was not smart, because it reminded me that he was also a problem that needed to be dealt with—a much easier problem than the other ones we faced.

The muscles under the gray shirt Simon wore tensed as he looked over his shoulder at Kat once more before facing the front of the classroom. A second later, Simon’s heavy textbook lifted off the desk and smacked Simon right in the face.

My lips parted as I swallowed a laugh as Kat jerked back in her seat. What did she just do? Simon jumped out of his seat and stared down at the book now resting on the floor like it was a venomous snake.

“Mr. Cutters, is there something you would like to share with the class?” our teacher asked in a tired, bored voice.

“W-what?” Simon stuttered. He looked around frantically, and then his eyes settled on the book. “No, I knocked my book off the desk. Sorry.”

The teacher let out a loud sigh. “Well, then pick it up.”

Scattered laughter followed Simon’s jerky movement as he picked up the book and took his seat. I waited until the teacher turned back to the chalkboard before I poked Kat with the pen. She twisted around.

“What was that?” I whispered, struggling to keep a straight face. “Very bad kitty…”

A pretty flush cascaded over her cheeks as she bit down on her lip, drawing my attention and making me think of other very bad but fun things. Things that I really shouldn’t be thinking about right now. Especially considering the fact that Kat just tapped into whatever ability she had brewing inside of her in a very public place. Granted, I’d done it myself, but I knew how to use my power. Kat didn’t.

We were going to have to talk about that.

Kat’s lips formed a sheepish grin. She turned back around, the edges of her hair teasing the top of her chair. Took no amount of imagination to remember how soft her hair felt between my fingers. Like silk.

Sitting back in my chair, I swallowed a groan. Damn. This was going to be a long day.

I ended up catching up with Kat after school. That damn human boy had been her at ass at lunch. I waited for her at her locker, sort of surprised that she wasn’t giving me crap about being there. Baby steps in the right direction?

Holding the door open for her, we stepped out into the chilled air. She started to swing her bag over her shoulder, but I reached between us and took the bag from her, carrying it.

Kat arched a brow at me. “Are you a gentleman today?”

“I am many surprising things.”

“Uh-huh.”

My lips quirked up. We hit the parking lot, and not surprisingly, she was in the back again. Walking side by side, I purposely slowed my stride. “Did that boy say anything today?”

“That boy?” Her nose did that wrinkle thing as she glanced up at me. “Oh, you mean Blake?”

“Whatever,” I muttered, eyeing a group of guys huddled behind a pickup. Their camo baseball hats doing an awesome job at blending in. “Did he say anything about what happened at the diner last night?”

“No. Not really.” She folded her arms around her waist as a strong gust of wind whipped through the cars. “I mean, I tried to feel him out about it, you know? Apologized for freaking out about the branch falling, and he didn’t seem too interested in it. He thought…”

“Thought what?” We’d reached her car.

Kat shook her head as she unfolded her arms and reached out for her bag. “He didn’t think anything about it.” Taking the bag from me, she dug out her keys. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah, but I wish you hadn’t brought it up.”

She frowned as she opened the car door. “I was just trying to see if we had a problem.”

“I get that.” I watched her toss her bag in. “But it’s best—”

“I know. Stay away from him. Blah. Blah.” She climbed into the car and reached for the door. I caught it before she could shut it on me. A long-suffering sigh radiated from her. “I need to get going.”

“Why? Meeting up with your new friend?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, no. Dee is coming over. We’re hanging out.”