Dead of Summer

Chapter 5

Though his words do a few circuits in my brain, all I can do is stand there and stare at Kayde. Then the ax, which seems like a separate, ghostly entity with the way the gray blade shines in the light from my flashlight.

Then I look at Kayde again, to find that his expression hasn’t changed. He’s still watching me with those goading, pitying eyes that make me want to throw up.

“Don’t…don’t fuck with me, Kayde,” I whisper, licking my suddenly dry lips. “Why would you say that? You’re not a—” My words falter, and for some reason I can’t get the last part of my sentence to come into existence between us.

“I’m not…what?” He tilts his head to the side, eyes shining like a happy puppy’s as he gives me that sweet, helpful look I’ve seen him use on every camp counselor at Crestview. “I’m not a murderer? I’m not a serial killer? Oh, I know.” My muscles tense when he takes one terrifying step toward me, and hefts the ax in his hands thoughtfully. “You were about to say that I’m not on my way to murder the kids sleeping in their cabins here at Camp Crestview. That’s where you were going with that, right?”

It occurs to me that this is fun for him. That he’s having a great time with the terror shaking through me, and the way part of me is still so sure this is a joke.

The other part of me is really wondering why I’m not running yet.

“This isn’t funny.” But I doubt he means it to be. Why would he be holding an ax and dressed in clothes to obscure his identity if it was? My hands flex, and I wish I had my phone in one of them, so I didn’t need to dig in my pocket for it.

Kayde looks down at my twitching fingers, then back up at my face. “I think it’s a little funny, but probably not for the reasons you would,” he admits, rolling his shoulders in a shrug. “But you know what I think we should talk about, Summer?”

“Why this joke isn’t funny? Why you have an ax?” I offer; the questions flitting out of my mouth in a sour tone of voice. “Seriously, you could get in a lot of trouble if I tell anyone, Kayde. Fuck, I don’t even know where you got an ax!”

“Brought it from home, counselor.” He gives me a two-fingered scout salute, his grin catching and pulling at his lips. “Thought I’d get to use it for show-and-tell.”

“This isn’t funny!” I nearly cut him off when I repeat the words, and when he steps forward again, I refuse to trip backward. Instead, I match his step with my own. Though I can’t help it when I glance down at the weapon he holds, measuring how close the blade is to my stomach and wondering if I’ll have time to get away if he decides to swing it.

Probably not.

“Stop…stop fucking around, Kayde.” All I can do is fake my bravery and hope for the best. There’s no way he’s actually intending on?—

My brain slams to a halt as images of him kicking down a cabin door and blood flowing down the stairs invade my every thought.

“You know, I have to admit, you’re surprising me about all of this.” He doesn’t move closer, or away, though his grip adjusts minutely on the ax. “I thought you would’ve run away by now. I thought I would’ve had to chase after you to stop you. Never thought I’d need to know how fast you run, but fuck Darcy, right?” He says it so casually, like there isn’t a barely veiled threat in his words.

Run? My brain tries to imagine the scenario of me taking off toward camp. I can see his face contort in my mind, the ax coming up sideways before I’ve gone more than six inches, and digging in just above?—

I cut that thought off too, and glare up at him as my heart beats in a rabbit-like rhythm in my chest. “You can’t be serious,” I whisper again, the light in my hand barely illuminating his face since I don’t have the guts to shine it up into his eyes. “You can’t be?—”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I never intended to kill you.” His smile is sheepish when he says it, shoulders hunching like I’ve caught him doing something oh-so-sweet. “I’d thought, maybe afterward, as long as I could keep you in the dark, that you and I could be the only survivors. Thought maybe…” His other hand comes up so his knuckles can trail along the edge of the ax as I watch.

“You know what trauma bonding is, right? It wouldn’t be my trauma, but I figured I could pretend for you after everything. When you were all alone and scared and waiting for the cops with me.” His eyes narrow under his lashes, mouth still curved in its pretty grin.

“What about Kinsley?” I whisper, somehow sucked into this terrifying fantasy right along with him.

His smile doesn’t fade. In fact, it stretches wider over his lips as he takes that one last step that puts the ax as close to me as possible without it touching my shirt. “Sweetheart,” he purrs, giving a small tilt of his head so he can stare at me with those pretty brown eyes. He doesn’t say anything else, though. Not for a few seconds, as he leans closer until his lips are so close to my ear that I can feel his breath tickling my skin.

When his mouth opens so he can speak, I feel that too. The brush of his lips makes my stomach curl, and for a moment, I think I might throw up all over the ax and our shoes. “You won’t trauma bond with me if there’s not enough trauma. I thought I’d leave her in pieces for you to find when you inevitably went to check on her first. Do you know what those pieces will look like after I’ve chopped her apart with this ax?”

My breathing just…

Stops.

I wonder if I could die like this, with the air punched out of me and the ax shifting closer, closer, until I can feel the cold metal pressing up against the skin of my stomach, pushing my shirt over my hips and out of the way for him.

“So how would you like to do this, hmm?” he purrs, leaning away just enough to meet my gaze. I can still feel the movement of the heavy blade against my skin; it sears my flesh, causing me to shiver and pull away before I can stop myself.

But, naturally, Kayde just follows me. Somehow, the ax stays hooked under my shirt, and every step I take backward is an easy half-step forward for him.

“W-well, it’s all ruined now, right?” I snap, fighting the urge to grab the blade and shove it at him so it’s not touching me any longer. Distantly, I realize we’re no longer on the trail, though it isn’t until my back hits a large, rough tree that I realize just what that means.

Kayde is quick to eat up the last of the distance between us, his free hand pressing to the bark above my head, fingers splayed as he cages me in place. “Elaborate,” he requests, eyes still doing that thing that tells me he knows more than I do and I’m going to find out the hard way in a second.

“You said…you don’t want to kill me. That you didn’t want me to know it was you.” It’s hard to keep my voice from trembling, and I dig my fingers into the bark behind me to keep myself somewhat grounded. “But now I know. And I’m not going to trauma bond with you when I fucking know it’s you, Kayde.” The words trauma and bond taste like ash between my lips, and it pulls my shoulder blades tight as I glare at him.

“So what, then?” he hums, the full blade of the ax pressing heavily against my stomach. “Should I just give up? Shrug my shoulders and disappear into the woods? That’s what you want, right? For me to be a dream or at least disappear like one.”

God, that is exactly what I want. But I don’t give him an answer to a question he knows the answer to. I lift my chin and fight to glare at him, instead of shrinking away and knocking the ax to the side like I want to.

“See, that’s the thing about doing this for a while.” My lack of a response doesn’t seem to faze him. “I have about four backup plans that involve you finding out what I’m doing. Whether before, or during.” There is no after included in that. As if he’s so sure I never would suspect him without seeing it for myself.

Maybe I wouldn’t.

“You die in one of those backup plans,” Kayde is quick to inform me, and I can’t help it when my eyes close against the words and my lungs burn around my next breath. “But that’s like, my worst-case scenario.”

“I’ll call the cops,” I promise him, eyes open and wide as I stare at him. “The moment you start walking toward the cabins, I’ll?—”

“You’ll call the cops?” he sneers, interrupting me. His free hand leaves the tree above me, and before I can even think to stop him, he digs his hand into my back left pocket, fishing out my phone quickly to brandish it in front of my eyes. “Okay, sweetheart. Why don’t you do that for me? Show me how you’ll call the cops.”

My heart pounds, and I finally reach back to touch my pocket, unsure how he knew exactly where to look for it even though he’s barely known me for two days. “How did you?—”

“Do you want me to do it with you?” That playfully cruel edge is still there, still in his words and the toothy smirk he wears. “Too scared to do it alone?” He bypasses my lock screen that I’ve never bothered to secure and, while I watch, navigates to the call screen. His thumb quickly taps out the number 9-1-1 and then he hits the call button and speaker in quick succession.

All the while, he watches my face. Waiting for a reaction as I stare back at him. “Wait for it,” he assures me, as nothing happens as my phone tries to connect.

“I’m sure it’s going to happen soon.” His words are coldly amused, and he glances at my phone, still trying to connect, before looking back at me. “Oh, well, we’ll just try again, okay? I’m sure we’ll get it on the second try. I’m sure no service doesn’t actually mean no service or anything so boring as that, hmm?”

He hangs up, then dials again, before once more putting the phone on speaker after pressing the call button.

“Stop it,” I whisper, my eyes on his. Something like frustration thrums beneath my sternum, but my hands are still clutched against the bark and still shaking.

“Stop what?” Kayde’s eyes widen in a play of sincerity. “Stop what, Summer? Stop helping you call the police? I thought that’s what you wanted?—”

He breaks off when my arm comes up and I hit his hand, causing my phone to clatter to the ground somewhere near our feet. “You’re being cruel,” I sneer, my heart loud enough in my ears to chase away some of the blinding fear mixed with bitter disbelief. “You know what I meant.”

“That you’ll walk through the woods looking for service while I murder every kid at Crestview?” His purr feels so strange in the wake of his cruel coldness. “Think you’ll be able to hear them scream while you climb a tree, hold up your phone to the sky and beg for even a bar? How long do you think that’ll take, exactly? Long enough for me to murder everyone, or just Kinsley and the girls in your?—”

“Stop it!” I shriek, hands coming up again to shove him away from me. But of course, he doesn’t let me. Kayde doesn’t even need to drop the ax. He grabs my wrists in his other hand, then slams them onto the tree I’m pressed up against. The flashlight ends up on the ground between us, somehow tilted up just enough for me to see his face, to catch his movements and the glimmer of his honey-like eyes.

“Here’s what I think you should do.” He leans forward while he speaks until his body is pressed flush to my trembling form. I know he can feel it, just as I know that him sliding one knee between my thighs is completely intentional. “I think when I let you go, you should stay right here. You can sit here and wait for me, right here at this tree. I know you’ll be so quiet for me, sweetheart. You can cover your ears so you won’t hear anything. I don’t want to hurt you.”

His lips brush my ear, and my stomach twists as I jerk away as much as I’m able to, though my eyes remain fixed on Kayde’s. “Please don’t do this,” I murmur, twisting in his grip. “You don’t have to?—”

That causes him to bark out a laugh, and he shakes his head, smile incredulous. “Well, of course I don’t have to do this. No one ever said I did. No, Summer, I want to do this. I’ve been excited about this for days. I just wish you hadn’t ruined my after-plans.”

Any hopes I’d had of this being just a really bad joke evaporate when his gaze finds mine in the near darkness. A full tremble goes through me, starting at my fingers and ending at my toes that curl into the soles of my shoes. “What’s wrong with you?” I whisper at last, like I’m telling him a secret or asking him to reveal his.

I just can’t bring myself to ask the question any louder.

“What’s wrong with me?” His brows raise just a little, and I see him giving the question some real thought. “Have you ever heard ‘The Plaint of the Little Bisque Doll,’ sweetheart?” When I jerk my head from side to side, he only leans closer, until he’s once more finding the shell of my ear with his lips.

“I’ve got a pain in my sawdust.” The words are soft and faint, and I have to strain to hear them. “That’s what’s the matter with me. Something is wrong with my little inside; I’m just—” he pauses and I can feel his teeth skimming my ear. “As sick as can be.”

My stomach twists, and if it wasn’t empty, I’d be throwing up. The wave of nausea leaves me gasping, even when he lets me go and swings the ax over his shoulder to rest it there. I can hear him whistling, and Kayde leans down to pick up my flashlight from the ground, though he only turns it off and shoves it into his large pocket instead of giving it back to me.

He’s leaving.The realization hits me hard, and it’s all I can do not to slide down the rough trunk of the tree behind me, wrap my arms around my knees, and cry. Ideas and plans fly through my head, even while I hunt for my phone on the ground and shove it back into my pocket. To get to the camp, I’d have to walk by him.

And I doubt he’ll let me. I have to assume he’s faster than I am, and all it’ll take is one well-aimed blow with that ax to make it so I can’t tell anyone he’s coming. Not to mention, the only place with service in this stupid place is the drop-off lot. Which would also require me to get around Kayde.

Unless I’m willing to take him on physically, there’s nothing I can do.

Except wait for him to kill everyone.

No. Nonono. Kinsley’s face flashes through my head. Then Melody’s, Liza’s, and a slew of other kids that I know are sleeping in their bunks right now like nothing is wrong. Nausea claws at my throat, and the shaking that I’d managed to keep under control is back in full force.

I need to do something.

I need to do something now, before he clears the trees. Even if I scream, I doubt I’ll get more than one or two out of my mouth before he’s back to shut me up.

“Wait.” The word is barely a whisper on the breeze, and is eaten up by the night long before it gets to him. “Wait!” With the tree at my back, I find it hard to push away and support myself on my own feet.

I know he hears me this time, but Kayde doesn’t stop. My heart pounds, and I’m surprised it hasn’t exploded with the terror coursing through my blood.

If he’s not going to stop, then I have to stop him. The idea that I’ll be able to do so, and the thought of what I’m going to try, nearly has my lungs paralyzed and my heart hammering frantically against my ribs to escape my stupidity.

Launching off of the tree, I use it to propel myself forward, until my feet find the trail and I’m able to trip the rest of the way into Kayde, who turns in surprise and interest to look at me over his shoulder.

Well, at least he’s not already swinging.

“Wait,” I beg, gripping the back of his jacket. I bury my fingers in the slick material, letting my arms slip half around his body as I press my forehead against the spot between his shoulder blades. It isn’t fondness. It’s the fear of watching the ax come down when he inevitably gets fed up with my attempts at stopping him.

My eyes screw shut as well as I fully hide in his coat and am unable to look at anything except the backs of my eyelids. “I’ll do anything,” I whisper, this time knowing he can hear me. “If you’ll please just…stop.”

I expect him to shake me off. To laugh and kick me to the ground, best-case scenario. Worst-case, I expect the ax to bite into my arm or my shoulder before he uses it to shut me up forever. Just like he wants to do to everyone else here.

But, inexplicably, Kayde waits. The only sound in the darkness is the breeze running through the trees, and the rustling of the leaves touched by it, as I hold on to him and just breathe.

“Well?” He sounds amused, and one hand comes up to brush against my knuckles, where my left hand is nearly wrapped around his chest in my panic of grabbing and holding onto him. “I’m waiting, sweetheart. Pretty patiently, I might add. After all, I’d hate to rush you, but we are on a bit of a time limit here.”

“Let me just…” I trail off, trying to grasp at any straw I can think of.

Though the only one that comes to mind is bad. Awful, even, and I know it won’t work, so as awful as it is, it’s obsolete the moment it forms.

But I need to buy myself some time to think of something better, so I blurt out, “I’ll do anything for you. Anything you want, if you just stop and, and don’t do this. Please.”

There’s nothing he could want from me that would be worth not killing a camp full of kids and young adults. But hopefully I can shock him into standing here long enough for me to think of something better.

Because, God, there has to be something better than this.

“Summer.” Kayde’s voice is half groan, half purr, and he manages to turn himself in my arms until my hands are gripping the front of his jacket, my face pressed nearly to his sternum as I jerk back enough to look up at him. “You can’t say things like that to me.”

“Why?” I ask quickly, needing to keep the conversation going.

One of his hands reaches out, and he tilts my chin up so he can survey my face more easily. “Because if you say shit like that, then I’ll have to believe you. And if I believe you”—his smirk catches and pulls his full mouth wide—“then I’ll make you live up to what you just offered me.”

What?Out of any response I’d expected, this certainly isn’t it. My pulse flutters, and he switches his grip on my chin to curl those long, graceful fingers around my throat instead.

“You weren’t serious.” He chuckles, eyes goading. “But I’m going to make you regret those words, anyway. What exactly are you offering me, hmm?”

There’s a lump in my throat, but I swallow around it before softly, nervously breathing out, “Anything,” into the scant space between our mouths. “I said anything.” I try to will some kind of confidence into my tone, but I’m sure I fail splendidly. “S-so I meant it. Anything.”

“I could make you regret your anything,” Kayde promises me, no hesitation in his response. “You understand that, right?”

Quickly, I dip my head in a nod, though I can’t tear my eyes away from Kayde’s face. “Then…” God, my mouth is so dry I can barely talk. “Then make me fucking regret it,” I finally challenge through numb lips as my eyes narrow into something less fearful and, hopefully, more taunting.

He wavers. I can see it on his face, and especially in the way that he looks over his shoulder. “Oh, Summer,” Kayde sighs. “Summer, you’re going to be the death of me here.”

If only.

“All right. Okay.” His gaze snaps back to mine, and I find him more serious than he had been a few moments ago. “You want to do anything for me? Anything to keep me from killing your best friend and those sweet, precious kids you like more than you want to admit?”

A jerky nod is my only reply. I can’t trust my voice to betray how terrified I am, though I’m sure he’s well aware of it by how hard I’m still gripping his jacket.

“Then let’s talk about exactly what you’re agreeing to.” His hand comes up and he cradles my face in his palm. When I try to pull away, however, he gives a soft murmur of dissent, and follows me with his hand. “Don’t you fucking pull away from me, Summer. Not unless you want to end this little chat now.”

“No! I mean—” I stop trying to jerk away, and will myself to move back into the space I’d been occupying before. My cheek finds the warmth of his palm, and there’s a small flicker of approval in his eyes as he cradles my jaw.

“You’ll do anything I say, and I don’t mean right now, exactly. Starting now, you do whatever I want. Whenever I ask or tell you to. Don’t worry,” he adds, seeing me shift uncomfortably. “I don’t like an audience, so I won’t have you do anything to expose our arrangement in front of the other counselors or the kids. I don’t need them to see or know what you’ve agreed to with me.”

“How long?” I find myself snapping through my teeth. “How long do you?—”

“For the rest of camp, obviously,” he’s quick to explain. “One anything isn’t enough to stop me, Summer. I’ll get bored. You’re mine for the rest of this camp session. I get to play with you for eight more nights, and then you’ll never see me again. I’ll get in my car after Fink pays me for a job very well done, and you’ll never see me again.”

That seems…simpler than it ever should be. But my stomach continues to curl and twist, my hands still trembling in his coat.

“And you can tell me to stop whenever you want,” Kayde adds quickly, his smile turning benevolent. “I’m not cruel, you know?” he most definitely is, but I’m not going to say it. “If you don’t like something. If you don’t want to do something, you can just tell me to stop, and I’ll stop. I’ll walk away, and I won’t ask you for anything else. Of course…”

Hope rises in my chest, though when he adds on the of course, I feel it snuffed out like a newborn flame.

“If you won’t play with me, if what I want is too much for you, then we’ll be right back here. Only without any promises or deals to keep them safe. Tell me no at any time between now and then, and it ends there. I’ll kill everyone in this fucking place, and I’ll make you watch.” He sneers the last words as he leans in toward me, his lips brushing my forehead.

I can’t do this.That thought runs through my head on repeat. I can’t do this with him. There’s no fucking way in hell.

Yet I can’t shake my head, either. I can’t pull out of this deal now, when I don’t know what else to do.

“Are you thinking that this buys you time?” His hands come up to my side, ax forgotten somewhere on the ground, and he lightly grips my hips in his large hands. “That when I agree to this, you’ll just go tell Kins and the two of you will save the day? Hmm?” His face turns so he can nuzzle his lips against my hair. “That’s a good idea…except you have no proof. And if you do that, then I’d have to teach you a lesson. While you might get the cops out here, I think I can do a lot of damage in the forty-two minutes it’ll take them to show up. You won’t do that to Kinsley, or Liza, or your kids, right? You’d never hurt them like that.”

Fuck.

Oh fuck. My fingers tighten their grip on his shirt, and for a moment I wish I could do something to him. I want to stab him, to claw out his throat. To throw him off of a cliff and then run back to camp before he can make some unholy reappearance like in the movies.

But this isn’t a movie, and I’m not emotionally equipped to be the final girl of a summer camp massacre.

All I can do is close my eyes hard and nod in quick, short movements that feel like they’re being wrenched out of me.

“Gonna need more than a nod, sweetheart,” Kayde purrs against my temple. “Gonna need you to tell me exactly what you’re agreeing to, so I know we’re on the same page.”

I try. God, I try, and it takes longer than it should for me to find my voice and look up at him with wide, terrified eyes that probably seem a lot like a terrified baby deer’s. “I’ll do anything for you.” Once I start, it’s a little easier to keep going, though I stumble through the words when my eyes meet his. “For the rest of camp. I-I’ll do whatever you want. So long as you don’t make me hurt anyone or make me do anything embarrassing in front of anyone else here.” I probably don’t have the high ground to set parameters for this agreement, but he doesn’t protest or disagree.

“And I agree that as long as you keep your side of the deal, I won’t kill anyone.” He’s a lot less nervous and unsure than I am. He just sounds amused. As if this is an unexpected, yet fun, development to his night.

And, well, maybe it is.

But it’s certainly becoming the worst night of my life.

“Color me surprised.” His chuckle shatters the moment, and I’m finally able to drop my hands and step away from Kayde. “Guess I have to go clean up. I’ve been getting my shit together for this since dinner, you know?” Kayde sounds almost indignant; like I’m making him clean up his toys and come in early.

I let out a breath as I watch him, my hands curling into fists. “Is that—I mean are you?—”

“Nah, I won’t ruin the rest of your night, Summer,” Kayde chuckles, knowing what I’d intended on asking, apparently. “Like I said, you kind of surprised me here.” His smile is sheepish and innocent.

Like the mask Kayde wears during the day.

It makes my throat burn to see it; to see the easy shift from monster to beloved counselor.

“So I don”t have too many planned out ideas of what I want from you just yet. I’ll think of some tonight though, don’t worry.” He flashes a grin at me, and I can only stare back at him with narrowed eyes.

“Then, I can go?” Everything in me begs to get away from him. I want to find my bed and jump into it, then pull the covers over my head like he won’t be able to get me that way.

“Hmmm.” Kayde still sounds so fucking playful and sweet that I clench my hands into fists at my sides and just watch him while I hope that nothing about me betrays how I feel about him.

Not that it’s a big secret. He obviously knows I’m certainly not fond of him.

“Well, since you’ve ruined my whole ‘trauma bonding’ plan, how about you at least give me the best part of it?” He unzips the jacket he’s wearing, and shoves the sleeves up over his toned forearms, until they’re bunched in the curve of his elbows. “Let me kiss you.”

That sounds innocent enough. At least, innocent amongst all the terrible, painful things my brain seems intent on conjuring up. Hell, it’s almost a relief when he asks for it, and I dip my head without even stopping to think.

“Okay.” Not like I could say no, anyway.

“A little more enthusiasm on your end wouldn’t hurt.” Kayde laughs, though he’s already stepping into my space again, his hands coming up to my hips. “I’ve been imagining it, you know.” His voice turns to a whisper as he leans forward, nose brushing mine. “How it would feel. How sweet your lips would be.” His mouth nudges mine; asking rather than telling. He kisses me sweetly, mouth insistent as he asks for entrance between my lips.

I don’t have a choice. I give it to him, my own hands move to press against his chest hesitantly, in case this isn’t allowed. But, well, he’d said enthusiasm, hadn’t he?

Lost in my thoughts, I miss the subtle change from sweet back to monster. I miss the warmth seeping out of him, until his hands run up my sides and one of them grabs my jaw harshly, finger and thumb digging hard into my cheeks.

Letting out a cry of surprise, I try to jerk backward, only for his other hand to wind in my tee and drag me forward across the grass, until our bodies are pressed together, and he’s able to tilt my head back to meet his wide, feral grin.

“But like I said…you ruined that part of my night,” Kayde growls, teeth very white in the near darkness. “So you get this instead, sweetheart. Open your mouth.”

I find myself clenching my teeth together hard at the order, though I wince when that just causes his fingers to dig into the muscle there. When he presses harder, it forces my jaw open, and my lips part around a pained gasp that accompanies the wet burn in my eyes.

Kayde doesn’t waste any time. Still pressing hard and holding me in place, he spits, and I nearly choke when the liquid hits the back of my tongue and seeps into my throat. Every bit of me burns with disgust and humiliation as he does it, but he doesn’t release his grip on me, so there’s no way for me to do anything except stare at him in horror and try not to choke.

“Swallow.” Kayde’s kind enough to loosen his grip enough for me to close my mouth, though when I do, my first thought isn’t to swallow. Still, the look on his face doesn’t exactly give me the confidence to spit out his saliva, so while he grips the front of my shirt and keeps his hand on my face, all I can do is what he says.

I fucking swallow the searing saliva in my mouth, shuddering as it crawls down my throat.

“I guess it’s good enough for tonight,” Kayde allows, dragging me back to him until my back is arched and my head is tilted back again. “Though next time, you’re going to stick out your tongue and thank me for it, sweetheart. Understand?” In my position and unable to get away, all I can do is nod jerkily and hope he’s joking.

“Good girl.” His lips brush mine again, and he chuckles while my stomach tries to double knot itself. “I look forward to finding out if I can break you in the next eight days.”

As much as I try, I can’t hold back the soft, terrified whine that bubbles up my throat, though I lock my teeth around the sound to keep as much of it back as I can.

But it’s not good enough. Not when we’re body to body like this. Kayde’s smile grows, and his eyes seem to glow in the moonlight that filters through the trees. “That’s right, darling,” he agrees, like I’ve given him a real, verbal response. “I’ve been playing this game for years, and you’re just getting your feet wet in the kiddie pool. Poor, poor Summer. But I can’t feel too badly for you…” With that, he licks a quick, hot stripe up my jaw, and shoves me away from him with a laugh on his lips.

“After all, you fucking volunteered.”