Chapter 38
With my feet crunching on dead leaves and grass, I can’t help but feel like every small noise I make is amplified by ten times what it should be. I make myself jump on more than one occasion.
“I don’t know how you walk like that,” I call to the stalking, shadowy figure behind me that manages to make absolutely no noise.
Even Kayde’s soft chuckle seems muted in the dark, though he closes the few feet of distance between us and lets his shoulder bump against mine. “I’ll teach you,” he promises, murmuring the words into my ear. “Then maybe you could sneak up on a deaf old lady with some kind of success, instead of letting everyone and everything in a ten-mile radius know exactly where we are at all times, hmm?” He says the words sweetly, kindly, but they’re too much of a taunt for me to do anything but scrunch my nose and glare at my psychopath.
“I can’t believe you’re still snippy,” I tell him with a sniff, my strides lengthening like I’m trying to put distance between us. I’m not, of course. Not really. And it’s not like Kayde would ever let me, anyway.
Sure enough, his steps eat up any distance I could even attempt to create, and he slings an arm over my shoulders with a soft sound in his chest. “I can’t believe you demanded to come out here with me,” he murmurs, pressing his cheek to mine as he shakes his head. “Seriously, Summer. This is ridiculous. Can’t you just?—”
“I totally saw the ropes and the handcuffs,” I reply crisply. “You’re just upset I didn’t fall for your ‘invitation’ for a little after dinner dessert so you could tie me up in your cabin and do this alone.”
He doesn’t even deny it. But maybe that’s one thing I like most about Kayde. He doesn’t lie to me. Especially not anymore, since I can see through the Lassie face and he’s committed to making me believe in his honesty. Or so he says. But he also doesn’t deny or dismiss what he’s done; doesn’t look for reasons for his actions or try to explain them away.
He just takes responsibility for his choices and owns up to them. It’s…refreshing, I suppose. In some ways more than others. Tonight, I can’t help the touch of irritation at his dazzling grin and the way he really does seem to think his plan was a good one.
“I’m not upset,” Kayde assures me. “Maybe just a little miffed, but nowhere near upset. You should let me do this for you, sweetheart. Let me take care of whatever’s going on so you don’t have to get your hands dirty or tarnish those pretty morals of yours.”
Of yours, because obviously, he doesn’t share any of the same morals he’s convinced I have in spades. The only problem is, sometimes I’m not so set on them. Not so attached to them when it comes to Kayde existing in my space.
“I want to know. I want to see,” I murmur, unable to stop myself. When he wraps an arm around my shoulders again and slows our steps just a touch, I let him.
“Be a little more mindful of how you step,” he advises, gesturing at the ground in front of us. “Look at where you’re walking versus where I am. I’m not trying to up your stalk game, but even you can do better than crashing through the woods like a bear.”
“A bear is probably quieter,” I admit with a scoff, though I try to match the way he walks, mindfully, as if I really am searching for the best place to put my feet amongst the grass and leaves.
Unfortunately, it’s harder than it looks, and Kayde really is just better at the whole thing than I am. I spend the next few minutes at it, and it takes longer than it should for me to realize that Kayde isn’t saying anything.
Normally, he would be. Especially now, I think, when he’s trying to teach me something that he deems important. Like better ax murderer skills that I have no intention of ever needing. “You should teach Melody this,” I mutter, half without thinking. “She seems like she might need to be able to do the stalking-thing at some point down the road, or whatever.”
“What makes you think I haven’t?” Kayde chuckles, though there’s something distracted and distant in his voice. I glance up at him, eyes narrowing, only to see that he isn’t looking at me. He really must be thinking of something else, and I wonder if he’s even really heard my question.
But somehow, when his arm tightens just a little bit around my shoulders and he pulls me to a stop to press his forehead to mine, I don’t have it in me to ask. We’re further away from the camp than we ever go for walks, that’s for sure, and the breeze ruffles thick bunches of leaves in the trees that block our view of the night sky.
It’s mostly dark here, except for the slivers of moonlight that fight their way to the ground between the trees.
Is he going to kiss me? It feels too creepy to be romantic, I think, but a shiver runs down my spine at the light touch of his fingers on my arms. “Just don’t freak out. Okay?” he murmurs, and even in the near darkness, I can feel his gaze on mine in warning.
“Freak out?” I breathe, my voice at the same volume as his.
“And trust me.”
That’s the harder part. Or, well, it should be anyway, but I’m not doing so well at keeping up my boundaries when it comes to my psychopath. Or my better judgment. My fingers come up to grip his shirt, and Kayde shifts just a bit, his stance almost aloof as he looks up with a crooked grin slashed across his lips. “Are you just going to follow us and hide behind trees?” he asks, his voice raised enough that anyone around us could hear him. “Or are you going to come out and say hello?”
His words cause my pulse to ratchet up a few notches, and I reach up to grip his shirt, hands tightening in the fabric. It’s hard not to freak out about the implication of us not being alone. And for a few tense seconds, I’m hoping that for once, Kayde is wrong. That there isn’t someone in the trees around us watching and waiting for us to do…something.
But then footsteps sound in the dead leaves, and a stick snaps just as movement from my right side catches my eyes. I whirl around enough to watch the man, eyes narrowed as he hops up onto a large, downed log and falls into a comfortable crouch.
“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything.” The man looks to be maybe twenty, at most. His dark hair curls around his ears, and his grin is just as wide as Kayde’s, but full of authentic amusement. I can’t see his eyes in the darkness, but he certainly doesn’t look upset from where I’m standing.
He looks thrilled.
A quick glance over his body shows me no weapons of any kind, though I don’t know how much to believe my own perceptions of this man. For all I know, he’s hiding a knife in the back of his jeans and just waiting for me to fuck up so he can make his move.
“What are you doing here?” I pull away from Kayde, forcing myself to unclench my fingers from his shirt. He murmurs what might be a warning or encouragement, but the blood rushing in my ears and my focus on the man at the edge of the small clearing drowns out anything else. “Why are you so close to Camp Crestview?”
“Oh! Crestview!” The man claps his hands together, suddenly looking relieved. “I’ve been trying all day to remember what it was called. I kept wanting to call it Crestlake, but I knew that wasn’t right. Thank you so much?—”
“Still not answering my question,” I snap, with Kayde’s presence a solid weight at my back. Hopefully, if something were to happen, Kayde could stop him. But then again, in a perfect scenario, Kayde being here will keep this man from doing anything at all.
The man tilts his head to the side, and his eyes narrow shrewdly in the light from Kayde’s flashlight. “What do you think I’m doing here, Summer?” he asks, in a voice that has me fighting back a shiver.
“Pretty sure she didn’t tell you her name.” There’s a warning in Kayde’s voice, even though he sounds casual and not at all uneasy.
“Yeah,” the man agrees with a nod. “She probably didn’t. But you say it so much that it would be impossible not to know. Are you glaring at me because you think I’m rude, Kayde? Oh, you didn’t tell me yours. But I didn’t need her to tell me who you are.”
I glance back at Kayde, confused about what exactly that means, but Kayde’s bored gaze just remains fixed on the man in front of us. He leans back against a tree, arms crossing over his chest as he just…waits.
Well, if this is a stare off between them, I’m already uncomfortable.
“What’s your name?” I ask, stepping between them like I can break this stand off just by breaking their line of sight of each other. The man blinks and tilts his head the other way, surveying me as if he’s just now seeing me.
“Why do you want to know?” he counters, still with that shit-eating grin on his lips.
“Because you’re rude as fuck and know our names,” I grit out, nails cutting into my palms at my sides. “So tell me yours, unless you want to be ‘that stupid fuck in the woods’ to anyone I talk to.”
His brows jerk up at that, and he cranes the other way to look at Kayde, as if to ask him if I’m serious.
But I don’t let him.
I sidestep, keeping my gaze on his, and preventing him from sharing a look with Kayde. He doesn’t need to. Not when I’m talking to him. And while I might be fighting not to shiver or run or go back to Kayde right now, that doesn’t mean that I’m about to fold.
“She’s not playing around.” Kayde chuckles from behind me. “Might as well tell her.”
“It’s not that interesting.” The man gives a loud, theatrical sigh. “You’ll be disappointed. It’s nothing so cool and cliche as Summer the summer camp counselor.” There it is again. The cocky, shit-eating grin that he tries on me once more.
“I’ll lower my expectations,” I assure him, arms folded over my chest.
“Thanks.” His grin turns wolfish, and he moves to sit on the log with his legs hanging from the side closest to me. “I’m Grey.” When I only blink in response, unimpressed, he barks out a sharp laugh and adds, “Told you it’s not that great.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Probably looking for my stuff someone took.” His answer is sly and quicker than I expect. Some of the amusement seems to leech away from his tone as he says it, and his eyes find mine in the near-dark. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? I mean, you don’t look like a thief or anything, but who can know for sure?”
His stuff.
The duffel bag.
Kayde really had been telling the truth.
Something uncurls inside of me. Like a fist clenched around my ribs and compressing my heart between the sharp bones that I’d been ignoring. Kayde hadn’t lied to me.
And that means a lot more than I’m willing to admit right now.
“That’s a real shame. Maybe your stuff is just somewhere else,” I allow, folding my arms more comfortably around myself. “These woods are pretty dangerous, you know. Especially for someone who maybe shouldn’t be here.”
“Are they?” His soft voice is full of fake shock, and Grey slides to his feet in one graceful movement. “Jeez, I never knew. Does get a little weird around here at night, though.” As I watch, he strides toward us, though stops at a warning sound from Kayde behind me. “Do you ever get scared out here at night, Summer?” he asks, eyes glittering. “Do you ever worry that you might not make it back to your cabin if you go too far into the woods?”
Before I can answer, arms wrap around my chest and I’m pulled back just as Kayde rests his head on my shoulder. From the corner of my eye, I can see his wide, white-toothed grin that looks more predatory than friendly.
“She doesn’t need to worry,” Kayde promises, his hands splayed over my stomach and just under my throat. “Because she knows nothing would happen to her out here. I’d kill any little animal that thought it had a chance with her. You understand.”
To my surprise, Grey takes a step back. Something crosses his face, and he looks between us with a shrewd expression twisting his lips. “All right,” he chuckles at last. “I wasn’t trying to be rude, or anything.”
“Yeah, you definitely were. You can find someone else to play your games with, or you can feed the local wildlife population.” Kayde shrugs, still holding onto me, and it’s hard to not focus on the warmth of his hands or the absolute turn on that is the way he’s talking right now.
Fuck,it really isn’t fair for Kayde to exist.
“Maybe I’m having fun on my camping trip.” There’s a hint of a whine in Grey’s voice, and he edges a step closer, like he’s trying to taunt Kayde into action. Sure enough, Kayde’s hands tighten on my body, and he pulls me back as much as he can until I’m flush against his chest.
“Maybe you should end it early,” my blond psychopath suggests.
“Oh yeah?” I don’t expect it when Grey takes another step forward, until he’s only inches away from me. He ignores the clear warning on Kayde’s face, and the way his hand on my stomach drops to his side instead. “What happens if I don’t end it early? What happens if I want to stay?”
This time, I instantly find the words on my tongue. I suck in a breath, prepared to tell him just where he can stay if the mood strikes him, just as the snap of twigs and crunch of leaves pulls my attention to the space behind us.
Kayde is momentarily distracted too. Which I realize when Grey scoffs and a flurry of movement catches my eye. By the time I’ve reached out like an idiot to stop him, however, Grey is already back over the log, and glances at me with a Cheshire grin on his lips before disappearing into the woods.
And quickly becomes invisible in the darkness around us.
“Down,” Kayde hisses, jerking me to the ground and shutting off the light. He pulls me against Grey’s log, hiding us in the shadow of it, as the steps come closer, following the same path we’d come out here on, it sounds like.
Though there’s no real reason for anyone else to be out here except us.
Especially not Shawn.
Suspicion stirs in my gut as I watch him walk by, and I hold onto Kayde with narrowed eyes as Shawn ambles down the trail without a flashlight in his hand and whistling softly under his breath.
“He shouldn’t be out here,” I murmur, confused as hell, once I’m sure that he’s too far to hear us.
“It’s his night to walk the camp,” Kayde reminds me, though there’s confusion in his voice as well.
“Yeah, okay,” I agree, but shake my head. “But why is he out here? Do you think Liza and Kins told him about the stranger? Maybe he had the same idea as us?”
Kayde doesn’t reply. But I don’t need him to. I can feel the disbelief radiating off of him as Shawn disappears along the trail, and I wonder what Shawn has done to lose Kayde’s underwhelming trust.
Something tells me, it has a lot to do with Darcy.