Dead of Summer - Page 117

A low noise that I recognize as someone clearing their throat catches my attention, and I jerk my head up to see Darcy standing behind me, her face pinched and uncomfortable behind a pair of designer sunglasses.

“Yeah?” I ask, brows raising. “You want something? I don’t think Kayde likes you very much anymore. So maybe don’t push me into the pool or some other shit.”

“I’m not going to push you into the pool.” Darcy’s voice is a quiet mutter, and I can feel the contempt wash over me as she speaks. She might not do it, but she definitely wants to. But she doesn’t continue. She doesn’t say a damn thing as she stares at me from behind her sunglasses, though I can definitely feel her distaste just as clearly as the contempt.

“Can I help you with something? Do you want to, I don’t know, dump all of your kids on me while you run off to the boathouse with Shawn?” My words aren’t meant to be cruel, but Darcy flinches like I’ve just accused her of the worst thing in the world. Her arms come up, and Darcy seems to hug herself as she stands behind my chair, twisting like a child caught doing something bad.

But she still doesn’t offer me any explanation. I see her chin jerk up as she glances across the pool, and when I follow her look, I find Kayde’s gaze on her. And, well, I can’t really blame him for not looking particularly friendly. But when he looks at me, as if asking for permission, I shake my head just enough that he has to get the message. After all, I’ve never been afraid of Darcy or her caustic words.

And I certainly won’t be starting today.

“Look. Is there something you want? If something’s wrong, just tell me. You know I’ll help with whatever?—”

“Have you ever done something you regret? Or, I don’t know, heard about something happening you know shouldn’t?” She cuts me off like I hadn’t been speaking and seems to hover in place like the least comfortable prey animal I’ve ever laid eyes on. Hell, at this point, it seems as if she’ll bolt if I clap my hands or make any sudden movements, so I just wait for her to figure out what she wants.

But then she just…doesn’t continue, and it occurs to me the question isn’t rhetorical. Though it’s stupid enough that it should be.

“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of things I regret,” I tell her, self-consciously rubbing the scar over my eye. That’s certainly not one of them, but it’s become almost a nervous tick. “And uh, kind of?” Kayde probably counts for the second part. And not telling the police, or anyone else, had probably been a mistake on my part once I knew what he was at Camp Crestview for originally.

However, that seems to have worked out. Somewhat. Maybe.

Well, okay, I’m still not so sure about the outcome of that. But Darcy barely seems to be listening to me. She rubs her arms as if she’s cold, though the day is sweltering for this late in the summer. Instead of looking at me, she stares at the pool, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

“We’re not friends,” she announces suddenly, and I blink up at her, bemused and utterly nonplussed.

“Yeah, we’re definitely not,” I assure her. “We haven’t ever been friends. This summer has kind of made that even clearer, huh?” My voice is dry as I speak to her, and not for the first time in the past minute, I wonder what in the world is going on.

“What would you do if I’d done something bad?” she asks finally, and I barely hear her words over the yells from the kids in the pool and Kayde’s sharp, barking advice to them.

Something bad? The alarm bells in my head are ringing, and I turn without standing to look up at her, dragging my sunglasses off of my face as I do.

But Darcy doesn’t return the favor. She doesn’t let me see her eyes, and I wonder if that’s intentional. “I’d help you.” My words, my voice, my tone are all earnest, because I’m not lying. Even though she looks at me with a quirked mouth that shows me she thinks I am. “No, I’m serious. I’d help you, Darcy. Just because you aren’t my friend doesn’t make you the boogeyman.”

She flinches at that, and I have no idea why. I certainly haven’t insulted her, I don’t think. If anything, I’ve done the opposite. But the way Darcy recoils makes me nervous, and I wish for the first time I could read minds, or faces, or at least body language better than this.

“You wouldn’t,” Darcy murmurs. “You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not.” Worried that getting up will spook her, I remain sitting. “I’d help you, Darcy. Okay?” I don’t know how else to convince her, and she certainly doesn’t look like she believes me.

Her mouth opens, then closes, and she glances up toward Kayde once more. “I’ve got to go,” she says at last, and when I follow the direction of her face, I see that Kayde is sauntering around the pool, his eyes firmly on her. Sure enough, Darcy takes one step back, then another, before reluctantly looking back down at me.

“Be careful in the woods. Be careful near the?—”

“Everything okay, Darcy?” Kayde’s words are sharp, and the smile on his face is anything but friendly.

Darcy doesn’t stick around to answer. She turns and walks away from the pool as quickly as she can, disappearing around the edge of Otter Hall as she breaks into a jog.

Kayde comes to a stop beside me, and I get to my feet slowly. “That was really weird,” I tell him, shoving my sunglasses back on my face. “Like…even for Darcy.”

“What did she say?” His voice is sharp. Demanding. I turn to look at him, brows raised, but he just gives me a blank look in reply to show me he really isn’t joking.

“That’s the thing.” I lift my shoulders and drop them in a helpless shrug. “She didn’t say anything at all that made sense. She asked what I’d do if she’d done something bad. Then she told me to be careful.”

“Be careful of what?”

Again, I shrug. “Who knows?” It’s not worth worrying about. Not when it could just be Darcy trying to freak me out. “Maybe she took one of Kins’ edibles and it didn’t agree with her.” Kayde shrugs in agreement, but I’m not an idiot.

Neither of us believe that’s the case in the least.