Dead of Summer - Page 125

“I’m a little hurt you never asked me to stay,” Kayde admits, slinging an arm over the back of my chair. “You could’ve said something sooner, you know.” There’s a teasing note in his voice, but it does a poor job of hiding the admonishment in his words. He pushes my plate toward me, as if I’ve somehow forgotten, and reluctantly I stab at my hash browns covered in cheese.

“How’s Liza?” Kayde asks, watching me eat without even trying to pretend he isn’t. “I know she got back late last night. Is she okay?”

“She’s…tired,” Kinsley admits. “She stayed at the hospital until Emily’s parents showed up, then filled them in on what happened. It was a lot. Everything is just a lot right now.” Kinsley sucks down half of the scalding liquid in her coffee mug as I watch, but when I don’t take another bite, Kayde taps my elbow pointedly.

“You are not going to track my breakfast eating progress,” I tell him flatly, tone deadpan as I take a bite of bacon. “I’ll stab you with my fork if you poke me again, Kayde.” I probably won’t, and judging by his expression, he knows it too.

“If you don’t eat, I’ll lock you in your cabin and tell the other counselors you can’t go hiking,” Kayde informs me sweetly. “I’m not here to be your caretaker, sweetheart, but you’re not going to pass out on me halfway through the trail.”

He has a point, unfortunately. I chomp the two strips of bacon, my eyes roaming the dining hall as he and Kinsley strike up a conversation about Liza’s medical training. I’ve heard it before, at length, from when Kinsley was merely swooning for her partner instead of involved. For that reason, I mostly zone out, making my way through my breakfast as I look over the campers.

The kids really do look miserable. Like we’ve told them they’ll be doing manual labor all day, or cleaning out toilets until their fingers bleed. Most of them are talking quietly, their eyes flicking from counselor to counselor as if they think we’re going to make some crazy announcement.

On the other side of the room, Daniel, Shawn, and Darcy sit at their usual table. Shawn laughs at something Daniel says, but when Daniel gently elbows Darcy for a reaction, she only shrinks in on herself, looking miserable.

Is it over Emily? That’s all I can think as I watch her seem to curl in on herself, her arms wrapped around her body like she’s trying not to fall apart. Once in a while she glances at the boys, a forced smile pushing its way onto her mouth, though it never reaches her eyes.

When she sees me watching her, she holds my gaze, mouth falling open as if she’s going to call across the dining hall to tell me to fuck off. But instead, Darcy gets to her feet quickly, mumbling something I definitely can’t hear, and bolts out of the dining hall like she’s being chased.

It definitely has to do with Emily. Even Darcy isn’t cold enough to be unaffected, and Daniel watches her go with concern on his features.

But Shawn?

He just goes back to his eggs without a care in the world.

“Summer?” Kinsley sounds tired when she says my name, and I turn to look at her, a questioning hum in my throat. “I’m going to go…to Liza’s cabin. Kayde said he’ll take over my hike for me. Umm.” She blinks once, looking around, and Kayde frowns sympathetically at her. “Can you come by later? I’m just so tired, and I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“You should take her something to eat. There are a few of those styrofoam boxes behind the window. Make her a plate?” Kayde suggests, and Kinsley brightens a little at the suggestion.

“That’s a great idea,” she admits, gathering up her tray. “Thanks, Kayde. You’re not so bad when you work at it.” There’s a little of the usual Kinsley on her face when she walks away, and Kayde snorts his amusement as she heads toward the window.

“I really don’t want to do this hike,” I confide, leaning back against the chair and his arm. “This is such a crap day.”

“Yeah.” Kayde sighs, sounding suddenly exasperated. “Now that she’s gone, I’ll tell you my news. I went looking for Grey this morning, right before the sun came up. You were dead asleep,” he adds, a small grin twitching on his lips.

“I’m sure I was. I was weirdly tired last night.” Not able to help but quip. “Can’t imagine why.” Kayde doesn’t respond right away. Just fixes me with that expectant look of his until I relent with a huff. “Sorry, okay. Did you find him? Was it hard to make him leave?”

“Well, that’s the thing.” He pushes his plate away from him, then taps mine pointedly. “Finish the hash browns, please? Don’t make me worry that you’re going to pass out today.”

Picking up my fork, I scrunch my nose as I push them around my plate. “I’m not hungry,” I mumble, shoulders hunched. “I’ve already had some of them.”

“I know exactly what you’ve had. And if we weren’t here, I’d pin you down and hand feed you until I’m satisfied,” Kayde murmurs rather menacingly.

Too bad I’m so fucked up that instead of being concerned, I find it incredibly fucking hot. The mental image won’t do me any good today, though, so I push it to the back of my mind and wait for his answer while shoving a large bite of hash browns drenched in gravy into my mouth.

“I couldn’t find him,” Kayde admits. “I followed any trail I could, and I found the signs of his campsite. But he wasn’t anywhere in the woods that I could locate.”

I blink at that, trying to process his words as the campers come a little more alive now that they’ve eaten. Though I’m not sure I want them to be that rowdy when I’m leaving with my group in the next ten minutes for our hike. “Do you think he’s gone?” I ask, tapping my knuckles against the fake wood grain of the table.

“Maybe?” Kayde shrugs. “It certainly seems that way. He didn’t exactly seem interested in doing anything to your campers when we met him, so it’s possible he really was just trying to leave when we stole his shit.”

“Yeah,” I concede, though I’m not sure I believe him. Judging by his face, Kayde barely seems to believe himself. “I’ll kind of keep an eye out today when we hike and let you know if we find anything?”

Kayde’s nodding, mouth open, when movement catches my attention. Both Kayde and I turn just as Shawn approaches the edge of the table with an apologetic smile on his face. “Are you almost ready, Summer?” he asks, rubbing one arm and looking a little out of place. His voice is soft, as usual, and it takes me a few moments to stop glaring at him and remind myself that punching him would be wrong.

Then I realize I have no idea what he’s talking about. “Almost ready? For what?” Nothing I’m doing should involve Shawn today.

His grin widens, and he looks so put out and awkward that it’s cringe worthy. “Daniel asked if I could switch with him. So it’s me, you, and Darcy going out this morning. Kayde, Kinsley, and Daniel are going out after.”