He treads water easily. We can’t touch here… I guess I drifted out a little farther than I thought. It’s a good thing sharks aren’t known to lurk around Sterling Falls’ water, or else I’d be hightailing it to land at the realization.
“Saint.”
“What?” I stare at him.
The water plasters his dark hair to his head. It’s slicked back, a quick head-toss when he first came up achieving that. I run my hand through my hair. I trimmed it last night, maybe too much. It barely moves under my fingers.
He catches my wrist and drags me closer. “You seem unsettled.”
I scowl. “I am.”
“Did you come to gawk?” He shifts us, so I have a better view of the house. “I was in the ocean when it happened. I was so focused, I didn’t…”
“You shouldn’t be swimming with a fresh tattoo,” I blurt out.
My gaze lands on the art on his chest. It’s loud and proud, a black-and-gray masterpiece of Heaven and Earth. And a pillar between them.
“You’re right,” he says evenly. “Come on.”
He still has my wrist, and I don’t resist him pulling me back.
It rings in déjà vu, although a very different kind. He tows me effortlessly through the water, until he’s striding. And then my toes brush sand, and I stagger along behind him.
He doesn’t stop until we’re right at the edge of the house.
The remnant of it anyway. It stinks of smoke, the still-standing metal pillars coated in soot. The rest is ash. Even the glass walls, the giant, impressive glass walls, have melted.
That’s some fire.
“Artemis,” Kade says with a frown.
I glance at him. Then away. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The breeze is cold, but I fight off a shiver. Thelastthing I need is to show any sort of weakness. Instead, I slick the water from my torso with my palms, shedding the droplets. I shake out my hair.
Kade, in swim trunks alone, goes to a surviving chair. He grabs a towel and wipes his face off, then tosses it to me. I dry briskly. My jeans are a hopeless matter, but as soon as my upper body is try, I give it back.
He smirks, carefully blotting his chest, then firmly swiping it down his abdomen.
“You didn’t want to see me,” he said. “I suppose I should be offended by that.”
Ugh.
“Maybe ask next time instead of making it an order.” I wrinkle my nose. “Why are you swimming here anyway? Shouldn’t you be in West Falls?”
“This is a natural intersection of West and North.”
It sounds like he’s agreeing with me?
“Where do you and Artemis stand?” I ask suddenly, facing him.
“That’s what you want to talk about?”
“Yes.”
He frowns. “I’d say Artemis and I aren’t standing anywhere near each other right now.”
“Because…?” I just need him to admit it. And then I need to make sense of why me giving him a tattoo led her to burn down his house. I’m eighty-seven percent certain it went in thatorder anyway. She went on the defensive after I told her, which means…
I need to get my head out of my ass when it comes to her.
