His eyes hold mine for long enough that his anger begins to melt, and he sees where I’m coming from. Nodding tersely that he understands, he reaches up to cup my cheek, brows furrowing in earnest.
Poppy, finally having plucked up enough courage to make it to the top of the stairs, jets past us with a meow and a hiss, sprinting noisily down the hall and making me jump and yelp in fright. Clutching at my heart as Kage’s shoulders bounce with silent laughter, I swat at him and turn around, facing the impending darkness.
It’s now or never.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KAGE
Summer hasa way of making me see things in a perspective I’ve never been lucky enough to know before.
I understood little to nothing of the real world before I ran, so I didn’t even know where to begin once I found myself free. I wandered the streets for a while, always looking over my shoulder for Carter or my father, but the further I tread from Colorado, the lighter my steps became.
I eventually found myself working under the table at farms along the way, like I do now—just with weed and outlaws this time around. The first family to take me in were endlessly kind. Jack and Hannah Colt, newlyweds taking over his family’s farm that spanned five generations. They never pried too much, but Jack caught on quickly how little I knew. He’d often over-explain things whenever I was near, teaching me from afar without embarrassing me in front of the other farmers.
Watching how gentle he was toward Hannah was a crash course in how to treat women. Seeing the love and adoration in her eyes every time she looked his way became an obsession to me; all I wanted from that point forward was for my own partner to view me the same.
I learned so much in that year and a half. They bought me my first phone, taught me how tolegallydrive, how to cook and properly clean. In a way, I was their adopted child. But they knew I’d eventually fly the coop, and I did the day I saw Carter in town at the local diner. He hadn’t spotted me, so I quietly fled further north into denser, older forests with secrets dark and sinister like mine.
It was Jack I called last week to get Poppy for me. Without hesitation, he found the shelter and picked her up, saying he needed a mean old mouser for his barns. And then he drove halfway across California to pass her off to me so I could have a small chance at seeing Summer smile.
And right now, she’sbeaming.
The moon looks like a thumbnail clipping—fuck if I know what phase that’s supposed to be called—and the stars? They’re like a spilled jar of silver glitter across a navy canvas, clustered more in some areas.Milky Way. The candy bar and the name of our galaxy. I remember watching something about that, and ever since, I’ve always enjoyed coming out here at night to spot it. Up here on this quiet, dangerous mountain, no light from the town below or distant cities disrupts the darkness, making everything shine that much brighter.
Nothing will ever shine as brightly as Summer’s sparkling green eyes, though, and she turns that devastating smile on me, wielding it like a weapon. We sit side by side on the overgrown patch of crab grass in what would be the backyard of my property. It’s more a jungle than anything, nature closing back in around what humans greedily overtook a century or so ago. This house and the land it sits upon are a far cry from the manicured gardens and pristine stone façades I knew as a youth, and something in me craves the wild, untamed beauty of it.
I think that’s why I love Summer’s curly, kinky hair—even more so now that it’s grown and imperfect. She’s meant to bewild and free, sprinting through the forest like a wood nymph while I guard and protect her.
If only I didn’t have to be the monster who imprisoned her.
I want so badly to tell her the truth, but she’s still not ready. I think I’ll know when she is; I’m just praying it’s soon, before Carter bombards our lives and I’m forced to do unspeakable things to keep her away from him.
She turns her grin to me, and it fades a little, her eyes tracing what she can see of my face. Those keen eyes can read me far better than anyone I’ve come across before, and it’s sort of a humbling experience. “I never see the stars like this where I live. I used to, before I moved to San Diego.”
The corner of my mouth rises in a gentle smile. A soft, cool breeze ruffles her hair, pulling it across her slender shoulders. She’s wearing a white tee shirt of mine with some beer logo emblazoned across the front and a pair of athletic shorts with the strings tied about as tightly as they’ll go. I like seeing her in my clothes, as though even when I’m gone to work, she’s shrouded in my protection.
She turns her gaze back to the stars and the tips of the swaying pines and evergreens. All is quiet, save for the rush of wind in the trees and the crickets in the rustling grass.
“Why’d you do it?” she whispers, voice tight, not bothering to turn and glance my way. My spine stiffens, and I bite the inside of my cheek. With a heavy breath, I drop my gaze to the shadowy ground between my knees, searching there for an easy answer to a puzzle I created myself. But there is no easy answer for this problem, and self-loathing courses through me with each heavy beat of my heart.
“Kage.”
Her voice is stern, verging on demanding, and I glance at her. Lips pressed thin, she gives me a scolding look that has my stomach sinking in guilt and reproach. I replay her words fromearlier, when she paused out of fright in the hallway.I never thought I’d leave that basement, Kage. Most girls don’t.
She’s right. It’s a horrific truth that this world is full of monsters, villains who prey on women and children. I was born of those monsters, but I am not one of them. How do I reconcile what I was, with what I am, and what I want to be now?
I shake my head and sigh, turning my gaze back to the stars.
“If…if I guess, will you tell me?”
Shocked, I glance at her, brows raised. She’s earnest, holding her knees to her chest, her bare toes tapping—a nervous habit. Summer always has to be moving, even in her sleep. I’ve watched her for months now, and the first time she moaned, I stroked my dick twice before coming all over my hand.
One perk to not being able to speak, I suppose; she couldn’t hear me moaning her name in my head while I watched her.
Considering her lofty proposal, a shakiness I’m not used to takes root in my chest, and I nod once. She’ll still not know the full extent, but if I can give her something, then maybe she’ll warm to me a little more.
Her eyes ignite at my gesture, and she sits up straighter, facing me as the moon’s pale beams caress her freckled cheeks. I follow her lead, shifting to sit criss-cross like her, our knees almost touching, both of us attentive and nervous. A coy, playful look falls across her features, her thin brows lowering over her almond eyes.
