My Date From Hell (3 page)

Survival trumped teen drama.

I glanced down to find Kai gazing up at me. Not talking, just taking me in.

I refused to squirm and stared back determined. My mouth was oddly dry. I swallowed a few times and refused to look away.
Knock yourself out
. I hadn’t survived everything to this point to be undone by his charms.

Upon closer examination, Kai’s usual hotness seemed tempered by exhaustion. Dark circles marred the skin under his rich brown eyes that reminded me of espresso. His stubble was fuller and his dark hair had grown out slightly, the tips curling just past his ears. The tiny silver scar which he’d gotten courtesy of Persephone when he’d abducted her seemed more pronounced against the streaks of dirt and dried blood on his face. His lips were cracked and swollen.

Too bad none of it lessened my attraction.

He smiled dopily at me and I leaned in, realizing that his eyes were glazed. The manacles may have come off, but Kai still rocked a massive after-shock.

I flashed back to the last time I’d seen him. In all his true eighteen-foot-god glory, there’d been a moment right before he abandoned me, when he’d sent me this look of incredible tenderness. I’d never been sure if I’d really seen that look or just wished I had.

Back in his earth form and six-feet-tall, Kai looked at me the same way now. Somehow, it made him look vulnerable. He tugged on his battered black shirt. In anyone else, I would have sworn it was a nervous gesture. I could see how the chains had shredded the fabric, leaving his skin beneath it red and raw. His eyes dipped away briefly before returning to my face.

Slowly, he drew his denim-clad legs up to his chest, to prop himself upright. His hard thighs visible through the many tears in in his jeans were of no interest to me. I looked at them twice just to make sure. Just to take my mind off the bloodstains and bruising, I told myself.

My fingers twitched, wanting to reach for him. I crossed my arms, and stuffed my hands into my armpits.

Kai’s brow furrowed. He blinked slowly with those ridiculously fringed lashes then reached out to take my hand. His skin was rough but his touch feather gentle.

Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

Kai leaned in to me and nuzzled his face into my neck. His arms circled me and he held me tight, inhaling my scent and cradling me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

Either Kai had a severe head injury or he’d been possessed, because he was never tender like this.

I gritted my teeth. He made it very hard to hate him.

I couldn’t shake the thought that this was another of his famous mind-games. That he had faked being out of it from the start. However, I still wanted answers. Maybe a warm, pliant Kai would be a talkative Kai. And if he shut up fast, then I’d know he was just playing me.

I wasn’t above exploiting the situation to find out.

And that’s all this was
—
a fact-finding mission. “Kai,” I murmured.

His hold on me tightened.

I felt so warm and safe. Facts. I was here for facts.

“Tell me why you took Theo’s chain.” The chain that had been forged so Zeus could bind Prometheus to a rock and have an eagle eat his liver as punishment for giving mankind fire. Since Prometheus no longer had any power in his human form, it was his only weapon. “You stole it. Knowing it was all Theo had, just so you could what? Go after Hades in his poisoned state?”

“Had to,” he rumbled, his voice scratchy, as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time. It was growly and sexy and his slightly foreign accent was the tiniest bit more pronounced. For some reason it made me think of rumpled beds.

No! Not beds. Bad, nasty things like uh
—

Kai nipped on the hollow of the left side of my neck which remained my Kryptonite. Every nerve flared to life screaming “more” as lust ripped through me and my mind went blank.

I placed my hands on his chest and tried to shove him back. Get some breathing space. Oxygen was exceedingly elusive right now.

In response he nipped me again.

Had Kai come with a medicine label it would have read: take sparingly. Side effects may include: full body tingling, inability to catch a breath due to tightening ribs, and wonkyheadedness.

“Focus, Kyrillos,” I ordered sternly. Or at least muttered weakly before letting out something embarrassing close to a moan as he licked the spot he had nipped.

Yeah, definitely a moan. It only fired him up hotter.

I couldn’t let him touch me. Was not going to let him fondle his way into forgiveness.

Answers. Now. I had to get back in control of this situation. I’d turn the tables.

I held his arms in place at his sides and nuzzled his jaw. “The chain, Kai. What happened?” The skin under my lips felt bristly and tasted salty and I sort of forgot this was supposed to be an assault tactic as I fell into the spiciness of him.

“Chose you, Goddess,” he mumbled. He groaned and tumbled us to the floor.

“I know,” I tensed under him. “You wouldn’t ever let Hades hurt Persephone.”

Seriously, I so did not want to be reminded of her right now.

“You.” He was starting to slur.

I ignored the tinge of guilt I felt knowing that he really hadn’t come to his senses properly. Was still in a stupor and would never have been answering me otherwise. “Yes. Me. I am Persephone. But I’m Sophie. Do you get that?” I bent a knee and placed my bare foot against the cool floor, the better to support his hot, heavy weight.

Kai suckled the skin above my collarbone.

My last iota of reason jumped up and down in my brain reminding me of my real purpose. The rest of me tried to beat it into getting with the pleasure program, but he was a determined little bugger.

Kai’s head dropped against my chest.

I dragged my foot along his leg, sliding it against his toes. I gave him a prod.

“Hades poisoned
himself
,” he got out thickly, rolling off me.

I sat up abruptly, hot anger flooding my system. “That bastard! He framed me.” But why? Any way I looked at it, I came up blank.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense. If he wanted me out of the way, he’d have killed me. Not frame me.”

Kai raised himself enough to lean over me, staring into my eyes. His expression stayed partially glazed and dazed, evidenced by his blinks that were becoming slower and slower.

I cupped his chin in my hands. “Stay with me here, bad boy.” I needed to understand.

“Test.”
Blink
.

“For …” I prompted.

“My loyalty.” He paused and I waited, unsure if there was more. “You … or him.” Very slow blink.

“But if you went after him then that meant …”

His gaze softened and he started to sway. “Chose. You.”

I laid him on the ground in case he fainted and considered what he’d said. It was sweet, I guess. “You chose Persephone again.”

“Chose Sophie,” he mumbled. His lids fell shut.

Holy. Hannah.

I scrambled to my feet and began to pace.

That was … wow … he chose me.
Me
. Then again, especially since his little revenge trip had failed, he still needed me to defeat Hades.

I stopped pacing and stood over his body, staring down at him with a frown. Perhaps “chose” was a little vague. Somewhat undefined.

I squatted down next to him, watching the rise and fall of his chest.

What verb would he have used with Persephone?
Want
?
Desperately need to kiss
? Those would have been perfectly fine verb choices for me, too.

Love
? I didn’t want that. Kai and love were a dangerous, potentially lethal combo. But there it was. The specter of her once again.

I was stuck in a not-love triangle with myself.

I was a means to an end and not the end itself. I wanted to open my mouth to ask
why
he chose me but I couldn’t make my lips move. I could single-handedly take on the minions of the Underworld and Olympus, but I didn’t have the guts to ask the boy I crushed on a simple question.

Kai stirred fitfully. “Never again,” he rasped.

“While I’d like to believe that of a whole bunch of situations, for now, you gotta wake up and help us get out of here,” I said, slapping his cheeks with my hand, hoping he’d come to.

I may have slapped him a bit too hard, because his eyes snapped open and he snatched my hand in mid-air before it could land on his cheek again.

His eyes narrowed. “Tell me I’m hallucinating.” His voice was low and still rough, but lucid.

Yippy. Totally back to normal.

I yanked my hand free. “I can see how you think that sounds like ‘Thank you, Sophie, for freeing me with your fine lock-picking skills,’ but really, it’s nowhere close.”

“You freed me?” Could he sound more incredulous? Doubtful.

I shrugged modestly. I was so going to enjoy Kai thanking me.

Kai pushed to his feet with a rustle and only the tiniest sway. If I hadn’t been watching him closely, I wouldn’t have seen any sign of weakness. He peered closely at my face. “Blood?”

I raised a finger to touch the tracks of dried blood along my cheeks.

He cast a suspicious glance behind me then stormed over to the two sets of manacles, hauling me along for the ride.

He kicked at one of the sets before turning an accusing glower on me. “You were cuffed?”

I shivered at the menace in his voice. Kai was barely civilized at the best of times, but right now the expression on his face made me think he’d fallen a few rungs lower.

Not that it scared me. I poked him in the chest, hard. “Not willingly, idiot. I was an exalted guest of Zeus’ for a few days.”

I waited for his snarky comment about how stupid I’d been to let myself get captured.

It never came. His jaw tensed. “Did he hurt you?”

I crossed my arms. “Wow, Kai. I could almost believe you care. The saying must be true. Absence
does
make the traitorous manbag’s heart grow fonder.”

His eyes went flat black, the way they did when he got angry.

My heart sped up. Sadly, not in fear.

“Are you accusing me of something?” he asked.

Was he kidding? Anger and adrenaline from everything I’d experienced hit me like a freight train. “You’re a jerk.”

Mr. Broody didn’t like that. He prowled toward me, forcing me backwards.

I scooted back, ignoring the pain on the cut up soles of my feet, until eventually my spine hit the wall. I spread out my arms and legs, attempting to create a large bubble of personal space that even he would get the point to stay clear of.

He knocked my right leg aside and got in close.

I willed my body to stay relaxed.

The picture of indifference.

“Think carefully about insulting me.” He leaned forward.

My choices were press myself back further into the wall or let his body cover me.

Ooh, actually, I had a third option.

I called up whatever tiny amount of power had managed to recharge. It was enough for one weak vine to snake out. I wrapped it around his waist and flung him clumsily against the metal table with a satisfying thunk.

The dummy gave a low laugh as he rubbed his hip. “Foreplay? Better give me a sec to recuperate.”

That was it. I would have attacked him again but my power gage had hit empty. I lunged across the space to pummel him. “You think it’s funny?”

Kai winced and I felt a spasm of guilt about hitting a guy who was already so battered. But he only allowed me about a punch and a half before my hands were grasped in a steel grip and my body arched backwards against the table. “What is your problem? And keep your bitching down to a murmur. We don’t want to attract attention.”

I lowered my voice. “While you may not have truly betrayed me since
—
I guess
—
you were rectifying the poisoning situation
—
”

Kai’s brow creased in confusion. “How do you know that?”

The fact he didn’t remember being all sweet and honest with me minutes before made me even angrier. “You still abandoned me.” I yanked myself free and shoved him away from me.

“What?” He did sound rather surprised. His face was all scrunched up in confusion. “I was coming back.”

I glowered at him. “To gloat on my grave? Which wouldn’t have existed because there wouldn’t have been any of me left to bury. Last time we saw each other, you left me to die in in a rapidly unravelling alternate reality forged by an insane dragon.”

Kai reached for my throat and I tensed, thinking he wanted to choke me but all he did was angrily grab my sapphire pendant and hold it up for me to see. “And you didn’t use this because … ?”

I stared at him blankly.

Kai blinked, incredulous. “You don’t remember that either? Theo didn’t tell you?”

I snatched the pendant away. “I’m sure had Theo known to tell me something, he would have. His life was on the line, too.”

“Then I was the only other person who knew?” He roughly ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re gonna be the death of me.”

I leaned in, letting him see my resentful anger. “Yeah, in about five seconds.”

That only made the infuriating boy grin. He hooked a finger into the necklace and tugged me close.

I went, shuffling forward. But only because I didn’t want my chain broken.

“Sophie,” he purred, “this little baby isn’t just a pretty trinket. You can transport via trees. If you’d touched one of the laurel trees there and thought of Hope Park, it would have brought you through to a tree on your school’s property. I figured that’s why you lifted it.” He released the pendant and the sapphire thunked against my chest.

“It was a gift from my mom,” I mumbled.

I bowed my head and traced the cool edges of the table with my fingertip, following the path until I’d walked around to the other side. I gripped the lip of the table, needing something solid between the two of us, something to ground me since having my understanding of reality thrown for a loop had severely disoriented me.

My righteous indignation had been knocked out of me in one fell swoop. I didn’t like the feeling. This whole time I’d thought he’d betrayed me and left me for dead. When all he’d really been guilty of was taking Theo’s chain.