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Darien dropped into a crouch and dipped his fingers into the water. Judging from the frown that tipped down one corner of his mouth, it wasn’t nearly as cold as she thought it was.
“It’s not cold, is it?” she asked him.
He stood back up and shook the water off his hand. “See how you feel after a few minutes. Tell me if anything seems alarming.” He watched as she bobbed in the water on her tiptoes. It felt unsettling to be watched by him all the time, but she also didn’t want him to go away. She wasn’t sure what it was about Darien, but she felt safer when he was with her, as if he truly could stop anything bad from happening. “Why don’t you try swimming for a bit?” he suggested.
“Do you want to join me?” Maybe she wouldn’t feel so awkward if he got in the water too.
Or maybe she would feel worse because that would mean he’d have to take off his shirt.
Yeah, seeing him half-naked would probably make this way worse.
“Maybe another time,” he said.
“You want to stay dressed and keep your boots on in case something bad happens to me, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer, but she knew she’d struck the nail on the head.
“Why are you doing all this?” Her voice was quiet and breathy, and her teeth chattered again.
He merely said, “Because I care.”
They looked at each other for a moment that seemed to last forever. The undivided attention he always gave her made her heart skip beats.
He turned away suddenly, squeezing his eyes shut, a muscle working in his square jaw. When he reopened them again, Loren caught a glimpse of the black before it faded away.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He started pacing the length of the pool. “Just swim around for a bit. Pretend I’m not here.” Pretending he wasn’t here when he sucked the air out of every room he entered was pretty much impossible.
But she did as he’d asked, and for once he didn’t watch her. He just kept pacing, squeezing his eyes shut every few minutes.
And then he stalked to the glass doors that led into the house, pushed one open, and shouted up the stairs. “Ivy!” A pause. “Ivy!”
It took her a couple of minutes to get down here, and when she did, they conversed in tones too quiet for Loren to hear.
And then Darien disappeared inside.
Ivy came to the edge of the pool. She tugged off her socks, rolled up her jeans, and dipped her feet into the water. “Darien will be back in a bit,” she said with a tight smile.
But Loren was starting to be able to tell when they were hiding things, and she knew Ivy was hiding that something was wrong with him.
“You’re addicted, aren’t you?” Tanner asked.
Darien stood across from him in the kitchen, dripping Venom into his eyes. Jack and Kylar were here too.
“I think it’s making my Surges worse,” Darien said. He put the cap back on and shoved the bottle into the back pocket of his jeans.
Jack grinned. “Is that even possible?”
Kylar widened his eyes and said, “I don’t really think now’s the best time for jokes, Jack.”
“But ill-timed jokes are my specialty.” Jack’s smile faded the moment he met Darien’s stare. “Please don’t excommunicate me.”
Tanner looked concerned. “You might want to go easy on that,” he said to Darien. “How many bottles did you get?”
“Three. More than I expected.”
Jack said, “Hopefully he didn’t dilute it.”
