Dead of Summer

“Oh, they totally did. I broke up their little seance circle this morning,” Kinsley assures me, though from the tone of her voice, it was just another Thursday for her. My kids going feral and attempting to summon the devil for revenge barely makes her blink. “Melody is becoming a little monster, isn’t she? Should we, like, talk to her parents and tell them they might be raising a budding serial killer?”

“Nah,” I mumble around a mouthful of toasted bread and melty cheese. “I think she’s much more of a soon-to-be vigilante than a serial killer. That girl protects the others like it’s her life’s calling. She’ll kill a man or ten one day, I’m sure. But she’ll do it for a good reason.” I chew thoughtfully, dunking another piece of grilled cheese into my ranch and eating it before adding, “Well, I think so. Maybe something will happen that could trigger her uh, villain origin story. Then she would be a real menace to society.”

Not that she already isn’t.

I’m halfway through my chips and eyeing my apple when Liza’s words make me nearly choke on my food. “The last I heard, you weren’t into Kayde.” She sounds more curious than sly or critical. She folds her hands under her chin, elbows resting on the table, and I just sit back in my chair to think about what she’s saying.

“Uh huh,” I agree at last. “It’s just…” I pick up the apple Kayde placed on my plate, scraping at the sticker before pressing it to the plate under my hand. “I don’t know.” My shoulders rise and fall with a hard sigh. “I really didn’t like anything about him. I guess I thought he wasn’t my type? Especially with how friendly and, I don’t know, naïve he acts sometimes. I’m looking for a boyfriend, not a golden retriever.”

He’s not either of those things, but at least the lie is becoming a little easier, since this is now the second time today I’ve had to pretend I’m dating Kayde instead of just going along with his game so that he won’t kill everyone here.

“What changed?” Kinsley is enraptured by my words, and it makes me look away, my eyes fixed on the wood grain of the wall.

What changed was our deal. But that’s not exactly what she’s expecting to hear.

I could tell them, the little voice in my head whispers. If I told them, they could help. I won’t have two more nights with him. We can stop him. Get him arrested?—

My brain screeches to a halt, instantly putting a stop to those thoughts. Something in me is stupidly opposed to telling my best friend and her girlfriend, and no matter how I try to spin it, I can’t believe it’s for their safety.

But there’s no other reason that I can’t tell them. I should tell them, really. Even if he doesn’t kill the campers here, he could very well go find another place to carry out that fantasy.

So why can’t I fucking open my mouth to tell them what’s going on?

Instead, I think of the gentle touch of his aloe-drenched fingers. The way he’d sent me food he knew I’d enjoy.

How he’d stayed in my cabin last night until he knew I was okay.

“Sex,” I lie, my grin wolfish. “Dude, the sex is mind blowing. He’s?—”

“Stop, stop!” Kinsley puts her hands up in surrender, just as Liza gets to her feet with a snort. “Please, just, don’t. I didn’t mean it. You’re going to ruin the campfire for me, and I’m dying for a s’more.”

“Uh, huh…” I follow Liza, getting to my feet and taking a bite out of the apple. “Yeah, okay. I won’t hurt your delicate sensibilities anymore, promise Kins.”

“Good,” Liza states, walking beside me toward the kitchen. “Because I don’t need her being fascinated by whatever he did to your throat and wanting to try it out back at my cabin.”

The admission is so unexpected that I can’t help my giggle, though I stuff my hand in my mouth, trying to muffle it, only to fail miserably.

“Please, there are much worse things than this,” I assure her, touching one of the Bandaids. “Barely even hurt.”

Liza just fixes me with a look and takes my plate from me to dump both of them in the trash. “Somehow, Summer, I don’t believe you in the slightest.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The warm wash of heat from the large fire in front of me is nice. Without much of a breeze, there’s no dodging embers, and the kids are too buzzed in their little groups to plan for tomorrow’s talent show to really cause problems.

I just hope Redtail cabin’s ‘talent’ isn’t going to be murder, a murder plot, a seance, or something illegal. Knowing Melody, though, things can go either way. Keeping my eye on them from time to time, though, I’m relatively mollified they’re just going to put on some kind of play or magic act.

With my luck, they’ll try to saw a boy in half.

Across from me, on the opposite side of the fire, I can just see Kinsley and Liza sitting close on a small log, with their thighs pressed together casually. They don’t look inappropriate, or anything so dramatic. They look like best friends who are really…really close. Honestly, I doubt any of the kids realize they’re dating, since Liza is decent enough not to hang on Kinsley in front of them or leave any problematic marks like the ones scattered around my shoulders and throat.

The log I’m sitting on shifts, causing me to have to rebalance with my feet on the ground in front of me. Expecting Kayde, I look up into Darcy’s face, who’s staring at the fire with narrowed eyes instead of at me.

“I don’t get it,” she mutters, her face blank. “I really don’t get it, Summer.”

“The meaning of life?” I ask flatly, knowing what she wants. Hadn’t I predicted that she’d blame me for her inability to land Kayde? Even though, really, she’s the lucky one between us. Kayde’s a monster, and I doubt Darcy would’ve been able to stop him that night.

Hell, I doubt she would’ve even tried.