Toxic (Denazen #2)(82)

Stunned silence filled the room. Ginger, happy to be the center of attention again, turned to me. “Deznee, you’re telling us that Alex advised you to take Cross up on his offer? Please, tell me, what are the side effects of this poison?”

Alex had never suggested going to Dad. I’d imagined the whole thing. “Intense pain and…hallucinations,” I replied a little sheepishly.

That’s what Able had said at the restaurant. What else hadn’t been real? Jade had already confirmed the ice cream place—thank God—but what about the kiss I saw?

Of course that’d never happened. Kale wouldn’t do that to me. It all made sense. The fuzzy, erratic feeling I’d felt just before it’d happened. It was similar to the way things warped during my conversation with Alex. The whole thing had been one big, horrific hallucination.

Ginger nodded and pointed to the door. “Everyone out except for Kale, Deznee, and Sue.”

Once the door closed, she turned to Kale. “You will not be going back to that place.”

He started to argue, but she snapped her fingers and turned to me. “And neither will you.”

Kale let out an audible breath and leaned back against the wall.

“We will arrange a trade. Deznee will tell Cross she is willing to go with him if he cures her, but he must bring the cure with him. We will be lying in wait and ambush him.”

“The cure is a person—Able’s brother, Aubrey. Able poisons, and Aubrey heals.”

“Even better. Much easier to find than a small vial.”

“What about the Supremacy cure?” Kale asked as Ginger made her way to the door.

“We must go through one door at a time, Kale. If Deznee doesn’t survive the poison, then the Supremacy side effects won’t matter.”

And she was gone, followed by Mom, leaving me alone with Kale.

Kale took my arm in his hand, taking care to let the fabric slid back down over my skin. “He knew about this, and I didn’t.”

He meant Alex. “Yeah.”

“Because I hurt you. Because you know it would hurt me?”

“Sorta—I mean, not really… It’s comp—”

He was glaring at me.

Then his words really sank in. The bottom fell out from my stomach, and my newly formed, oh-so-fragile puff of hope disintegrated. “Wait—hurt me?”

“When I kissed Jade. I hurt you.”

I didn’t answer right away—I couldn’t. My tongue felt heavy, and my throat was dry. It was like watching it happen all over again. In slow motion.

He understood my hesitation. Expression pained, he said, “You thought it was a hallucination.”

“Guess it wasn’t.” Taking a deep breath, I answered his question. “And yeah, you hurt me, but I didn’t tell Alex to hurt you back. Actually, I didn’t tell Alex. He found out on his own. He saw it a few days ago, before it got this bad.”

Kale’s face darkened. “He saw it? How did he see it? Did you—”

It took me a minute to figure out what he was hinting at. “Oh, God! No. How could you even ask—” Then it really hit me. “And whoa—that reaction? Wrong on so many levels after what happened with Jade, Kale. You know, that thing that wasn’t a hallucination?”

He was quiet for a minute, so I decided to keep talking before I chickened out.

“It’s one or the other.” I swallowed. The pain surged, and a wave of dizziness swept over me. A rush of heat, then an arctic chill, followed by a dull, all-over ache. “I tried to warn you this might happen. That once you were able to touch—”

He growled and stepped away. “You make me want to scream. It’s very strange.”

“Right back atcha.”

His expression softened. “I have no feelings for Jade.”

“You kissed her. Hell, you even asked first. And at the ice cream place—Jade’s hand. You said it was different. Good different.”

He smiled. “It was. It didn’t come close to the feeling I get when I hold yours. I kissed Jade so you could stop worrying. About me. About us. About her. I had no intention of hiding it from you.”

Time stopped. The air stilled, and the music downstairs quieted. “You—”

Carefully, he reached across and placed my hand over his heart. “My heart only beats like this for you. No amount of touching, no other girl, nothing will ever change that. I knew you didn’t believe me. After what happened on the crane, when Jade took my hand in the conference room, I saw it in your eyes. Doubt. It was hard for me to deal with that—having you feel so uncertain. I wanted you to feel as sure about me as I do about you.”

I felt like there was an entire bag of cotton stuffed inside my mouth. “So you thought kissing her would get rid of my doubt?”

Kale took a step back. “Of course. I kissed her and have no desire to do so again. It fixes everything.”

“So you’re saying it was a bad kiss?”

“Bad,” he mused. “Not bad. Enjoyable, actually. Although she’s rather pushy. She kept trying to take her shirt off the other night.”

“You’re not winning the argument here…”

“I kissed her to prove to you that no one else matters. I’ve spent time with her. Held her hand. I’ve had something to compare you to, and it changes nothing.”