Void(64)

“I wasn’t done talking!” he yelled at my back, but I just pushed faster. Pushed harder. I wanted to run from my problems, and it made me feel sick, too. Shouldn’t I want this? I’d been begging to be accepted from day one, but this acceptance came at a cost. It was shaky and unnerving to know that one wrong move could send the shaky foundation I was finally starting to build crumbling to the fucking ground.

“Well, I’m done talking to you!” I screamed back over my shoulder.

But then I felt hands grip me, and I was spun around, my body a whirlwind, helpless to stop his lips from crashing down on mine. His lips were hard and unyielding like he wanted to hold me hostage in a kiss. My arms came up around his neck, and I wrapped a hand around him, scratching his skin with my nails. We were like cold water dumped on sizzling coals. All steam and hisses.

Quade poured every last regret upon my mouth, and I opened up to accept his guilt. I wanted to feel his pain as he seared his body to mine, the fire burning in my gut, mixing with the cool balm of his remorse.

“Stop kissing me,” I moaned against his lips as my hands roamed his muscular body.

“No,” he replied before threading his fingers through my hair and dipping me back to deepen the kiss. Tears streamed down my cheeks because this was all I’d ever wanted. All of a sudden, it felt like the Void wasn’t smoke or destruction—it was a wall that I’d built up around myself to protect me from rejection. But right now, Quade was inside those walls with me, and that scared the shit out of me.

“Stop” I said, pulling back. I half-heartedly shoved against his chest, but we both knew it was for show. Using his free hand, Quade grabbed my hips, bracing me against his hard body, holding me still so that I’d accept his apology.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Dev.”

His words burned up my eyes and choked up my throat.

He moved in to kiss my neck, when a rustling in the trees behind me caught his attention. We both looked over to check, and to my utter mortification, I saw my father, in all his demon glory, step out onto the path.

He took one look at where Quade’s hands still held my hips, and his entire face darkened. Fire burned in his eyes. Literally. Sparks shot from his fingertips, and he had to curl them into fists before he spread the flames of hell around the academy’s lawn. That was the problem with demons. They tended to be hot-headed.

“Get the fuck away from my daughter.”

Quade instantly dropped his hold on me and took a step back. “Apologies, Mr. Cainson.”

My father sneered at him as he stalked toward us. “The name’s Mr. Risk. Devicka has her mother’s last name. The bitch wouldn’t even give me that much.”

Surprise flitted across Quade’s face, but I just scowled at him. “Dad, what are you doing here?”

His dark brown eyes slowly dragged away from Quade, but they instantly softened when they rested on my face. Until he realized I was only in a man’s dress shirt, and then that look grew angry again.

“It’s not his!” I said quickly...then instantly regretted that since it definitely didn’t help things.

“So you’re just in some other guy’s shirt?” he demanded.

“Uhh…”

He shook his head and sighed. “Fucking daughters,” he muttered.

I smiled and looked him over. He looked the same as always. Brown hair combed back, a handsome five o’clock shadow dusting his jaw. A dimple in his chin and a scar below his ear. He was tall and formidable, with the kind of presence that made people watch him warily out of the corner of their eyes. He tempted humans to take life-altering risks every day, and dabbled in the occasional hellfire fight. But to me, he was just Dad.

He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. Before the paragons, he was the only super who ever touched me willingly. “I heard from your mother that you’d gotten shipped off here. Came to check on you. How you doing, kid?”

“I’m…”

I trailed off, not knowing what to say. The truth was, I didn’t know how I was. So much had happened...so much was still happening. I needed time to think, but time was a luxury that I didn’t seem to have anymore. I still hadn’t even really processed what I’d done to the vampire and shifter back at the trial. Add that to the other students here at the school, Banner, Judge Braxton and the headmaster...the vampire attack that was started by a damn professor, the paragons’ sudden change...I was a wreck.

My father seemed to pick up on all of the things I wasn’t saying, because he nodded before dropping his hand. “Thought so.” He flicked his eyes back to Quade. “Why are you still here, elemental? Leave.”

“Dad,” I chastised. “Be nice.”

“Why? This is the little shit who stopped being your friend. Don’t think I didn’t recognize him.”

I sighed, and Quade was stupid enough to pipe in. “You’re right, and we were actually just talking about that.”

“Was that before or after I heard my daughter tell you to stop, and you refused to get the fuck away from her?” he said, his tone deadly low.

I jumped in between them in case he decided to try and burn Quade alive. “Okay, take it easy, Dad. Quade was just leaving.”

“Yeah, he sure as shit was.”

Quade glanced down at me, but I nodded, urging him to go.