The answer seemed to be somewhere between her heart and mind and she couldn't draw the conclusion. But this was just a dream, a part of her offered up as an excuse. Later she'd figure it out. She would, she promised herself.
"You always liked going to the rock before," Derek said.
"Yes, but..." She stopped and glanced down at herself. She was dressed in a pair of cut-offs and a Tshirt. But she was barefoot. It felt good. A soft bed of moist grass and earth beneath her feet. Definitely a dream. If real, she would be feeling the pebbles and thorns. This wasn't real. Not really. But she needed to be careful. She wiggled her toes and tried again to wake up enough to figure out what was right and what was wrong.
Derek turned, still holding her hand, and faced her again. "Just come with me, Kylie. Give me this, please." She could already hear the trickle of the stream flowing through the earth, splashing over stones that had been smoothed by time. The smell of the grass, the woods, and the tall trees scented the air she breathed.
A breeze stirred Derek's hair. "Give me some time to be with you."
She stared at him through her own hair dancing in front of her eyes. Saw the pleading in his gaze.
The word no rested on the tip of her tongue, but then she saw the bruises on his neck. Bruises that looked just as bad as those on Lucas. Not that she'd given those bruises to Derek. Mario had. But it had been because of her. He'd thrown himself at Mario to protect her.
Derek had been willing to die for her.
He loved her.
"Please," he said, and the sound of his voice echoed in her heart like a sad song.Going with him didn't feel completely right, but telling him no didn't feel right either.
"Just to talk," she said, and arched a brow.
"Right." He grinned and the gold flecks in his eyes glittered. She remembered that look, too. A sexy devil-may-care look that hinted he was up to something.
He turned around and she continued following him. In a few minutes, they arrived by the stream. He waved toward the rock.
"Your chariot awaits you, my dear lady," he said in a formal voice, and gave her a bow as if in some school play.
He looked so cute, she couldn't help but grin. "You're being silly."
"Yeah, but if that's what it takes to make you smile, I'll be silly all day long. You had a rough night.
You deserve a little fun."
"I do, don't I?" she said, and then hopped up on the rock. On her chariot.
He jumped up on the rock right after her. His shoulder brushed against hers. She couldn't help but remember the first time they'd come here. It had looked so magical, so much like a fairytale, something from a painting in a children's book. Of course, back then that had happened a lot when she was with Derek, and it didn't have to be just there.
Kylie looked around at the woods and sights. No fairytale feel dominated the place. Maybe the fairytale feel didn't happen in dreams.
Not that it wasn't pretty or soothing to be here. The sun sent a golden color between the trees and their stirring leaves. The air smelled morning fresh. It felt nice to be sitting next to Derek, to feel his shoulder gently pressed against hers. Couldn't she relax? She wasn't going to let anything happen. They were here to talk, she reminded herself.
She looked at him and felt the tickle of attraction making her stomach flutter. For the first time, she noticed the subtle changes in him over the last few months. The boy she had once come to the rock with was almost gone, and a man had taken his place. The hair resting against his brow looked a little darker.
He had a masculine profile, a strong jaw line, and beautiful lips.
He looked down at her. "You know, it was really cool when you turned me invisible."
"Yeah, but it scared the crap out of me when I didn't see you right away when I brought you back."
"I know. I could feel your emotions." He hesitated. "But that was kind of cool, too," he said. "Actually, that was the coolest part."
"No it wasn't," she said. "Seriously, it scared me."
"I know, but that's what made it so cool. Because that's when I knew for sure. That's when I knew you still loved me."
His words echoed in her head and bounced around her heart. He leaned down. His finger brushed across her cheek. His breath whispered across her temple. Oh damn, Kylie thought. Here she was again, up shit creek without a paddle.
* * *
The touch moved across Kylie's chin.
Gentle.
Caring.Loving.
She remembered dreamscaping with Derek, but couldn't remember how it ended. The touch came again. The feel of bedsheets pressed against her side. Oh crap, was she still with Derek? In bed? What the hell had she done?
She jerked her eyes open, scared that ... that ... Yellow eyes stared right at her. Yellow feline eyes.
And a white paw now rested on the tip of her nose.
"Socks." She chuckled with relief, her heart pounding with distant memories of the dream playing peek-a-boo with her mind.
"Hey, baby," she muttered when the cat's paw swatted at her nose. "So you really missed me when I was gone, huh?"
"Everyone did," a voice came from the other side of the room. Before she could force her brain to identify the voice, or to even know if it was male or female, she'd bolted out of the bed and stood wideeyed, staring at ... Okay, she took a deep breath. No reason to panic. It was just Holiday.
"I didn't mean to scare you. I just slipped in to check on you. I was getting a little worried. You've been out for hours. I checked on you two or three times and you didn't even stir."
Kylie blinked and looked at the clock on her bedside table. Three o'clock. "I didn't mean to sleep that long."
"I think you were exhausted," Holiday said, then frowned. "Burnett told me about the whole Hayden episode." Socks jumped off the bed and started doing figure eights around Holiday's ankles.
The camp leader ignored the cat and continued to stare at Kylie.
"About that," Holiday said. Her expression told Kylie that she was about to get a reprimand. Holiday didn't reprimand very often, so when she did, it always seemed to hurt twice as much.
And sure, Kylie might deserve it, but still half asleep, she didn't know if she could take it standing up.
She plopped back on the bed, reached for the teddy bear, and hugged it.
"You can't hide stuff from us, Kylie."
Yup, here came the scolding.
Chapter Thirteen
"I know I shouldn't have hidden it." Kylie's chest tightened. "And I know Burnett was really disappointed in me and you're probably mad at me, too. And I get why. I really, really do. But..." She took a deep breath as the scolding look in Holiday's eyes remained strong.