a tree. "We were talking, and there's this thing I'd wanted to do." I glanced over at the bonfire. It seemed too far away now.
"What?"
He placed a massive hand on my shoulder, and his grip was tight. The feeling that crept over me was more than just the ick factor. It was something else. It was more powerful, leaving a strange taste on the roof of my mouth, like when the Arum had spoken to me outside the library.
He leaned in, pulling me forward at the same time, dipping his head.
I froze for a second, and that was all it took.
His mouth was on mine, tasting of beer and breath mints. He made a sound and pushed forward. My back was against a tree before I could shove him back, and he still kept pushing forward, kissing my tightly sealed lips. I couldn't breathe. Placing my hands on his chest, I pushed until I was able to wrench my mouth free.
"Whoa there, Simon, that's too much," I said, dragging in air. I tried to wiggle myself free, but he was unmovable.
"Aw come on, it's not too much." His hand worked its way between me and the tree, until it was against my back, holding me in place.
I pushed again against his chest, angry. "I didn't come here for this!"
Simon laughed. "Everyone comes here for this. Look, we're both drinking, both having fun.
There's nothing wrong with that. I won't even tell anyone if you don't want me to. Everybody knows you did it with Daemon over the summer."
"What?" I screeched. "Simon, let me - " His sloppy, wet lips cut off my words. His tongue slipped into my mouth, and I wanted to puke. My heart rate tripled, and in an instant, I wished I'd listened to Daemon, that I had taken him up on his offer to go home, because this was out of my league.
I managed to get my head free. "Simon, stop!"
And then Simon did stop. I sagged against the tree, dazed and breathless. There was the sound of someone hitting the ground and then a wounded cry.
Someone was bending over a sprawled Simon, reaching down and picking him up by the scruff of his neck. "Do you have a problem understanding simple English?" I recognized that deep baritone. It was the same voice Daemon had used the day I'd been gardening. Deadly quiet, dangerously low. He was breathing heavily as he stared at the cowering boy.
"Man, I'm sorry," Simon slurred, grasping Daemon's wrist. "I thought she - "
"You thought what?" Daemon lifted him onto his feet. "That no meant yes?"
"No! Yes! I thought - "
Daemon raised his hand, and Simon just...just stopped. Arms raised, hands splayed out in midair in front of his face. Blood that had been trickling out of his nose, stopped on his open mouth. Eyes wide and unblinking. A look of fear and drunken confusion was frozen on his face.
Daemon had frozen Simon. Literally.
I stepped forward. "Daemon, what...what did you do?"
He didn't look at me, his eyes trained on Simon. "It was either this or I'd kill him." There was no doubt in my mind that he was capable of killing him. I poked Simon's arm. It felt real, but stiff. Like a corpse. I swallowed. "Is he alive?"
"Should he be?" he asked.
A look passed between us, heavy with understanding and regret.
Daemon's jaw tensed. "He's fine. Right now, it's like he's sleeping." Simon looked like a statue, a drunk and pervy statue. "God, what a mess." I backed up, wrapping my arms around myself. "How long will he stay like this?"
"As long as I want," he replied. "I could leave him out here. Let the deer piss on him and the crows crap on him."
"You can't...do that, you know that?
Right?"
Daemon shrugged.
"You need to turn him back, but first, I'd like to do something."
Daemon cocked a brow in curiosity.
Dragging in a deep breath, which still tasted like cheap beer, mints, and Simon's tongue, I kicked him straight between the legs. Simon didn't react, but he'd feel it later.
"Whoa." Daemon let out a strangled half laugh. "Maybe I should've killed him." He frowned when he saw the expression on my face. He turned back to Simon and waved his hand.
The boy doubled over, cupping his hands between his legs. "Shit."
Daemon pushed Simon back. "Get the fuck out of my face, and I swear if you so much as look at her again, it will be the last thing you do."