Page 58 of Devious Knight

“What about Kade?” Annika straightens and her face takes on the hardness of a statue.

“I guess I have to be his servant.” The craziness hasn’t sunk into my mind yet. Every time I think about what that scenario might look like, my soul wants to run far away.

Kade is the only person on this planet who infuriates me just as much as he confuses and mystifies me.

I know I’m a virgin and don’t understand men but I understand logic. Everything about Kade Gurkovsky defies logic and all the general rules people live by in society.

How can someone look at you with such dark hatred and in the same moment be turned on by you?

Then there’s me.

What do I have to say for myself if I’m still attracted to him and turned on by him?

I wouldn’t dare tell anyone that even though I think Mackenzie knows. She saw us at the football stadium. She saw that I nearly kissed him.

I know she hasn’t mentioned it because she’s waiting for me to talk about it.

Aside from that craziness there’s this thing I supposedly did to Kade, and I still can’t figure it out.

“I just wish I knew what the fuck I did to him.”

“Whatever it is must have happened well before college,” Mackenzie fills in. “He was an asshole but he was never an asshole to you until we got here.”

“Yeah. He never spoke to me, but he never went after me like this. I don’t know what the hell it is.”

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to worry yourself about it if he won’t tell you,” Annika says. “If you don’t know what this thing is now, you won’t know until he tells you.”

“I think so, too.” Mackenzie nods. “Kade is known for his mind games.”

“Tell me about it." I roll my eyes. “I have to just ride out the punishment.”

“I know you torched his bike, but he wasn’t punished for what he did.” Annika fumes. “Destroying your sculpture and messing with you with his friends can’t just go unpunished.”

“You’d be surprised,” Mackenzie cuts in. “Those guys get away with everything because of who they are. It’s disappointing but not surprising.”

As she speaks I sense something more to her words. Like she’s not just talking about Kade.

When I told her about the incident with him and his friends her face changed at the mention of Dmitri’s name. She usually does a good job of schooling her expression, but not so much when it comes to him.

Something happened between their families years ago. Something bad enough to create a feud. No one ever knew what it was, but I think it had something to do with the death of Dmitri’s older brother. I wasn’t close enough to Mackenzie back then to ask.

It all happened a year or so after I lost Mom, so we would have been fourteen.

She and Dmitri were friends, and then they weren’t, ever again. Now they act like they don’t even know each other, but I catch him watching her sometimes.

She watches him, too, although she’d never admit to that.

“With no evidence I have nothing.” I sigh.

“Be careful, Isabelle. Be very careful.” Mackenzie reaches over and takes my hand. “Kade is no ordinary guy. At the first sign of trouble get help. Call us. Report him. Do something. Do anything but don’t do nothing.”

I nod in agreement but it’s only to assure her so that she doesn’t worry about me.

Her advice sounds so simple but like she said, Kade is no ordinary guy.

If he can do all this shit to me, he’s not going to allow me to run for help and cry wolf.

He’d eat me alive before I could think of escaping him.

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