Chapter Six

"Where to first?" Kayn held out his hand for me and all I could do was stare up at him.

I had no idea what his Mom held over him that made him accompany me to Bowmore and suddenly be nice to me, but it had me curious.

Water lapped noisily against the base of the raft, penetrating the chirping-cricket silence as we stared at each other.

A slight tug at the corner of his lips told me he was up to something, and I decided there I wasn’t curious enough to go through with it.

I'd rather eat mud.

"You are now free of your torturous obligations. We can meet up back here at four." I tore my gaze away from him, picking up my small book bag beside my feet and standing up inside the raft.

Kayn dropped his hand, turning away. He managed to take a few steps when suddenly his entire frame froze. "Rake."

"The rake?" I tried to look past him to see what he was talking about. Courtesy of Mom, when I heard the mention of the word rake, I immediately thought of the cryptid.

"Kayn, Kayn, Kayn." A deep male voice taunted. "What a surprise. How are your family doing?"

"Thriving, as always," Kayn responded stiffly.

I climbed over the edge of the raft, almost losing my footing, and cursed.

When I managed to straighten up, I noticed Kayn and another guy staring at me. Kayn looked sick, and the guy next to him was grinning like he just won the lottery.

"And who is this lovely little lady?"  He stepped forward, wiping back a luscious blonde curl from his forehead. His eyes were a stunning cognac, framed with thick, brown lashes. They turned toward Kayn and widened momentarily. “Please tell me you’re not here with this.”

Both my brows rose and I glanced at Kayn. “You just have a way with people, don’t you?”

A moment of tension passed as the two guys stared at each other. Kayn unexpectedly swooped toward me, grabbing me by the arm, and turned to look at the blonde guy. “We are done here.”

I pulled my arm from his grip, glaring at him. “You can’t expect me to go anywhere with you without an explanation. Didn’t you, just five seconds ago, have every intention of walking away?”

He reached for me again. “You told me to go and meet you here at four.”

I clucked my tongue, stepping back. “Why the sudden change of mind?”

“We haven’t formally met. I’m Rake.” The blonde guy stepped closer. “One of Kayn’s most favored people this side of the…sea.”

Kayn’s jaw popped. “Leave her alone, Ashburne.”

“Still deciding people’s fates for them?” Rake’s blonde brows arched, before glancing at me. “And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

I smacked off Kayn’s hand from my arm, shot him a deliberate smile, and then turned that smile toward Rake. “I’m Carly.”

“Carly,” the ‘r’ in my name rolled extensively over his tongue. His head tilted sideways as he smiled. “Is this guy over here giving you trouble?”

“All the time.”

“Kayn,” Rake sang his name. “What are we going to do with you?”

“I know what I’m going to do to you if you don’t leave her alone,” Kayn snarled.

“Whoah, always so hostile.”

“You’re lucky I’m just being hostile.”

“Right, but if the lady tells me you're giving her trouble I’m not going to leave it here,” Rake pressed a finger to his chin.

The tension in the air was so thick, that if you tried to cut it with a knife the blade would snap in two. I nervously stepped back, glancing between the two guys, wondering if I had unintentionally stirred trouble.

How did these two know each other, and more importantly, they won’t beat each other up here in front of all the locals, would they?

The way Kayn was glaring at Rake it wasn’t unlikely.

Rake sighed. “If it wasn’t for the rules…”

“Oh you bet on it,” Kayn agreed.

“At the state of things, I wonder if you even so much as care about them.” Rake darted an intentional look my way. “Be careful, Carly, you’re in more trouble than you could ever imagine.” He did a half-bow. “He can’t do any harm around here, but I’d watch my back on that island of yours.”

“How do you—” I started, but Rake was already walking full speed the other direction. I glanced up at Kayn. “How does he know where I live?”

Kayn waved a hand in the direction of the raft. “Kind of obvious.”

“And what harm did he mean?” I asked. “Did my mom make one major mistake making me come here with you?”

Kayn looked depleted, brushing his hair back with his fingers. “Rake has a habit of being dramatic. Like I said before, if I wanted to harm you in any way, I would have.”

“I’m not sure what to believe anymore.” I shook my head. “Do you have any idea how weird this all sounds? You treat me like crap, then threaten Rake to leave me alone, and then Rake tells me—”

“I told you I was trying to help you.”

“Help me?” I snorted. “What is this whole thing between you and Rake? And what rules was he talking about?”

“If I told you, it would defy all the efforts I’ve done to help you.”

I rolled my eyes. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, thanks to Kayn. “You make so much sense.”

He folded his arms across his chest, not saying anything.

I signaled him to go with my hand. “I can take care of myself, thanks.”

“If Rake is around here, so is his crowd,” Kayn said. “After you.”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Of course not.” I turned, throwing my bag over my shoulder. I needed to know what was going on, especially when my life could be threatened—even when said threats might be nothing at all, I wasn’t taking any chances.

I planned on finding out, but I knew I won’t get anything from this stubborn-headed oaf.

Our first stop was Billie’s Books & Stationery, where I had to get Mom three notepads and a map. I helped myself to the discounted book basket, ending up with thirteen books. Kayn carried the pile toward the counter for me to pay, and for a moment I was grateful he was there because I’d have never been able to carry everything myself.

“At least you’re useful for something,” I commented as we headed toward the grocer.

He darted me a bitter look. “You could thank your lucky stars I’m here.”

“Oh, get over yourself.”

“I could leave these here,” he lifted the books. “Or you could carry them all, by yourself.”

“I could,” I shrugged. “I could also tell that to your mom. I’m sure she would be so happy about her boy being such a gentleman.”

He scowled, glancing away.

I bit down onto my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. “Honestly though, why do you hate me?”

He paused, looking at me like I’d taken him off guard. “I told you I don’t hate you.”

“No, but you have an odd way of proving it.” I folded my arms, turning toward him. “What is it you're not telling me?”

“Carly…” he sighed, lowering the bags onto the pavement. The sun had finally peeked out from behind the clouds, the rays forming a golden halo of light around Kayn, making him appear almost otherworldly.

I hated the fact that something so beautiful could be so...Ugh!

I shifted my gaze toward an elderly lady sitting on a bench outside another bookstore, knitting fiercely on a colorful scarf.

The less I looked at Kayn, the better.

“It’s better if you hate me,” he finally answered.

My eyes swiveled toward him. “Why would you want that?”

“I already told you.” He glanced at the elderly lady knitting on the bench. “That’s Martha. You’d always find her sitting there. Sometimes, she sleeps there too.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“She’s perfectly safe. She lives on a farm not far from here.”

“Then why is she sleeping here?” I asked.

“Her husband was a local fisherman. He disappeared over twenty years ago—everyone assumes a boating accident,” Kayn explained. “Anyway, before he left he told her that when he comes back, he’ll meet her on the bench and they can go out for ice cream. She’d been staying there ever since.”

My hand raised to my mouth. “That is so sad. She must have really loved him.”

“Not loved, loves. She still believes he’s coming back and every time she sees me, she talks about how she’s looking forward to her favorite peppermint sundae.”

I sighed, watching the lady knit with a blissful expression on her face. There was so much hope inside those grassy green eyes.

Each time someone walked past her, she would nod with a kind smile.

“We should go get that food, it’s getting late,” Kayn said, picking up the bags. “Actually, I could use an ice cream right about now.”