CHAPTER TWENTY
[20]

song: no one's here to sleep by naughty boy

THE NOVEMBER SUN BARELY PEAKED OVER THE HORIZON, as navy early morning skies still lingered outside. Daisy stepped out of Kai's shower, ringing her hair out into a towel. She wiped the steam off the mirror and examined her face.

She still looked the same. Just felt different. Better, even. She grazed a finger over the cut that lay under her eye from Tommy's ring, wincing a bit as it was still open.

The bedroom door opened and Daisy peaked out from around the corner, Kai walked in with bloodied towels, the knife in his hand. "All clean." He says with a cheeky smile, he had stepped outside earlier to clean up the mess that was leftover in his car from last night.

"What'll you do with that?" Daisy asks, gesturing towards the knife in his hand.

Kai walks over to his window, before bending down and lifting up a floorboard. Daisy scoffs as she watches him pull out a small chest, opening it, and putting the knife away. "There." He says, putting the floorboard back.

He stands up and walks over to Daisy. "People are going to start asking questions." She bites her cheek as she thinks, being sober made contemplation a lot easier— and a lot more stressful.

He sighs, a hint of impatience. "How many times do I have to tell you that if people start figuring things out— my family will take care of it." He says, cupping her face and reassuring her. He leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips, before walking over to his dresser and grabbing a sweatshirt and sweatpants, handing them to Daisy.

Daisy took her towel off and slipped the sweatshirt over her body. "So." She begins. "I'm not just gonna ignore the fact that you're entire family is a bunch witches— because— what the hell?" She says, laughing a bit.

"It's not as cool as it sounds." Kai says, leaning against his dresser. "Or at least the shit I got stuck with."

Daisy puts the sweatpants on, before plopping down on his bed and narrowing her eyebrows at Kai. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "I'm kind of a defect." He says, scratching his forehead. "I can only siphon magic from other people. I don't really have my own."

"Oh." Daisy says, processing his words, trying to make some sense of it. "Do something. With your magic." She nods.

Kai leans up. "Can't. I'm out." He twiddles his fingers. "At least until my family comes home. I used all of it last night."

She thought for a second. "So that crystal thing— in the glovebox?"

Kai nodded. "I tricked Luke into storing a little bit of magic in it." He sat down beside her on his bed.

"Why'd you have to trick him?" She questioned.

"My parents don't think I'm—" Kai searched for words. "They don't think I'm suitable to do magic. They say I'm out of control." He shrugs lazily. "Probably smart."

She frowned a little bit, and grabbed his hand, intertwining it with hers and leaning her head on his shoulder. "I don't think you're a defect."

Kai felt a pang to his heart, but he tried not to let the feeling show on his face. He squeezed her hand gently, rubbing his thumb over her skin. He felt the most content he'd ever felt when he was with her, a feeling he had longed for for such a long time.

He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he heard the garage opening from downstairs. Daisy leaned up quickly. "What the hell—" Kai muttered, standing up from his bed and walking over to the window, looking outside at the driveway. "Shit. My dad's home."

Daisy got up too. "Already?! I thought you said they wouldn't be home until this evening—"

"I don't know— I— it's just him. Everyone else still must be with the Coven." Kai says, mostly speaking to himself. The Coven. Daisy was definitely going to have to get used to that. "Can you jump from here?" Kai gestured towards the window.

Daisy walked quickly over to his window and looked down. "What the hell? No!" She says. There was no roof to climb out onto, just straight to grass.

"Shit." Kai says. "Okay, come on we'll just have to be quiet." He rushed to his bedroom door, Daisy following quickly behind.

As soon as he opened the door, the two were met with the confused gaze of Joshua Parker, suitcase in hand, about to walk into his office. Daisy froze in place, unsure what to do in this situation.

"What—" Joshua muttered, narrowing his eyebrows as he looked in between Daisy and Kai. "Daisy?" He said.

She swallowed. "Hi."

"What are you two up to?" Joshua questioned, now only looking at his son, a worried look underlying in his eyes.

Daisy thought quickly. "I was just— we were— I left something in Josette's room and—"

"Sex." Kai says, cutting her off.

Daisy widened her eyes, turning to see Kai who had a smug look on his face as he stared his father down. Joshua let out a deep sigh, rubbing his temples. "Why don't you go home, Daisy?" He says.

"Yeah." Daisy said quickly, walking past Kai and his father, who didn't break eye contact with each other. She scrambled down the stairs, catching a quick glance at Kai before opening the front door and walking next door to her own home.

Daisy didn't think she'd ever be this nervous to open her own front door. She hesitated for a few seconds before reaching her hand up and pushing the doorknob forward. The house was quiet for the most part, all the lights were off as she assumed everyone was asleep.

She slowly, and quietly, shut the door behind her, about to make her way up to her bedroom when she caught met eyes with her mother. Susan sat in the kitchen, dressed in pajamas, her face cold.

Shit. Daisy thought. She wondered if she should just run upstairs and lock herself in her room, but she just lingered on the first step and waited for her mother to express her disappointment.

"Where have you been?" Susan raised her eyebrows. She spoke with no curiosity, she just wanted to watch Daisy struggle to find an answer.

"I slept over at Jen's." Daisy shrugged, trying to make it up to the next step.

"Really?" Susan says, stopping Daisy in place. "Because I just watched you come outside the Parker's front door."

Daisy knew she was busted, and she was unsure why she felt the need to keep making up excuses. "Josette—"

"I know she's out of town." Susan responded.

Daisy ran her tongue over her teeth, trying to gather her words. "Fine." Daisy says. "I got shit faced at Mark's party last night and Kai let me stay at his place."

Susan scoffed and shook her head. "I'm sure that'll go over well with Tommy."

"Tommy and I are done." Daisy says. It was the first time she'd thought about it all night, he was gone, and it felt— good. She felt accomplished. Like she'd done something for herself.

Susan looked taken back. "You broke up? When?"

"Yesterday."

She sighed. "That's a shame. He was really starting to make you better." Her mother spoke, Daisy clenched her jaw. "So you just go and sleaze off with the next boy who gives you attention? Don't be trashy."

"Well that's what you did when Dad died." Daisy said under her breath.

Her mother raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

Daisy didn't bother responding, she just made her way up to her room, shutting the door behind her and leaning against it, a deep sigh of relief escaping her mouth.

She wandered over to her window, pulling the blinds open and smiling at the sight of Kai's window. For the first time, she had felt like she had really found her person. She felt like Kai wasn't just convenient, he wasn't just apart of a relationship with her, there was something deeper between them.