Fallen - Lauren Kate [105]
Luce cursed herself under her breath. She couldn’t figure out what was worse—that Daniel had just seen her kissing Cam, or that—she was sure—Daniel was going to fight Cam again.
Cam stood up and faced them, ignoring Luce completely. “All right, which one of you is it going to be this time?” he snarled.
This time?
“Me,” Gabbe said, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. “That first little love tap was all me, Cam honey. What you going to do about it?”
Luce shook her head. Gabbe had to be joking. Surely this was some kind of game. But Cam didn’t seem to think anything was funny. He bared his teeth and rolled up his sleeves, raising his fists and moving forward.
“Again, Cam?” Luce scolded him. “You haven’t gotten in enough fights already this week?” As if that weren’t enough, he was actually going to hit a girl.
He shot her a sideways smile. “Third time’s the charm,” he said, his voice dripping malice. He turned back just as Gabbe came at him with a high kick to the jaw.
Luce scurried backward as Cam fell. His eyes were pinched shut and he was clutching his face. Standing over him, Gabbe looked as unfazed as if she’d just pulled a perfectly baked peach cobbler from the oven. She glanced down at her nails and sighed.
“Gonna be a shame to have to beat up on you just when I touched up my manicure. Oh well,” she said, proceeding to kick Cam repeatedly in the stomach, relishing each kick like a kid winning at an arcade game.
He staggered up into a crouch. Luce couldn’t see his face anymore—it was buried between his knees—but he was moaning in pain and choking on his own breath.
Luce stood and looked from Gabbe to Cam and back again, unable to make sense of what she was seeing. Cam was twice the size of her, but Gabbe seemed to have the upper hand. Just yesterday, Luce had seen Cam beat up that huge guy at the bar. And the other night, outside the library, Daniel and Cam had seemed evenly matched. Luce marveled at Gabbe, with her rainbow ribbon holding her hair back in a high ponytail. Now she had Cam pinned to the ground and was twisting his arm back. “Uncle?” she taunted. “Just say the magic word, sugar. I’ll let you go.”
“Never,” Cam spat into the ground.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, and shoved his head down into the dirt, hard.
Daniel put his hand on Luce’s neck. She relaxed against him and looked back, terrified to see his expression. He must hate her right now.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Cam, he—”
“Why would you come here to meet him?” Daniel sounded hurt and incensed at the same time. He grabbed her chin to make her look at him. His fingers were freezing against her skin. His eyes were all violet, no gray.
Luce’s lip quivered. “I thought I could take care of it. Be up-front with Cam so that you and I could just be together and not have to worry about anything else.”
Daniel snorted, and Luce realized how stupid she sounded.
“That kiss …,” she said, wringing her hands. She wanted to spit it from her mouth. “It was such a huge mistake.”
Daniel closed his eyes and turned away. Twice he opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. He gripped his hair in his hands and swayed. Watching him, Luce feared he might cry. Finally, he took her in his arms.
“Are you mad at me?” She buried her face in his chest and breathed in the sweet smell of his skin.
“I’m just glad we got here in time.”
The sound of Cam’s whimpers made both of them glance over. Then grimace. Daniel took Luce’s hand and tried to pull her away, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Gabbe, who had Cam in a headlock and wasn’t even winded. Cam looked battered and pathetic. It just didn’t make any sense.
“What’s going on, Daniel?” Luce whispered. “How can Gabbe kick the crap out of Cam? Why is he letting her?”
Daniel half sighed, half chuckled. “He’s not letting her. What you’re seeing is only a sample of what that girl can do.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. How—”
Daniel stroked her cheek. “Will you take a walk with me?” he asked. “I’m going to try to explain things, but I think you should probably