Not That Kind Of Witch • Kai Parker #1

14: peace of mind

A betrayed look sprayed across her face, she lifted her arms up to push him away, "Kai! What the fuck? Get off of me!"

With one hand beneath her head and the other trapping her, Valerie could feel the waves of anger rolling off of him. Why the fuck was he angry at her? She was the one that was just drowned. The muscle in his jaw ticked as she heard his jaw clench, "Why were you at the bottom of my pool?"

She could tell his cool and calm manor was a false one. She could feel his anger fighting to break through to the surface. Avoiding his eyes, Valerie huffed out, "Well I didn't just fling myself into your pool Kai. Someone pushed me." Noticing his incredulous look, she finished, "And it obviously wasn't you, considering your anger."

Jolting out a short burst of laughter, Kai demanded, "My anger? My anger?"

Sliding his hand from beneath Valerie's head, Kai sat up and placed his hand into hers. Motioning for her to get up, he lifted her weight. As soon as her legs were firmly planted on the ground, he swung her into his body so she had no choice but to look into his face. "Angry? I get angry when I stub a toe."

Wrapping his fingers around Valerie's chin, she tried and failed to avoid his eyes. She wasn't here to be his verbal punching bag, especially when she'd done nothing wrong. Giving in, defiance displayed on her face, she stared into his eyes, "Seeing you motionless at the bottom of my childhood swimming pool elicited an entirely different emotion."

Struggling away from his intense gaze, Valerie swore, "Kai, somebody pushed me into the pool. I saw them. They were watching me drown-"

Taking a generous step away from her, Kai angled his body between her and the pool. "So... this person jumped into the pool with you and held you under the water?"

Shaking her head at his ridiculous behavior she demanded, "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't try and drown yourself again. You haven't been in this prison world for longer than 4 months and you're already going off the deep end; figuratively and metaphorically."

Knocking his shoulder back, she stuck close to his side, "Kai, I swear. I saw a man. I was looking in the pool and I was pushed. And when I came up for air there's was no one." At this Kai, smiled knowingly, "But I felt a hand pull my foot down to the bottom and then it was like my ass was stuck, I couldn't move." Valerie rambled on.

Steering her into his house, Kai clamped a protective hand over her shoulder and chastised, "I think you should go get some well needed sleep. It's probable you just slipped and hit your head because trust me, there is no one here besides you and me."

"Why don't you get a shower? It'll heat you up." Valerie nodded, afraid her words would be incomprehensible with all the chattering her teeth were doing.

She soaked the heavenly stream of hot water into skin and washed the chlorine smelling water out of her hair. Kai thought she was crazy. She knew what she'd seen, there was a man stood there. Valerie didn't know how he'd dragged her down but he did and she was going to prove it.

Blindly reaching for the towel she placed on the hook, she jumped out of her skin hearing Kai offer, "Oh here." After which he placed the towel in her waiting hand. "Kai," wrapping the towel around her body, she accused, "why are you in here?"

"Making sure you don't drown."

Laughing like the lunatic he believed she was, she stepped from behind the shower curtain and tried to ignore his eyes on her. Stepping around him, she explained, "I'm positive you can't drown in the shower."

Storming into his room, she began searching for some clothes to throw on. Conceding, Kai followed behind her, "Yeah, it's usually extremely hard to drown in the shower but you've got a shit ton of water in you and there's this thing called secondary drowning. You're still at risk."

Kai reprimanded her like she didn't know these things. She did. She just felt coddled. "I know but it's uncommon."

"Uncommon but not impossible so I'm not leaving." Motioning to his bedside cabinet, he offered, "I brought you hot coco."

Suspiciously looking between Kai and his offering, Valerie pointed out the obvious, "I'm naked and need to get changed can you please leave for five seconds."

Shaking his head, he bit his lip and perched on his bed, "Sorry no can do. I can however turn around for five seconds."

Holding out the clothes she planned to wear, she portrayed her disbelief, "Seriously?" At his nod, she replied, "Turn around then."

Heaving his weight up, he spun his body around. Speed-dressing, she chucked the towel at his back when she was done, "Finished."

***

"Kai, how do I know you didn't push me?" Valerie quizzed. Kai froze, his fork full of food half way to his mouth. A soulless mask drifted over his face, "Now why would I do that?"

Carrying on eating her dinner, she tried to ignore the tension in the room, "I don't know Kai, you tell me."

Placing his weight on his elbows, he leaned forward ever so slightly, "I can't tell you Valerie, because I didn't push you. Outline to me why I would push you in the pool, drown you, watch you loose consciousness and then drag you out and resuscitate you. Does that make any sense to you?"

Taking a drink, she avoided his furious eyes, "You could be lying."

Banging his fist on the counter top, he looked down at his curled fingers. Valerie hadn't flinched and she prided herself on it, she was sure he was just trying to unnerve her. "I'm not lying. I wouldn't-"

Interrupting him, she reminded, "Ever since we met, all you've done is lie."

Reaching his hand out, he unfurled his pinky finger and held it towards her, "I didn't lie to you, per se. I pinky promise I won't lie ever again and that I didn't push you."

Dividing her attention from his remorseful eyes and his offered promise, she decided it would be a lot easier to live with trust. Even if it wasn't necessarily real trust. He didn't need to know that and life would be a lot better here until they left. Huffing out she locked their fingers. "Okay."

Smiling guiltlessly, Kai said for the fifth time, "You most likely slipped and hit your head and imagined it all. The mind can show you some really fucked up shit when it believes death's immanent."