Page 150 of Hide and Keep

“Why are you in here?”

“I was…” I set the head on the desk, heavily contemplating burying it still so Crue has to practice on my hair instead. “Just seeing if you’d died yet.”

“You care? I’m touched.”

I can tell he’s holding his heart before he falls on his bed, face down…nothing like what a person with a concussion would do.

“Only about the smell. It’d be a terrible inconvenience to wake up to the odor of your rotting corpse.”

Head turned to the side, he says, “Happy to disappoint. You can leave.”

I stare at the door to the hall. I don’t have the key to my room on me.

“But…” What’s a good excuse? “You never answered my question. Where were you?”

“Why does it matter?”

“I could’ve needed you.”

His head pops up. “Did you?”

Always.

“No.”

He drops his head back down. “Ryan wanted me to check something for him.”

Chef Ryan?

“Did you run into him in the kitchen or something?”

“Just because he works in the kitchen doesn’t mean he lives in it.” After a minute, he adds, “He was up here. Is that what woke you up?”

“When?”

“When he knocked on your door.”

He was at my door? Fucking knocking on it?

He’s getting brave. Too brave.

Instead of answering, I ask, “What’d he need?”

Even his chuckle is exhausted. “He was scared someone was trying to open his window.”

“Were they?”

“Not that I saw. It was probably just a bug hitting the glass.” After a pause, he says, “Or one of your bats.”

“Yeah,” I breathe while falling into the armchair.

“Are you just gonna watch me sleep?”

That’s what I usually do. That’s why I’m in here. That’s why I have an alarm on my phone to wake me up at three a.m.

“No,” I say with a touch too much attitude. “I just…was…wondering…” I don’t have a reason for staying, at least not one I can tell Crue. But I don’t have a way to get back in my room without that hidden door and I’m not taking my chances in any other part of the manor.

“Were you wanting to fuck or something?” he asks.

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