Page 94 of House of Pain
Blaze turned his head to the side, glancing at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “Why would I be jealous? She’s not mine.”
Not his. Valwasn’this.
Alecto ignored the way her heart jumped at those words.
They sat in silence for a long moment, Blaze not looking even one bit disturbed. As if sitting together and being quiet was a thing they were used to doing.
Alecto shifted in her seat, curling her fingers around the swing chains as she glanced at her feet.
Everything was getting more and more confusing as the days went past. None of what Blaze said or did made sense to Alecto. He hated her, but did he really?
Why would he do to Alecto what he did back in that classroom if he hated her? At first, she thought it was just to prove a point, to deny the rumors. But after theirexchangeat the library and that kiss back at the House of Tigers, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Fucking bastard.
“So, did you bring me here to sit in silence?” Alecto said, glancing at Blaze. He leaned his head on the chain, but his eyes were already on her, face solemn. “The party is back there,Blazy.”
“Does silence make you uncomfortable?” he asked. “I feel like there is so much more you can learn about a person from the way they’re silent than when they’re talking.”
What?
Alecto glared at him.
“When someone’s talking, they think about what they’re saying, how they’re saying it. They consider whether something is going to make them sound stupid or smart, better than everyone else or smaller,” he explained. “It’s all calculated. It’s all a show, no matter how much someone claims they’re honest. We all do it.”
Alecto blinked. What a weird choice of topic.
Blaze pinched a cigarette between his three fingers and brought it to his lips, sucking so hard the ember burned bright red, glowing in the darkness.
“Now, when someone’s silent, it’s a whole other deal.” Smoke streamed out of Blaze’s mouth as he spoke. “If you look close enough, you’ll get to see the things that are happening in their mind, without them even knowing.”
Alecto stilled. Somehow, it was as if he’d placed her under a magnifying glass.
“Are they nervous because they fidget mindlessly and bite their lip? Are they looking for something or someone, their eyes darting around the room?” Blaze mused, his eyes sliding down her body and then back up again. “Are they uncomfortable when it’s only them and their own mind and no other noise around?”
Alecto licked her lips, and Blaze’s gaze dropped to them.
Alecto found herself wishing he would kiss her again.
He made Alecto’s heart beat faster. He made her alert and scared, which should have been a bad thing. But it was the thing that made her feel alive like nothing else… And it was addicting.
A lazy grin spread on Blaze’s face, and he lifted his gaze back to hers. Slowly, he drew his hand out of his pocket, bringing it to his lips.
Before Alecto knew what was happening, a cloud of pink dust hit her face, and she coughed, something burning her eyes and her nostrils like a bitch.
She opened her mouth to scream or to say something, but her throat burned, and she wheezed, the burning reaching her lungs.
The last thing Alecto saw before passing out was the grass moving closer to her.
Or was it the other way around?
34
Alecto’s eyes were burning.
Lungs on fire.
Her throat refused to work as she tried to swallow.
