Page 40 of Cursed Encounter
“Astra, wait!” I hear him curse under his breath as his heavy footfalls stalk after me. “That’s not…”
I don’t want to hear whatever line he’s going to feed me. I scowl over my shoulder and pick up my pace. I’m practically running now. The stairs are just up ahead. I take them two at a time, holding my breath as I focus hard on not tripping. I know I have the advantage here because, for all the predator stalking he does, he won’t rush to chase after me. He’s too calm for that. But what he doesn’t realize is that I will be safely tucked behind a locked door by the time he does catch up to me.
I’m so done with this. I’m done with trying. Done with giving him the benefit of the doubt.
He’s cold. He has no heart.
He’s the monster they say he is.
FIFTEEN
Donovan
There have been very few times in my life when I can say I’ve been stunned.
This is one of those times.
I only make it to the base staircase before my feet become stuck to the floor. Astra is already at the top. She doesn’t even look over her shoulder as she dashes down the hall and out of sight. I listen until I can’t hear the creaking boards giving away her movement. I imagine the click of her door closing, then the thunk of the old lock turning over. She wants to keep me out, and I can’t blame her. Though… I’m not exactly sure where things went sideways.
It irritates me that I’m clueless.
It irritates me that I care.
My face hardens, but I can’t make myself walk away from this spot.
I need to go up there and make things right, but I don’t have the first clue how to do that.
Torrin steps out from wherever he’s been lurking, likely waiting for dinner to be over so he could find out how it went, the nosy fucker.
“Did you find out what kind of candy I should get, or are we waiting for the answer to float down the stairs?”
“No,” I grunt and force myself to turn away from the staircase. I walk and walk, and turn the corner simply so I can walk to the farthest point of the house from where she is. He follows right behind me. “Forget it. You can go home.”
“I wish I could forget it, but this is far too interesting. There’s no way in hell I’d go home now.” I hear the smirk in his tone.
My feet carry me away. I don’t know where I’m going, I only know that I need distance before I march my ass upstairs and barge into her room to demand a chance to fix it.
I end up pushing my way into the library like a bull. The room is small, with too little space for books and far too many windows. The drapes are all drawn closed, and since the sun has gone down, it’s nearly pitch black around me. I freeze in the middle of the room, instantly regretting how I’ve let this situation get to me so much that I forgot to flick the light switches beside the door.
Torrin chuckles as he does the thing I didn’t do. The space is bathed in dim light as the eight sconces along the walls blink to life.
“I hate this room,” I say.
I haven’t touched much in this house since it became mine. I haven’t had a need to. I use most of the rooms and they function just fine how they are. But this fucking room, I usually avoid it like the damn plague. Everything about it feels out of place and forced. Even when I was younger, I hated it. I feel like I’m standing inside a movie set instead of a room inmyhouse.
“Why did he even have a fucking library?” I ask. It wasn’t like my father was a big reader or even came in here much.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
I blink and shake my head, not sure why I even asked. Torrin knew the man as well as I did.
“I want it gone,” I say, knowing full well I’m avoiding the more important things at the moment.
“The room or just the stuff in it?” he asks, and I spin to glare at him.
“You’re lucky I need you,” I tell him. The irritation fades at the sight of his smile. The corners of my mouth tip up even as I shake my head. I feel heavy as I flop down into the closest chair. “I somehow managed to make her happy and piss her off in the span of a couple of minutes.”
Torrin takes the chair at my side, and I have to admit, I’m thankful to not have his eyes on me right now. We both stare aimlessly at the wall across from us. The ugly peach wallpaper with white flowers is the worst thing in this house, I swear. Part of me wants to grab the loose flap in the corner and start ripping. I don’t know if that’s how it works, but I also don’t care.
