Page 52 of Ominous: Part 1
Past them all, I catch sight of Eli, close to the dark corridor that leads off from the living room.
Facing one of those girls.
“Who is that?” I ask, keeping my tone neutral. I’ve seen her at school, but we don’t have any classes together. Shoulder-length auburn hair, everything about her kind of pixie-like, a little ethereal, like a drunken, sexy fairy. She has a bottle of vodka dangling from her fingers, half-empty, and I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t her alone who finished the other half, based on the way she’s leaning against the wall like it’s the only thing to hold her up.
“Luna.” Dom pronounces her name slowly, with the slightest edge of disdain.
The song changes and someone turns it up, “PRBLMS”by 6LACK, as my heart races. I consider the fact I may need the prescription pills in my purse, back in Eli’s car. I place a hand flat over my chest, one arm crossed to grip my opposite elbow.
Eli smiles down at Luna, and she straightens from the wall, stepping closer to him, tipping the bottle back, little space between them.
“See how she looks at him?” Dominic’s words are in my ear. I feel his breath on my skin.
I want to elbow him in the chest, but I grab my choker tight, my fingers growing clammy.
“It’s the same look you have.” Dom’s mouth is closer. “He does that to people, you know.”
My stomach tightens. Eli’s smile curves higher as Luna says something to him, tipping her head back and laughing as she does.
But then something happens, catching his attention, and he slowly turns his head, his eyes finding mine through the crowd of people and clouds of smoke.
His smile slips, but he doesn’t outright grimace.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, the way he holds violence quietly inside of him.
I like it.Inside my head, I think of Eli breaking Dominic’s jaw along the railing outside before he throws him over to the parking lot, all while keeping a smile on his face. I think of him doing itfor me.
But then another girl separates herself from the crowd, one I’ve seen walking with Eli at Trafalgar, but he’s never introduced me to any of his friends. She’s tall, wearing white, dreads piled high on her head, and she’s got a cup in hand she offers Eli, almost like a distraction.
He can see over her, and I watch as he shakes his head, not taking the drink, just like he doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“That’s Janelle,” Dom says in my ear.The girl I’m supposed to be staying the night with.“Now, one of those girls is my girlfriend.”
I widen my eyes, a little surprised because, well, in looks at least, they’re leagues above him.
“Guess which one.”
I frown, observing them both. Janelle sips from her cup, keeping a little distance between herself and Eli. Luna, though, she’s cozied up next to him, her shoulder brushing his arm.
My stomach burns and I know I have no right to be jealous, but I am.
“Janelle,” I guess, my voice hoarse.
He laughs, and his breath skates over my ear. “You’d think, huh?” There’s something of annoyance in his tone.
I turn to look at him, frowning.
He shrugs, forcing his gaze away fromhis girlfriend,Luna, all over Eli. “The three of us have all slept together.” He takes a drink, glancing into his cup as he does. “I guess it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen her do.”
“Why the fuck would you tell me that?” Anger forces the words out as my head spins with that news, something I’d rather he had kept to himself. Inadequacy floods through me, naivety. I mean, it’s not like I thought Eli was a virgin, but threesomes already…
Dom shrugs, nothing apologetic in his gaze as it finds mine. “You should know what you’re walking into.”
I glare at him a second, then reach for the cup in his hand. He releases it, smirking down at me. Then he pulls a cigarette from behind his ear, offering it to me.
I shake my head, taking a long drink, letting the alcohol burn down my throat.
“How are you liking Trafalgar?” he asks, tucking the cigarette back, something a little caustic in his tone. His question mirrors Eli’s, from the first night we met, and yet I have no desire to confide anything in him. I just want to use him in this moment because Eli is pissing me off. Maybe irrationally. I have no claim on him. I know that. But we’ve been texting and talking for two weeks, and…God, I’m stupid.That doesn’t actuallymeananything now, does it?Why do I always jump the gun on these things?
