Page 28 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
I know we can continue on the stairs, past the lobby level, and end up at the entranceway to the bar. There will be guards there; it would be a stupid oversight to leave that area unattended and Mads is not stupid. But I know what I’ll do when we are close enough. I just hope it works. The stakes seem high; not for me, but Sullen. What will they do to him? If Stein is called in… And Stein has to be the one who has marred him. For a horrifying moment as I round another set of stairs with Sullen a few steps behind me, I wonder if Stein killed Mercy Rule. If his brutality would extend to uxoricide.
If he has any limits at all, and what the lack of them has done to Sullen’s head and heart.
The thought must distract me because what jerks me back to reality is the sensation of falling as my Vans slip on the topmost step and I tighten my fingers on the cool metal railing, but my palm is slick with sweat and I’m about to pitch forward and there is a lot of distance to the next landing and—
I’m yanked backward,hard,by a hand tight around my bicep.
I tumble a few steps, my arms windmilling before Sullen’s come completely around me, holding me with my back to his chest, his chin grazing the top of my head. On some kind of instinct, I reach up and clutch his forearms over his hoodie, feeling the hard muscle beneath as my chest heaves. I stare down at the dozens of stairs in the dim lighting and try to catch my breath, my pulse racing so fast and I don’t think it’s entirely from almost falling.
It’s from being caught.
Inhisarms. The scent of dying rose petals envelopes me. Soft grass, a cemetery in the fall.
My mouth is dry, my eyes flutter closed as he holds me, and I manage to say, “Thank you.”
He doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t let me go, either. We are in a twisted version of a hug. I can still feel where his fingers latched onto my bicep and didn’t let me trip.
And I let my eyes blink open as I drown in the sensations of the moment.
I twist my head, angling it up toward him.How many times did I imagine he would hug me, growing up? Or let me hug him?
He tips his chin down, his dark eyes on mine, his hood pulled over his hair, casting shadow around his temple.
He squeezes me harshly, but it’s so brief.
I do the same to his forearms.
I see something flash in his eyes as he blinks.
Then, too soon, he releases me, stepping back as my arms fall to my side. He nods toward the stairs, indicating we should get moving, and it doesn’t matter how much I want to stay in this moment. I know we can’t.
There could be cameras in the stairwell and I’m positive there are some on the penthouse floor. It won’t be long before they find us if we aren’t hidden away first.
So I compose myself, smooth a hand down my skirt in a nervous gesture, and we start our descent once more.
At the last landing,there are two doors and one place to hide.
One door, to the left, is an exit, the sign above it lit in neon red. The other, straight ahead, is heavy and black and leads into the small foyer before Septem. It is highly likely there are people stationed outside of that one, waiting for a moment like this.
I let my hand graze the railing as I step down completely onto the dark floor of the landing, and I turn my head to look over my shoulder. At the hiding place. The spot beneath the last stairwell, clustered in darkness, flush against the wall, with just enough room for two people to crouch and stay hidden.
Sullen is silent as I work this out and I slowly lift my eyes to his. He is still on the second-to-last step, hands in his pocket, hood over his head, dark gaze watching my every move.
He looks so big in this space, tall and broad, and I want to squish him down so no one will ever find him.
I don’t speak because I’m worried they could hear us even with a fireproof door keeping us hidden. But I need him to understand my intentions all the same.
Before I make any gestures, I glance at the exit door once, desperately wanting to walk through it.
We could disappear behind Hotel No. 7, vanish entirely.
But I know there are a lot of cameras on the exterior. Probably less in here; the chances of being recorded are smaller inside. And besides, where would we go once we got out? I didn’t drive here and I don’t have the keys to Isa’s Jeep. I would assume Sullen drove except for the fact Mads mentioned nothing about his car being in the lot and he would’ve checked for that. If his carisout there, a guard will be stationed right beside it. We could flee into the streets of Alexandria but we’d either have to climb a ten-foot-tall fence or come around the front of the hotel and we would absolutely be seen that way.
Besides, Sullen said he had a spot to hide in Septem. And I think that makes a lot of sense; being in plain sight, in some ways. Eventually, they’ll assume he got past detection and is no longer in the hotel.
Eventually… we’ll be left alone.
So I tear my eyes away from the exit and focus instead on the fire alarm housed in a plastic case beside the entrance door to the bar.
