Page 82 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
And I look to Sullen once more and notice the second he sees Cosmo.
And the heartbeat after, when Cosmo’s eyes lift to Sullen.
For one moment, nothing happens.
There is only silence in the room.
I don’t know if music is playing anymore.
I can feel everyone staring at us.
And I know I have to fix this.
So I step forward, grabbing Cosmo’s arm, feeling his warm skin beneath my fingers as his eyes cut back to me.
“Hi,” I say quietly, forcing myself to smile even though I am trembling all over.
His gaze dips to below my eye and his olive complexion pales, his lean jaw clenched.
“Can I…speak to you?” I keep my voice soft, but my pulse is pounding so hard, it’s making my entire body shake.
“You are,” Cosmo says, the words threatening. I can feel heat radiating off him, the bones in his arm stark against his skin with how tightly coiled he is.
I flash him a smile with teeth. “Alone?”
But a shadow falls over me, and I feel Sullen’s body brush up against mine before Cosmo can reply.
Slowly, Cosmo turns his head, regarding the man he knows drugged him. His eyes flash as he says, very softly, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
It feels like there’s cotton in my ears and my mouth is so dry, but I know I have to salvage this. With an audience, with cops crawling the streets, with Cosmo here, we can’t run. Not right now. Not yet.
So when Cosmo takes a step toward Sullen, I squeeze myself between them. I feel Sullen against my spine, but I don’t release Cosmo.
“Please,” I whisper, searching my friend’s eyes. “Can we please talk?”
Sullen’s hand comes to the back of my neck as I’m caught between them in this red-tinted room. He curls his gloved fingers around my bones.
Cosmo’s expression shifts to disgust.
Sullen’s voice comes to my ear. “Stop. Touching. Him.”
I drop Cosmo’s arm immediately, and I reach back, brushing my fingers over Sullen’s core, trying to reassure him without words.
“We need to talk,” I reiterate to Cosmo. “You know we do.” I try not to beg, but I am not beneath it, if it means saving Sullen.
Cosmo drags his gaze back to mine. I think, for a moment, he is going to disagree. He is going to lunge for Sullen, or maybe just me.
But after a second, he nods once, then says, “We can talk, but I am not letting you walk out of this building withhim."
but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou divest from joy for no misdeed.
Frankenstein,Mary Shelley
Chapter34
Karia
Iclimb the winding steps up the hotel with a Poco Grande glass in hand as I cast my eyes around the chandeliers overhead, then the darkened hallways before me, unnerved by the quiet of such a vast space.
