Page 96 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
As if in slow motion, my gaze cuts there, to the ridged muscle of his broad body that I refused to look at in detail back at the hotel. His abs are tight and thick, and staring at his flesh, I don’t even understand how his core is in such good shape.
There are so many scars there.
So many jagged, distorted-shaped wounds that look half-healed, poorly treated.
I hear Cosmo’s breath, a wheezing sound, and I know Sullen has released his grip on his throat. The next second, when I lift my eyes up, Sullen’s fingers are wrapped around Cosmo’s wrists and he twists his own grip sharply outward, as if snapping a limb.
And I hear it, a pop in Cosmo’s bones.
He cries out, leaning against the wall, and I don’t know what Sullen did—if he really broke something or only popped his wrists—but Cosmo’s face turns a pale shade of white.
Sullen is glaring, but not at Cosmo.
His dark eyes are locked onto mine, gloved hands by his side now, his hoodie hem pulled back down. He’s breathing hard, chest rising and falling sharply, and I see a new darkness beneath his lash lines, the hollows under his eyes worse somehow than they were before. Or maybe it’s only the way he’s looking at me, like he wants to peel my own eyes from their sockets.
Thunder rumbles, as if far away, then something else follows, quicker and lighter.
And I hear Maude the second before I see her. “What the hell happened?” For some reason, her gaze comes tome,and she’s reaching into the low neckline of her dress, her fingers slipping beneath the silk of the gown.
She produces her phone, taloned nails clenched tight around it as she looks to Cosmo, then me again.
“It’s her,” Cosmo snarls, taking advantage of Maude’s hostility toward me. “This is the woman the police are looking for tonight.”
In shock, I turn my head and meet Cosmo’s green gaze. He issmilingat me, but he’s still got his hands clutched toward his chest, and I can tell he’s in pain, a vein straining in his temple.
When I look back at Maude, I see she’s staring down at her phone, even though she hasn’t made a move to call anyone yet. She seems…frozen.
Fuck this.I’m not going to rat Sullen out, but if the cops come here, they’ll get him, too.
I lunge forward, swiping the phone from her hand before she can make any bad choices. With her fingers splayed, she looks down at me in horror. Without a word, I push forward, elbowing Sullen out of my way, then I dunk Maude’s cell in the punch bowl, pressing it down flat with my hand, icy rivulets of melting slush coating all the way up to my forearm, as deep as the bowl is.
Then, confusion and hurt and rage sliding under my skin, alongside anxiety and panic andfearandwrathat Sullen’s scars alonghisskin, I retract my hand, grab the bowl with both hands, and spin around. I grip the edges with my fingertips and slosh the entire contents toward Maude, drenching her chest, her dress, her phone clattering to the floor in a pile of punch as she gasps.
I turn quickly to Cosmo.
Then I throw the bowl at his fucking head.
“Fuck you,”I snarl.
The dish knocks against his temple and he winces, head popping back, his eyes full of the same anger I feel before the plastic container thuds to the ground, spins a little on its side, then lands flat on the floor.
Maude is sputtering, I hear footsteps, more thunder, the lights flicker. But there’s a louder sound, heavy knocks upstairs, no doubt against the front door of the fucking Emporium.
I think of my dream. The snake.
I hold Cosmo’s gaze.
He shakes his head once, a red mark on his temple from my attack. “You’re too late,” he says quietly, still cradling his wrists to his chest. “You’re stuck with me. And they’re going to ruin the rest of him.” He glances at Sullen.
Panic crawls up my back and I follow his gaze, ignoring the appearance of Fleet, Elliot, and Alivia in the cold storage area as they try to understand what the fuck just happened.
Sullen’s gaze meets mine.
He’s no longer trying to catch his breath from the shock of being exposed. All of his hurt revealed to Cosmo.
Instead, a wicked smile curves his full lips.
The knocks upstairs grow louder. They’re going to tear the door down.
