Page 29 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
Then I glance at Sullen to ensure he’s watching me—he is—and I point toward the red and white alarm.
His dark brows lift a little. It feels good getting a reaction from him, even if it’s only that.
Then he nods once.
I point again, toward the hiding spot beneath the stairs.
He tracks the gesture with his eyes, then without another word, he steps down the last two steps and heads toward the shadowy space.
Ducking low, he is able to vanish inside of it, although I can see the whites of his eyes as he stares at me and drops down into a crouch. I will have to be right in front of him for us to scooch further into the wall. We might need to close our eyes so we aren’t spotted that way.
I don’t care. We have to hide. I’m not ready to give him up yet, no matter what he plans to do to me.
Before I can overthink it more, I walk to the alarm, then grab thelift herelever.
I suck in a breath, blink once, then I yank down on the handle.
And as the blaring alarm and flashing lights scream around me, causing me to jump even though I knew it was coming, I sprint to Sullen. Without thought, I crouch down and tuck myself against his chest.
His arms come around me, both of us on our knees, the cement floor hard and cold, but his body warms me as he holds me and again, I grip his forearms, both of us watching from the shadows.
It feels like a nice place to be,I think.
But his hand skims over my waist, the bare sliver of skin between my top and my skirt. I feel the leather of his gloves and wonder when he put them on; maybe as he waited here for me.
A spider of something like fear crawls up my spine with the barrier between us.
It feels like an omen.
Chapter16
Sullen
The chaos is immediate and overwhelming.
While there are very few good things about living with Stein Rule, either at 44 Ritual Drive or Haunt Muren, silence is one of them. Aside from the moments he crashes into my room and my life, I am bubbled in quiet and drenched in loneliness and I have become accustomed to it.
So while men pour through the door leading to Septem—many heading out the exit, but one charging for the stairs, all with weapons on their hips from the calvary Mads Bentzen must have assembled—I find myself burying my head against Karia’s hair as I hold her tight.
It is uncomfortable here on our knees and I know it must be more so for her, since she’s wearing a skirt, but I have been in far worse positions kneeling and it’s the alarms and flashing lights that jar my system most.
Buther…With my eyes closed and her fingers curled around my forearms, her spine to my chest and my lips against her hair, I can almost imagine this is a sort of heaven. One I have certainly never experienced before.
I wonder if her shampoo is infused with violets because the scent is stronger with my nose to her strands. Her hair is very soft, too, tickling my septum and my chin. Her body is lean, but the soft curve of her breasts is overtop my forearms and it feels…right.Where she holds onto me does too, her fingers tightening as the Septem door thuds open once more, then the exit, in quick succession.
Surely the members of Writhe must know the alarm is a diversion, but I don’t think any hired guards want to take the risk of being burned alive for my absence.
And no one notices us, in their hurry to or away from the alleged fire.
We are monsters in the shadows, and no one ever wants to look there.
Still, we wait.
And finally, after long moments in which no more doors open and no more steps thud on the stairs above us, Karia twists in my arms.
I reluctantly lift my head and meet the vivid cerulean of her eyes in our shadowy sanctuary.
She raises her light brown brows, as if to ask if we should continue onward tomyhiding spot.
