Page 65 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
“Look at me.” I snap the words out as we skip over an intersection with only two seconds of the walk signal remaining. “I am in this with you but if you don’t talk to me, then how the hell—”
He grabs my arm and pulls me into an alleyway, surrounding buildings high enough to block out the October sun. The temperature plummets in here and the scent of the sewer grows stronger. Damp bricks surround us, there’s a puddle beneath my heel, and a cursory scan further into the side street reveals dark blue trash cans. Deep enough to hide a body. Or maybe that’s just the Writhe inside me talking.
“Do you want to know why you woke up alone?” Sullen’s voice drags my focus back, his gloved hand still wrapped around my forearm.
As I slowly face him, he steps forward, driving me backward until my spine presses into the rough brick exterior. I can feel it picking at my trench. He paid a lot for this and he should handle it more carefully; the wads of cash in his pockets astounded me. I’m used to buying things with a slim black card, but neither of us have any cards on us and I know they can be easily traced.
I was grateful for the money, for the fact he didn’t attempt to make me buy something cheaper and spent thousands of dollars we shouldn’t have, but he should really treat his purchases better.
Still, I don’t say that. I swallow hard, remembering how he strapped me to the chair. And before that, when I woke up motionless in a glowing room. We formed a truce but now, his dark eyes locked onto mine, his body preventing me from running, I wonder if it’s over.
I take a deep breath in, holding onto the sensual scent of him amongst the aroma of the city. “Yes,” I answer him, watching as his gaze dips down to my lips, but only for a moment before he’s staring at me again.
He presses a palm to the wall next to my head, forming a cage of his body to mine. “You would already know why if you used your brain. You make the mistake of forgetting what happened the moment before Stein stepped through the doorway. Tell me where you were then.”
Blood rushes into my cheeks. I feel them heating, but I don’t look away from him, my chest heaving between us. “In the… chair.”
“Go on.” He bows his head, leaning in closer. His lips are parted, and I see his sharp canine teeth, the incisor missing next to one.
“Strapped…down.”
“What else?” His voice is rough and carnal.
“You were touching me.”
He lifts his brows, waiting.
“And I spit on you.” I arch a brow back, even as my pulse flies painfully fast inside my chest.
He steps closer, his body brushing mine, my spine arching slightly away from the brick. “Yes,” he says softly, his nose inches from mine as he leans in even closer. “And I didn’t get to pay you back for that. Do you know what would have happened to me if I ever spit on Stein?”
“You’re not him—”
He clamps his gloved hand softly over my lips, pressing the leather firmly to my mouth as my nostrils flare. Then he turns his head and whispers against my ear, “He would’ve taken my tongue from my mouth.” His breath dances on my skin and I shiver, closing my eyes tight, every nerve in my body alive. “And he would’ve fed it to me.” He takes a step forward, pressing me fully against the wall with his physicality, eclipsing mine. “I have spent too long daydreaming about wrenching you apart, Little Sun. I am not your fucking friend. Besides,” his lips brush the lobe of my ear, and my stomach tightens into knots. “I’ve seen how you treat those.” He pulls back slowly as I look at him once more, irises of deep brown and amber edged out by the blown black rings of his pupils, jogging a faraway memory in my mind I can’t hold onto. “When the pressure comes, you’ll stab me in the back to save your life, and I think it’s best if neither one of us forget that.” He removes his hand from my mouth then, both by his sides as he stares at me and I notice his chest compressing and expanding quickly, too.
“The pressure came. From Cosmo. From Stein. Three armed men.” I run my tongue over my bottom lip and watch as he traces the movement with his eyes. “I still chose you.”
He doesn’t reply for a moment, and it’s as if he is staring into my soul. Like those daydream seconds we’d pass on Ritual Drive, when he would appear ominously while I walked the street with Cosmo.
But then he looks away, flickering his gaze upward, to the sky. I note the circles there under his lash line, how they seem to have lightened a little, since yesterday. Maybe it’s impossible, perhaps it’s just the angle, but maybe…
“Because you’re stupid,” he finally says without looking at me, voice cold. “Like I said before. Whatever you think this is inside your head, it’s not that.” He drops his gaze back to me as I clench my teeth, wanting to tell him to stop calling me stupid but it sounds childish in my mind, so I keep silent. “Either way, we have to disappear. Or at least, I do. If I’m found, I won’t survive. Do you know Writhe often disposes of bodies in the ocean? Thrown on a semi, carted along I-40 to the sea?Thatwould be merciful, and it probably won’t happen to me.” He turns away, toward the city streets. “I know of a place. It’s a long shot, but maybe.”
Youknowof a place?I want to say that, because he’s never even been inside Medici Mall, how the hell would he know of anywhere, but that’s not what comes out of my mouth at all.
“I’m not stupid,” I say instead, straightening from the wall, unable to keep that thought inside my head. I clench my fists as I step toward him, heels clicking on cement. “And you have no idea what the fuck I think this is. But don’t forget you carried me out of the hotel. I know it hurt you. You’re… injured, and you still carried me. If you thought I was so stupid, you could’ve left me to die or be found. And do you want to talk about the money you just spent? All of this, everything I’m wearing…” Despite the fact he isn’t looking, I gesture toward my trench coat, underneath which is a black dress, new underwear. We didn’t buy anything else because even I can admit spending all of the money in one very expensive place is reckless, but he said nothing about it.“Youpaid for it. Between the two of us, I’m not sure you’re a shining example of intelligence, Sullen.” I hiss his name, lowering my voice as traffic sounds on the street. Tires spinning, horns blaring, people on their phones and speaking to coworkers or companions. Life is rushing by and with so many eyes and potential cameras out there, we need to be going, too.
But there’s a sick part of me wanting to live in this stolen moment. To stand right here and fight with him until I break through his walls and show him how unafraid I am. How I won’tlethis body end up in the Atlantic.
He doesn’t turn around, but he doesn’t move closer to the main street either. And when he finally speaks, he just says, “When this is all over, remember I tried to warn you, Karia.”
Scully: I could meet you tonight.
I can’t. I won’t. But it is a nice fantasy.
MadMaude:My parents left me to run the shop. Only for the weekend. Come over? We could… do things.
Scully:Things?
