I got the distinct feeling that Devlin got off on that kind of thing.
He clapped his hands together, making me jump again. “Can you speak?”
“Yes.”I just don’t want to talk to you.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk that had my stomach flipping. It was seriously wrong how tempting that crooked smile was on him.
My forehead furrowed. Why was I staring at him? This asshole wasn’t the first hot guy I’d seen. One thing foster care had a lot of was bad boys. Which was pretty much what Devlin was, standing there with his arms crossed and chest puffed out. They were big, firm arms but no different from any of the other assholes I’d met.
“You’re a timid little thing, aren’t you?”
My eyes snapped up to his. “Think what you want.”
I’d happily show him otherwise. There was enough fight in me to take on Devlin and both his brothers. I just thought it was a waste of time to engage people like that. Besides, it tended to piss them off more when you ignored them.
This time, when he took a menacing step forward, I managed to stand my ground.
“Care to tell me why you were hiding under my bed?”
Not really.
“I was looking for my room.” I couldn’t help but notice how his chest pressed against the white fabric of his shirt, giving me a glimpse of the hard ridges underneath. This guy was stacked. There was no way I’d win a test of strength against him. Might have to go for the balls with this one.
“It’s next door.” He lifted his chin, tipping it at the wall behind me.
Oh, well, that solved that problem.
Wait… My room was next to his? Oh, I didn’t like that.
“So… my room is right…” I glanced over my shoulder and came face to face with the eyes of a cast iron snake.
Screeching, I sprang back and smacked right into Devlin. After which, I jumped away again and slammed against the wall.
Great, Sydney, just great. Cue the slow clap.
This was literally the world’s worst first impression. Not only was I hiding in his room, but now I was jumping around like a kangaroo trapped on a trampoline while on steroids.
Devlin took full advantage of my nervousness.
“What’s wrong, Doll?” He braced his palms on the wall behind me and leaned in. “Afraid I’ll come creeping into your room at night?”
“No.”
Kind of.
“Or is it the snakes that have you all skittish?”
“Pfft. Snakes are just animals.” And by animals, I meant creepy, slithering minions of the underworld.
This time when Devlin dragged his eyes down the length of me, I couldn’t stop myself from hugging my waist. There was something about the way he was staring at me. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to rip me apart or swallow me whole.
He shook his head and headed over to his dresser. “Get the fuck out of my room.”
That, I didn’t have a problem with. I skipped over to the door as fast as I could without being obvious. I was almost out when he spoke.
“See you at dinner.”
I paused to peek over at him fiddling with something on his dresser.
