The soft low curse caught my attention as I stopped at the bottom of the steps. I let my eyes sweep over her as I jogged up them, escaping the rain. Unlike my porch, which had an awning to shield me from the downpour, theirs didn’t. Her black outfit only got darker with the rain, and the waves in her hair dampened enough for them to straighten.
In seconds she was drenched.
I watched her as I stopped at my door, her lilac nails picking at something in the lock. “Need some help?”
Her sigh wasn’t so quiet that I didn’t miss it, like I was the last thing she needed in this moment.
She straightened her body as she faced me, her mascara smudged on her bottom lashes, her face pale and damp, apart from her scarlet cheeks. “I’m fine.”
I simply smiled, the kind that I knew annoyed her. “Okay. Have a nice night.”
The key in my hand barely twisted before she stopped me.
“Wait.”
My face shifted to face her, finding defeat mingling with the raindrops falling over her cheeks. “Problem?”
She sighed again, her whole body slumping as she flexed her arm at the door. “My key snapped in the lock and the others aren’t home.”
The gleam in her eyes shone the same as it did when I found her at that event. And she might have thought that vulnerability only gave itself away when she admitted defeat, like this. But she was wrong. It was always there, hiding between the hundreds of shades of brown that lived in them.
I looked toward her door, then mine, before angling my head back to her, sinking into that look that was bathed in annoyance. “Would you like to wait in here?”
I watched her swill around every possible comeback in her mouth, before she swallowed, dropped her head, and nodded.
That Category Five had shifted to a Three.
“Here.” I held out my hand for her to take. But, for a beat, she just stared at it. The downpour drummed against her shoulders, dripping from her lashes, every second stretching longer than it should have. My palm hovered there, steady, waiting.
Then, finally, her fingers slipped into mine. At first they were tentative, then reluctant, and finally, warm. Electricity sparked up my arm like the storm had crawled under my skin.
Carefully, she swung her legs over the wall between the houses, landing lightly. I drew her forward, ushering her inside. A soft drift of dark jasmine trailed past me as she brushed by, pulling me in with her. The click of the door filled the silence that engulfed us as we shuffled in. The storm cut off in an instant, but the charge she left in my hand didn’t go anywhere.
I slowly closed my eyes, letting it pass, before opening them in time to watch her take in the barely furnished living room.
I knew I wasn’t staying here long-term, so I opted for the basics. Couch. Rug. TV I’d borrowed from Oscar. And a few canvases that had come with me in every place I’d lived. There was a fireplace against the exposed brick wall. Not lit. Never had been by the looks of it. But the lamps I’d tucked into the corners of the room lit the space with that soft, warm glow.
“Wow.” Cora exhaled, her arms wrapped around herself as she wandered around the centre of the room, eyes hopping over every detail. “It’s the same layout as our house, although this looks like it’s seen one too many exorcisms and is now devoid of personality.”
I shrugged as I hung my coat up, tossing my keys into the dish. “Better than having it possessed by demons.”
Her knees bent like she was hesitant to sit, but slowly her body sank into the soft fabric of the couch. “At least you could have claimed to have friends if they were still here.”
I eyed her, shoving the sleeves of my black sweater to my elbows. “What makes you think I don’t have any friends?”
Her shoulders lifted. “Well, for one, you’re always up my arse 24/7, leaving no time for other human interaction.” I bit back a laugh. “And two, when you’re not around me, you’re here, and no one ever leaves or goes.”
I walked past the couch, keeping my eyes on her, and wandered into kitchen, switching on the stove to boil a fresh pot of water. “For someone who hates me, you sure have tabs on my social life.”
Her breathy laugh still reached me, even in here. “You don’t know the meaning of a social life.”
“Oh, and you do?”
The silence that followed practically ate me alive as I let a low curse slip from under my mouth.
Fuck.
She hasn’t been out of her room in months because the security guard you assigned her groped her. Of course, she’s not had a social life, asshole.
