Light footsteps sound from the staircase. Mira’s. Connor’s footfalls are far heavier and closer to stomps. She appears in the doorway to the kitchen a moment later.
“Morning, love,” Seamus greets.
“Brit,” she replies with a nod, then turns to look at me. “I need to go to my dorm room.”
I incline my head. “I’ll take you. You want coffee?”
She shakes her head. “I’ll grab some in my room. What should my expected schedule be now that I’m an indefinite captive? Will you be accompanying me everywhere?”
“Not captive, guest,” Seamus says. “A most lovely guest. Didn’t have time to properly praise you, but the dinner you made last night was wonderful before things went tits up.”
Mira eyes him. “Get fucked, Brit.”
Seamus chuckles. “Good to see you too, love.” He nods at me. “Remember what we talked about.”
Chapter Twelve
Mira
“What the fuck do you mean,you’re moving out?”Cara screeches. “We had to fight administration to get a mini apartment for the three of us! We were going to room together for the rest of our time at Greywood! How can you just be…moving out?”
“Complicated circumstances,” I grit, tossing another pile of clothes into my duffle bag. I can’t tell Cara and Valerie that I got mixed up with organized crime, but I don’t think they’ll buy other bullshit excuses, so I have to stay deliberately vague. I look over to Cara. She’s standing in the entrance to my room, arms crossed over her chest, lookingfurious. “Cara, if I could tell you, I would.” I glance at Valerie, where she idles on my windowsill, looking at the campus below. “You too, Val. I want to. Ireallywant to. But, for my safety and yours, I can’t. Pushing me is only making me feel shittier than I already do, so please, let it go.”
Valerie turns to gaze at me, giving a single nod. “I get it. Bad shit changes circumstances far too often. I'm not happy about it, I’ll miss the hell out of you, but I get it. Will you still come around?”
“As often as I can manage,” I say firmly. “I plan to spend more time away from that fucking house than I do in it.”
Cara perks up at that. “Does that mean we can go out more? I won’thave to drag the two of you by the ears?”
I smile vaguely. “Yeah, it does.”
Cara’s mood changes from furious and confused to excited in an instant. “Yay! Ohmygod, can we start tonight? There’s this hip place in the city that I’ve been meaning to check out. Some of the boys from the swim team are known to frequent it.”
What better way to get the hell away from Dorian than go to a bar? “Do they have food there?”
“Burgers and regular bar food, I think,” Cara replies. “I’m more interested in the selection of male specimens that will be available.”
I feel a smile pull at my lips. “Excellent.”
After I load up all my crap in Dorian’s car, I tell him I’m going out with my roommates tonight. He’s quiet for a long moment, but eventually he nods in acquiescence. Having to ask him for permission chafes at my independence, but I understand my situation with him is extremely precarious.
“So, I’m not going to be a captive in your House of Horrors?”
He slides me a look tinged with faint irritation. “No, Mira. I’m not your jailer. Just your…” he pauses to search for the right word. “Housemate. So long as you don’t break rules, feel free to go about your usual life. Iwouldlike to spend some time with you, though.”
And I would like anythingbutthat. “What are the rules?”
He shrugs. “Don’t tell anyone things they shouldn’t know. Nothing about Tuesday night in the forest, nothing about last night. As long as you don’t open your mouth, we won’t have any problems.” He bites his bottom lip. “And you’ll stick close to me when you’re not otherwise occupied, especially at home.”
Which means I won’t be at his house any more than absolutely necessary. “Fine.”
He glances at me again. “And two nights a week, we’re going to do something together.”
I feel my head jerk back. “What?”
“A date, I think the kids call it. You and me. We can go out, stay in, go to the mountains to see your pets for all I care.”
“They’re not my pets, I’mtheirpet,” I say absently, still focused on his outrageous demand fordates.
