Winder had only just met me. What could he possibly have against me, except for a conversation gone wrong? Besides, if he was planning to break into my house, he wouldn’t have told me he would protect me.
I’m the only one you gotdidn’t exactly translate toshow up at my place in the early hours of the morning—especially not covered in garbage juice—but at this point, he was the only option I had. Having no parents and no close friends really hit home when someone broke into your house in the middle of the night.
I sighed and began the trek to Winder’s neighborhood, stumbling through the city, my shoes squeaking with the remains of someone’s dinner. My hand stung, and I gripped it as tight as I could. It didn’t feel like it was bleeding anymore, but I didn’t like that it was burning. What kind of diseases did rats carry again?Rabies, Blaire, rabies.
At night, his neighborhood didn’t seem so scary. Maybe it was because I had seen scarier tonight, or maybe it was because exhaustion swept through me before I knew what was happening, leaving me all but sleepwalking. The rancid smellradiating off my clothes was the only thing keeping me upright. Someone whistled as I tripped, and I flipped them the finger. I was out of fucks to give. I was too burnt out to even feel afraid.
At this point, if someone wanted to take me off the streets, all the power to them. I was pretty sure my stench would scare them off before they got too close.
There was a group of people sitting on the porch outside the ratty house I found Winder at earlier. They looked up at me from their joint as I got closer, some wrinkling their noses. A girl with dark hair smothered a laugh.
“You look like you’ve had better nights,” one of the men joked. He looked less high than the rest, and offered me a smile that looked like he wanted to eat me, garbage and all; the laughing girl shot daggers my way.
I met his gaze with exhaustion. I was ready to drop where I stood, and I had nothing left in me for banter. “I’m here for Winder.”
His eyebrows raised until they disappeared into his beanie, and he turned his head to yell into the open door. “Yo, Winder! You got company.”
I pinched my leg trying to stay awake. Maybe this was a massive mistake, my reasoning based entirely off one conversation and my sleep-deprived brain. For all I knew, Winder could have sent the guy who broke into my house. But I was trying to trust my intuition right now, and I had to hope it was good.
Whether or not I liked Winder was beside the point. Right now, my only question was if he was safe.
I needed a shower, and I needed to pass out. I needed drugs. I needed to know what the fuck had happened over the last day that led me here. I just couldn’t figure out where I had gone wrong.
I had tumbled out of my glass castle, landing directly back in the mud.
“Blaire. What the fuck are you doing here in the middle of the night?” I snapped my head up at Winder’s deep voice, brusque and commanding.
He tugged a shirt on, but not before I caught sight of abs, and the snake tattoo that seemed to wind all the way from his arm. His face didn’t scream that he was pleased to see me at all. In fact, he seemed downright pissed. Which was fair. He did tell me never to return, and here I was less than twelve hours later.
I opened my mouth to speak, and nothing came out. I couldn’t figure out how to explain everything that had taken place tonight. My vision was fuzzy around the edges, my brain not quite cooperating.
Winder stomped down the stairs toward me. “What the fuck? I told you not to come back here—Blaire?”
His expression shifted, barely, his electric blue eyes flashing with what looked almost like concern as he stood less than a foot away from me.
I swallowed, hands shaking, offering up the only words I had. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
Then, my legs gave out, and the world went black.
Chapter
Nine
BLAIRE
Iwoke up to a strange smell and scratchy sheets. No way in Hell were these mine. I was never in my bed in the nightmare though, so none of this made sense. All I knew was that I definitely wasn’t in my bed, and this didn’t feel like a dream.
I blinked, letting my eyes adjust to the dim light around me. Definitely not my room. It was an absolute mess in here. A prickle of fear sparked in my chest.Whose bed was I in?
The night came flooding back to me in a rush of memories. The man breaking into my apartment. Hiding in the dumpster.
Showing up at Winder’s house.
Passing out.
Was this Winder’s bed?
I pressed my cold fingertips to my eyes, the rancid smell from the dumpster following. This was not how everything was supposed to go. I had a plan. A really good plan, at that. The worst part was not being able to pinpoint where I had gonewrong.
