“Are you out of your mind?” James froze me with a piercing glare.
“I was about to say—” I groaned, bringing him inside where an unsettling silence hung in the air.
“Where’d your mom go? My dad left for a few days, too, since Jasper’s on a school trip.”
My eyes widened. “I can’t believe her. That pathological liar lied to me again.” I covered my mouth with one hand, mortified. James just shrugged as if it didn’t concern him.
We tried to talk about our parents, maybe to defuse the fear, but in reality I was still shaking and James was white as a sheet. I took off my gym shoes, went into the kitchen, and poured a cup of water.
“Here.”
James plopped on back of the couch and took two long sips, then looked at me suspiciously.
“What are your intentions, princess?”
Maybe he noticed that we’d managed to go ten minutes without insulting each other, and I was trying to be weirdly nice. I looked down at the floor.
“So can you stay here or not?” I asked in a tone that sounded, for all intents and purposes, exasperated.
James didn’t answer, but he continued to gaze at me.
“Um.”
Hurry up and say yes.
He rolled his eyes without talking, and I took that as a yes. I pointed at the couch.
“I’m gonna go get you something . . . some blankets,” I whispered.
I didn’t care if James had stuff to do, if he had to go to Will’s house, or if he was going to any girl’s house. I wanted him to stay with me. I didn’t want to be here alone tonight. Not after those two maniacs had visited us.
“White.” James called my name when he saw me go up the stairs.
“What?”
“Are you sure?”
My eyes were captured by the image of two luminous orbs under his dark, messy hair. His sculped body, broad shoulders, and solid, bare chest were accentuated by protruding muscles, and his tan made every contrast even more pronounced.
“I don’t feel like being alone. Not after tonight,” I admitted sheepishly. But then I rushed to turn around for fear of acting too vulnerable around him.
I walked upstairs, got to my room, and looked for sheets in the closet.
I was rummaging through the clean linens, but my brain was stuck in a loop thinking about what had happened.
What if they hurt him? What if they took me away? How far could they go? Now they knew where I lived too.
Maybe I should go to the police.
“So this is your room.”
James’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I jumped.
“God, you almost gave me a heart attack! Yeah, this is my room.”
James absentmindedly ran his finger through his messy hair while his indigo eyes fixed on my made bed. He bit his lip, and I couldn’t help but think about last night. And something told me that he was thinking about it, too, because his lips curved into a mischievous smile.
“So I’ll sleep—”
