“We were fucking kids!” Remy bellows, proving I’m not the only one ready to blow.
“So you took one second in time, chose that to be the defining moment for all of our futures, and ignored everything else?” Felix shakes his head as if he can’t understand. At least he’s calm and not shouting.
“You left because you were scared,” Grayson adds with a sneer of disapproval.
“I left because I wanted to give you a choice, you jerk face. And I wanted you to choose me! Not one of you did.” I slam the bedroom door in their faces and squat down immediately. I drop my head into my hands, and if thoughts alone were enough to create magic, I would teleport myself out of this house, out of this town, to someplace far, far away and pretend I never stepped foot back in Hill Crest, dead body be damned.
Chapter 7
I’m great in bed.
Surprisingly, they leave me be after the yelling match. Usually, Remy needs the last word, but maybe that’s another thing that’s changed about them.
I snoop around the room, opening each drawer and door, finding a closet nearly as big as my bedroom back in the city and a bathroom I would kill for. I know there’s no point trying to sleep, so I set my laptop up at the desk and find it’s already been hooked into the Wi-Fi. Who knows what else Felix managed to do in the small time frame he had it? But I have to assume he has a copy of everything on my hard drive. Sexy bugger. There’s nothing I need to hide from him other than work stuff, and I’m fairly confident Felix wouldn’t leave any trace of himself behind for MBI to find. Who knows what’s going to happen to my job anyway if my magic is acting screwy.
I check my email to see if Dad sent over the interviews. I’m strangely relieved when I find he hasn’t. I don’t think even the interviews could take my mind off of where I am and who I’m near.
I sort through my bag and slip on an oversized shirt and leave my pants on the end of the bed. Not only is it the only thing I brought to sleep in, but I’m hoping it will torture the guys as much as they are torturing me if they happen to see me. I mean, really, who has to look that good and smell so damn yummy on a Tuesday night?
My door creaks when I turn the handle. I wait a breath before opening it the rest of the way and peek my head out. Grayson wasn’t lying—they didn’t lock me in. The hall is quiet and dark, so I rush back to the bed and grab my phone to use as a flashlight.
My heart beats fast as I slip out of my room. I count the doors on the left side and leave mine cracked just a few inches to make sure I can find my way back. I can’t decide if I should open the doors and peek inside or move farther into the house. Half of me thinks they would have put me near their rooms, but the other half believes they would have stowed me as far away from them as possible.
I try the handle of the door directly across from mine and the knob turns silently. When the door opens, I shine my light on the floor first and note the light gray carpet. After a quick glance, I determine it’s a deserted room. The idea that they put me on the other side of the house takes root, and I don’t bother with any of the other doors near mine. Instead, I head downstairs and start snooping.
I’m bored after opening more doors for empty rooms and bathrooms than I can count. Felix probably built them some super cool underground bunker or a secret passage to get to their rooms that I’ll never find. It’s not that I’m specifically looking for them, though I wouldn’t mind finding something that felt lived in. This place is like a tomb.
I test the front door when I happen upon it, knowing what I will find, but I’m helpless not to try. It’s locked up tight. Felix’s magic brushes my palm, along with thinner, intertwined tendrils of Remy’s and Gray’s. It shouldn’t even be possible, but it is, probably because they are so close.
What feels like hours later, I find myself in a large room with overstuffed furniture and a fireplace I could walk into. It’s like something out of a gothic dream. There’s a table lamp near a chair, so I click it on. My phone battery warned me it was at ten percent ages ago, but I ignored it. I’m lucky it hasn’t died yet.
I fluff the pillow to make sure no creatures have taken up residence in the chair and curl up in it.
The walls are dark, leaving most of the room in shadows, even with the soft glow of the lamp. My eyes grow heavy after a short time, and I let them fall closed, determined to figure out what I’m going to do about tomorrow.
* * *
“It’s notlike she could have left, just find her.”
I blink quickly. It takes me a moment to get my bearings and realize I just heard Grayson’s aggravated voice, not my noisy neighbor hollering at his kids.
“Ouch,” I groan when I try to turn my head. My chin was on my right shoulder, and my shirt is bearing the drool stains to prove it. I must have passed out, and my body is aching from the stupid position I slept in.
“I think I heard her!” Felix shouts eagerly, and I hear his footsteps on the floor. I sit upright quickly and wipe my shirt. Damnit, if I had something to drink, I could pretend I spilled it, but everyone is going to know I was drooling.Sexy.
I don’t make any more noise as I stretch out my limbs. Maybe I can sneak back up to my room before they find me.
“Morning, sunshine.” Remy tries to sound aggravated, but I see the way his eyes are traveling over me and feel the heat in his gaze.
I grumble and rise to my feet. His eyes go from my green painted toes all the way up to my chest, where they get stuck. My nipples are hard. The T-shirt doesn’t do anything to hide it, and neither do I. He looks downright delectable in a pair of dark wash jeans and a T-shirt that says, “My favorite place is Beaver Valley.” There’s even an image to go with it that shows two titty mounds and a puss that could be confused for a waterfall if you’re an idiot, all surrounded by trees. I love it and want one for myself. But then I start to think about how many valleys he’s visited in the past few years, and I get mad. Now I want to burn the shirt and maybe set his ass on fire too.
“I thought you might have tried to escape, but here you are, curled up like a kitten. In my chair,” he says, announcing the last part as if I’ve committed some kind of crime.
“I farted in it too.” Remy blinks a few times, seeming a little bewildered by my statement. I’m a little surprised myself. I blame them. It’s like my brain is misfiring.
“What time is it?” I blurt before he can address my flatulence proclamation.
“Nine AM.I thought you had someplace to be?”
