Then he let out a short, disbelieving laugh that sounded one second away from a homicide charge.
“Oh, really?”
He bent down, snatching up the contact lens case from the table. Squinting with one blurry eye, he tried to put the lens in while still glaring at her.
“I’m not giving you this house,” he muttered coldly. “This place is not turning into some disgusting little love nest for you and whatever idiot you drag home.”
Amara let out a soft laugh.
“Relax. I don’t want this house.” Her eyes slowly swept over him from head to toe. “I’m not interested in keeping old, used things.”
The silence that followed was deadly.
Elias’s jaw flexed.
“Careful,” he warned darkly. “You’re getting a little too brave for someone who—”
He suddenly stopped.
The contact solution missed.
A sharp sting shot straight into his eye.
“Fuck—!”
He recoiled instantly, hissing through his teeth as his hand flew to his face. Instead of helping, rubbing it only made the burning worse.
And then, somehow, things got worse.
The other contact lens slipped from his fingers.
Both of them watched it disappear into the carpet.
Elias stared downward.
Then very slowly—
“You have got to be kidding me.”
He dropped to his knees immediately, one hand pressing against the carpet while the other searched blindly.
“Where the hell did it go?” he muttered furiously.
Amara stood above him with her arms folded across her chest, watching the great Elias Creed crawl around on the floor looking for a transparent circle smaller than the tip of his finger.
She tilted her head.
“It’s midnight. Maybe you should give up, go to sleep, and let me go back to my place in peace.”
“Can you keep quiet for one goddamn second?” Elias snapped.
Still kneeling on the floor, he patted around the carpet with growing violence. One eye was squeezed shut from the burning while the other narrowed furiously in her direction.
“And you are not leaving,” he added sharply. “What nonsense are you even saying?”
He pointed vaguely toward her. “Say one more word and I’m locking every door in this house.”
Amara stared at him for a long second.
