Page 36 of Rule Breakers Fall Hardest

I finish up the pizza, stuff the box in the refrigerator, and wash my hands. Drying them on my T-shirt—since we don’t have a single dish towel—I head upstairs for a shower.

I’m ready to crash. Once I get a few solid hours of sleep, this feeling for Rosie will go away.

It has to.

10

ROSIE

As I lieon my back on my air mattress, my ears are hyper-tuned to every sound. I imagine mice skittering behind the walls, just waiting for me to fall asleep so they can devour me.

There’s a creaking sound downstairs and then what sounds like a door shutting.

I sit up. “Daire?”

If he’s moving around downstairs, there’s no way he’d hear me call for him.

Be brave, I tell myself.Go check.

I ease the covers off my body and awkwardly climb off the mattress. Outside my room, the hall is pitch dark. I make a mental note to pick up a few night lights.

“Daire?” I hiss, fingers skimming the side of the wall as I make my way toward the stairs. “Hey?” I start down them. “Are you here?”

At the bottom, I flick the light switch in the foyer and slam my eyes shut as the space is flooded with a blinding light.

A creak sounds to my right, and I jump. “Hey,” I say louder this time. “You’re scaring me. This isn’t funny, asshole.”

I move in the direction of the sound, silently urging myself to be brave.

But there’s nothing.

No sign of Daire, like maybe I just missed him.

This place has mostly been brought up to date, but it’s an older home, and old places like this have history. History means ghosts.

The door into the butler’s pantry slowly closes in front of me.

The second I see it move, I’m gone, sprinting up the stairs. Halfway up, I fall, banging my knee harshly against the wood. Curses fly out of my mouth as I scramble to get my feet back under me.

I turn down the hall toward Daire’s room, hoping like hell he’s playing a prank on me and I’ll find his bed empty.

No such luck. When I throw open his door, he’s asleep, one bare arm crooked over his eyes. I whimper, the sound doing nothing to stir him.

“Daire?”

Still nothing.

I move a little closer. “Daire?”

The guy isout. I bite my lip. Maybe I can move my bed in here without waking him up…

I don’t particularly want to venture out of this room, but what choice do I have?

Easing out of his room, I tiptoe down the hall, keeping a careful eye out and praying we have a nice ghost that doesn’t prey on twenty-one-year-old girls.

I get the mattress up on its side and push it out my bedroom door. By the time I make it down the long hall, I’m sweating. Clearly, my three-days-a-week workout routine is not enough.

I left Daire’s door open a crack when I left, so I use the mattress to push it open.

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