Page 83 of Tricky Girls

‘Would that cheer you up?’

‘Heck yeah, it would.’

‘Alright.’ I disentangle from her, taking a moment to rearrange my pyjamas. ‘We’ll do lunch or something. I’ll even buy you a pasta pot from the shop.’

‘Pasta pot and a kiss?’

I narrow my eyes. ‘Don’t push it.’

I make up a tea for me and Elly and run mine back upstairs. Just as I step onto the landing, Haz’s door opens. She’s in joggers and a sports bra, her abs gleaming with the sweat of her workout, a towel slung over one shoulder.

‘Morning, beautiful.’ She smiles, a little ferally. She’s always like this after a workout. It’s like battle lust. She nods towards the bathroom. ‘Wanna share water again?’

‘You wish.’

Cradling my tea, I glance at the narrow staircase at the darkened end of the hall. I don’t know if Nic’s even around but I’ve got this dying need to talk to her in the sober light of day.

Making a decision, I plop my mug down on the hallway radiator and take to the stairs.

‘Well,shedefinitely won’t share with you,’ Haz calls after me.

I hesitate at the top. The tiny landing here is pitch black, two doors either side of me shut tight. Remembering the noises from the other night, I deduce the door to my left is her bedroom. I knock tentatively with a knuckle. No reply, so I do it again.

Probably still out in the woods. Probably frozen to death in that tent or been eaten by wolves. Hazelhurst Island is the only place in the country to have the creatures roaming free. Used to scare me walking through the woods as a fresher but I’ve never seen one of the grey beasts myself.

Deciding to be nosy, I nudge open the door. The room’s empty as I predicted, the bed neatly made.Superneatly made, the top of it folded down to expose the striped pattern on the underside.

Bet it wasn’t neat the night she had Skylar round. I stare at the large double, wondering which position they’d been in. Doggy style, I decide. With Nic reaching over Skylar’s body and grasping the headboard for leverage. Thus all the banging.

I swallow, pushing down the throbbing between my legs. Gonna have to do something about that soon. I need dick butthere’s no one who comes to mind when I rack it. Maybe that pretty boy Natasha used to like, just to piss her off.

Nic’s room smells woodsy. There’s a candle on the windowsill. I cross over to it, intrigued to see what the view is from her window. It’s not so dissimilar to mine. There’s more sky up here, more of the castle to see. I pick up the candle and sniff it. It smells like Christmas and men’s aftershave, like the pine trees outside.

Weird how peaceful it is in here. I wonder if it’s the same when she’s around, drinking her expensive whiskeys, reading her books, listening to her moody music. Or does her psycho energy permeate the place, seeping into every crack and crevice like noxious smoke?

There’s a strange stillness to the room, like everything in here is just holding its breath.

Around her, that’s all I do.

‘The fuck are you doing?’

My heart jolts.

Shit, I thought she’d be out for ages yet. I hadn’t prepared to be caught trespassing in her lair. A twisty sort of panic claws at me.

I make myself turn slowly, still holding the candle to my nose. ‘Looking for you.’

‘I don’t like people up here.’

There’s a frown on Nic’s face but she doesn’t look at me as she crosses to her desk. It’s clear she’s just come from the shower, one towel wrapped around her body and a smaller in her hand scrubbing through her hair.

Replacing the candle on the windowsill, I shrug. ‘And I don’t like people being dicks to me for no reason, but hey-ho.’

She glares at me now, tossing the smaller towel onto her bed. Then she releases the larger one, letting it fall from her body to the floor.

I slap my hands over my eyes but it’s too late, way, way too late, the sight of her bony, shower-pink body all my mind’s eye can see. Never seen such an impressive bush. I have to clamp my lips together so the comment won’t blurt from them. All that leg hair used to shock me too. Now I find it strangely suits her.

My ears twitch when I hear her turn the lock in the door. My body tingles with awareness. I’m trapped in here now.

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