Page 167 of Pucking Obsessed

“They said in every horror movie ever,” Michael mutters.

“You two take the upstairs. I’ll search down here.” I begin to stride down the wide, elegant corridor away from the sweeping stairs.

Cody rushes to run after me, grabbing my uninjured shoulder. “Wait, that’s not fair. I care what happens to you, don’t you know that yet? Plus, my sis would kick my ass, if we took you in here and didn’t look out for you. Your arm is in a sling, and you have cracked ribs. Why don’t we stay together and search?”

He cares what happens to me…?

Warmth curls through my chest, cutting through the numbness.

I still shake him off; the movement makes my cat tail twitch. “I’m better alone. Jude’s safety is what’s important. Finding him as fast as possible.”

Michael sighs. “Call me as soon as you do, and we’ll do the same. Don’t take any risks.”

Michael wraps his arm firmly around Cody’s shoulder, steering him away from me.

Cody drags his feet.

I don’t nod, only watch them with a blanked expression.

I will take risks.

What are we doing now?

I’d risk my life to save any of my family.

Isn’t that love?

I turn on my heel and prowl as silently as possible with my back to the wall down the corridor.

This is what I’m good at.

I’ve spent my life in the shadows. Most people don’t notice that I’m in a room. I watch other people and listen to their conversations.

Observing.

I can pretend to be what they want, but it’s fake.

Robyn tells me that it’s not but she’s the kindest person I know. She sees me as something that I’m not. My twin loves me because I’ve always been at his side.

D’Angelo has offered me family. Cody friendship. But neither of them truly know me.

At least in the darkness, I can be myself.

I peer through open doors into rooms that drip with chandeliers and antiques.

The kitchen lies empty and twice the size of the one at Captain’s Hall.

My chest tightens.

I’ve cleaned houses this size back in Guildford. The owners treated me either with a mocking cruelty or sometimes, an attempted kindness, as if I was a pet.

They’d talk to me slowly, using simple words like English was my second language and I wasn’t in fact studying English literature at college.

Shay, on the other hand, has never been inside a mansion like this.

Will he freak out, when he moves in? Will he truly get used to this sort of wealth or will he always feel out of place?

Or like he said only a couple of nights ago to me, hushed and sad, as if he’s D’Angelo’sproject?

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