Page 176 of Deviant

“Okay, first of all, aww!” Harper coos. “That might be the sweetest thing I ever heard come out of your mouth. And secondly, you don’t have to be into guys to show them affection. Didn’t your dad ever hug you as a child?”

“No.”

“Your brother?”

“Fuck no.”

“A teacher? A coach? A guy friend?” Harper asks, looking troubled.

“My boss, Rick, gave me a side hug when my mom died. Does that count?”

“Dude,” Andy utters, shaking his head at me, and when all the women in the room just stare at me with sad frowns and pitying looks stitched to their faces, I’ve had just about enough of this topic. “That’s okay, E. I can be your first,” he adds, wiggling his brows. “And like I told Rowen, once you’ve had a piece of this, you’ll never go back.”

I want to curse at the fucker, but all I end up doing is barking out a laugh at the goofy faces he makes.

My laugh must be contagious because the girls all join in, too.

“See? Aren’t you happy that we came?” Rowen whispers in my ear, her hand on my thigh.

I want to tell her thatshe’s the one that makes me happy,but the words get stuck in my throat, refusing to come out.

So, instead, I bring her hand to my lips and give it a kiss.

“Yeah, I’m glad we came.”

Two hours later, I regret letting Rowen seduce me into joining our friends for breakfast.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss, Elias. Aren’t you the least bit curious to see what these rooms are hiding?” Harper asks after I’ve groaned my discontent loudly enough to draw attention.

“If I had to choose between this harebrained scheme of yours to spending the rest of my day in my room with my face in between Rowen’s thighs, I think you know which one I’d pick.”

Rowen’s cheeks immediately turn pink while Abbie hides her face from secondhand embarrassment for her friend.

“He’s not wrong.” Andy shrugs. “I mean my head in your thighs… not my head in Rowen’s,” Andy quickly tries to clarify before he ends up in the doghouse with his girl.

“We all know what you mean, Andy. Now give me that key. You’re taking too long,” she says before snatching the master key she lifted off Seven last night from his grip.

Apparently, while Rowen and I were making up, Harper and Andy were up to no good.

Somehow, they got it into their heads that if they stole the master key that opens every room of the house, they might be able to find out who is behindThe Scourge.It’s been over an hour, and so far, we haven’t found jack shit.

When Harper opens the door and swings it open, we discover a room full of nothing more than books.

“Ooh! A library!” Abigail squeals in excitement like she just hit pay dirt.

She practically skips inside, rushing over to one of the many bookshelves aligning the room.

“Might as well go in,” Rowen says. “I mean, look how happy she is. It won’t take a minute.”

“You said that last time.”

“Elias Larsen, are you pouting?” she teases.

“I don’t pout,” I grumble.

“Tell that to your face,” Harper sings as she bypasses me.

“I’m really starting to hate your new bestie,” I groan.

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