Page 180 of Deviant

“Batting your eyes at me won’t make me care more or less about whatever that psycho is up to. I say leave it alone. Whatever Mackenzie’s got up her sleeve will bite her in the ass eventually. I’m with Andy. Let’s spend the last day of freedom we have before the games and go back to our room.”

“Actually, I had another idea in mind,” I say, discreetly slipping him the key that Harper gave me last night.

“You still have this?” he says, quickly hiding it in his pocket.

“Well, technically, you’re the one who has it now.”

“Don’t get cute with me, Roe. Especially when I’m still angry at you. You’re lucky I don’t put you over my knee and give you a good fucking spanking for the stunt you pulled last night.”

I swallow dryly, my skin suddenly heating up at the image he just planted in my head.

Elias smirks when he sees how the idea of a good spanking isn’t as revolting to me as it sounds.

“Bed it is, then,” he says enthusiastically, starting to pull us both off the couch.

“Though going back to our room to role play is tempting-—very tempting—I want to go with my original plan for today instead,” I announce, pulling him back to his seat.

“Which is?” He frowns, disgruntled and annoyed.

“I want us to continue searching the house like we did yesterday for more clues. And before you tell me no, please hear me out. The library we found contained all the names of every person who ever wonThe Scourge,right? Who’s to say there aren’t more rooms like that one scattered throughout the mansion? Perhaps there’s an archive room or an office that might contain other types of records. Aren’t you the tiniest bit curious to find out?”

“Roe, sweetheart?” he whispers softly, tugging my chin with his thumb and index finger. “If this is about your mom, just come out and say it.”

“Fine… okay… it is about my mom,” I admit sullenly. “I just need to know, Elias. I need to know why she left us. I need—”

But my words are silenced by his tender kiss, and once he’s made sure he’s quieted my troubled mind, he breaks our kiss and stares lovingly at me.

“That’s all you needed to say.”

My heart feels like it can’t fit in my chest with the way he’s looking at me right now.

And for the first time in a long time, the desire to succumb to my misery no longer rings true to me. It’s almost as if every thought I’ve had of death and suicide ceases to plague my soul since agony and suffering no longer live in it.

How could they, when Elias takes up so much space?

It’s like he’s moved into my heart and kicked everything that didn’t belong out of there.

Which is a highly inconvenient thing for him to do since I’ve charged him to kill me.

“Hey? Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure,” I answer truthfully.

He presses a tender kiss to my temple and then helps me off the couch.

“Then let’s go hunt those answers for you. Maybe then you’ll have some peace of mind.”

Doubtful.

I don’t think anything will give me back my peace again.

Oblivious to the newfound torment I’m experiencing, Elias helps me search every room of the house for most of the day, pausing only for lunch and a few brief breaks. Despite spending hours combing through every nook and cranny of this house of horrors, we find absolutely nothing—no clues that could lead us toThe Scourgeor to my mom.

“We’ll keep looking,” Elias says encouragingly.

“Where, Elias? Where will we look? We’ve rummaged through every room in this house, and aside from the library, we’ve found nothing. Absolutely nothing,” I reply, feeling exasperated.

“Come here,” he says, opening his arms for me. I fall into his embrace, his scent and warmth like a balm to my soul. “If whatever we are looking for is under this roof, then we’ll find it.”

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