Page 46 of Pretty Poisoned

He walks toward the door, but I don't move.

"Get up, Teagan," he says. "If I have to make you, I'm going to show you something you won't like nearly as much."

"Um…okay."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and force myself to follow him out the door and down the dark hallway, my pulse racing. This weird idea enters my head that maybe he can hear it, even though I know that isn't humanly possible. Still, it makes me panic even more as we walk the halls of the house, which is somehow even more ominous in the daylight. Last night, when it was filled with people and noise and bloodstains, it felt more like a prop. Now, it's too quiet. It's like the walls are watching me, and I can feel it breathing.

Declan stops in front of a small elevator and ushers me inside, closing the gate behind us. I move to the back corner, cross my arms in front of me, and watch as he hits the 'B' button.

For basement.

Maybe I am going to die like a dumb bitch. God damn it.

When it stops, he holds the gate open and waits, but I don't move.

"Get out," he says.

"No."

"What do you mean, 'No'?"

"If you're going to kill me, I'm not going to make it convenient. You can kill me here in your fancy elevator. The floors look porous, and the wallpaper will be an absolute nightmare."

He throws his head back and laughs, but I don't. I stare at him, straight-faced, with my arms still crossed tightly in front of me. "Oh god, you're dramatic," he says. "I'm not going to kill you, Teagan. Let's go."

Reluctantly, I exit the elevator and follow him down an even darker hallway. He stops in front of a set of wooden double doors and pushes them open.

A library. He has a fucking library.

I stand there in awe, taking it all in.

"I told you that you'd like it," he says. "I haven't given you any reason not to trust me yet, have I, Teagan? You, on the other hand…"

I do like it. There's even one of those rolling ladders like onBeauty and the Beast. And he has a point—I guess he hasn't given me a reason not to trust him. He wasn't lying about Luca.

"I want to try something," I say.

"It's not going to work—" he starts.

I run and jump onto the rolling ladder, hoping to check off an item on my bucket list, but it barely moves more than a couple of feet.

"I told you," Declan says. "It's too heavy. It has to be, or else what do you think would happen when you tried to reach for something at the top?"

"I'm so disappointed," I say. "Dreams shattered right now. That would have made for great content for my socials, too…if I had my phone."

He laughs and pulls his own phone from his pocket.

"Oh, I see how it is. The rules don't apply to you."

"I make the rules," he says, then holds his phone out in front of him. "Smile, Teagan."

I'm momentarily taken aback, but I strike a dramatic pose anyway and smile as he asked, and he snaps the photo.

"Beautiful," he says, looking down at the screen.

He smiles just a little, and the late afternoon sun streaming through the small windows near the ceiling hits his face just right.He'sfucking beautiful. I won't say that, but I'd have to be blind not to notice it. A lot of time, he's terrifying, but I noticedit when he was on stage, too. Still, I won't be like the rest of them—I'm not going to fall at Declan's feet and worship him just because he took me to his secret library and called me beautiful.

"I sent it to you," he says. "You can post it when you leave."

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