Page 4 of Hysteria Rises
I roll my eyes as he leans in close, getting right in the girl’s face. If she were to wake up right now, I wouldn’t blame her for screaming her damn head off.
Kiefer must have decided he’s had enough for now, because he turns on his heel, striding quickly away. My brother follows in his wake, firing whispered questions at him.
Shaking his head, Henry crosses thickly muscled arms over his chest and blusters, “May as well get her to Nolan’s room before you wake the entire compound, Hayze. The one he uses for doctoring.” With a jut of his chin, he spurs me into action. “And no matter what, don’t leave her alone if he’s not there, got it?”
My teeth grind, but I nod. “Of course not.”
“Go on, then.”
“Yes sir,” I grit out as I turn on my heel and head for Nolan’s rooms.
For some reason, a feeling of foreboding fills me. Change is coming to Dark Falls Hollow. And it’s arrived in the form of this troublemaking minx of a girl.
THREE
CROSS
“Hayze hasto be back by now. What do you think the Collective will do?” Arrow’s voice has raised to a boom to be heard over multiple showers running all at once in the communal bathroom.
Pondering his question, I glance down as watery mud swirls toward the drain. I offer a clipped, “No fucking idea” before running soapy hands over my body, then tipping my head back to allow the hot spray to hit me full in the face. Tonight was miserable, but it certainly wasn’t uninteresting. Definitely not. I stare blankly at the tile in front of me, my jaw grinding as one thought after another flickers through my mind. There’d been fear in that girl’s eyes. But also a certain defiant energy. She wasn’t going to stand there and let us come at her. I fuckin’ respect that.
“Did you all really just find her?” Rafe shouts from two stalls over.
Hayze’s second-youngest brother is an oddity I can’t figure out. Annoyed to be yanked from my thoughts, I growl, “I swear, Rafe, some of the shit that falls out of your mouth…”
“Sorry. I’m really curious. She just… appeared?” He’s usually the quiet sort, but this turn of events has obviously set everyone under this roof off-kilter.
Leave it to a woman to show up and make us act like idiots. And I don’t like it one fucking bit. She appeared out of nowhere less than an hour ago and already it’s as if we’ve taken everything we know and have chucked it into the air… and now we wait for whatever the eventual fallout may be. I don’t like it when the grasp I have on things loosens.
Rafe’s mostly a good sort. I shouldn’t pick on him like I do … but sometimes, it’s too much fun. And other times, like tonight, I simply don’t have the mental energy to expend. Shit. He’s probably stewing because both Arrow and I have let his question hang. I exhale raggedly. “You sure aren’t shying away from poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong tonight.”
“Whatever, man,” he mutters, “I’m curious, that’s all.”
The bathroom door bangs open a second later, effectively ending the conversation. “Hey, Cross, you in here?” It’s Gannon.
Cursing under my breath, I yank the curtain to the side. “Yeah, why?”
He shrugs, grinning. “Nolan grabbed me and told meto come find you.”
I press my lips together and whip the shower curtain closed again. “How long ago?”
He snorts. “Like ten minutes. He’ll be good and agitated by now. Better fucking get a move on.”
Arrow groans in the stall beside me. “Waiting to come get Cross was a dick move.”
“Don’t really care, freak.”
Gannon’s pet name for Arrow stirs something protective within me. Arrow can physically handle himself, but that doesn’t mean I won’t smack Gannon upside the head if he keeps it up. He needs to cut the shit. He’s gotten to be more and more of a pain in the ass lately.
I give Arrow credit for choosing to let the insult lie. Tonight would be a bad night to start something. The honest truth, though, is that if he continues to push Arrow too hard, things will get ugly. Gannon’s a fucking idiot to poke that bear. He might be a year older than Arrow, but in the last twelve months, my friend has grown several inches and put on at least twenty pounds of muscle. He’s simply less inclined to welcome the attention an altercation would bring.
Steering myself back to the issue at hand, I throw out a clipped, “Did my father say where he’d be?”
There’s no hiding Gannon’s fevered enthusiasm as the answer tumbles out. “In the room he uses for… you know.” He heaves out a breath, his voice carrying an edge of excitement. “Kiefer and Henry had Hayze take the girl right to Nolan, but I don’t know why they’re bothering. She looked all but dead.” Howling laughter spills from him, and I can just imagine his lips curving into a devious smile as he goes silent on the other side of the curtain.Fucker.
On an exhale, I mutter, “For fuck’s sake.” He means my father’s exam room. Doing a three-sixty under the cascading water, I run my hands through my hair, making quick work of rinsing out the shampoo. I can’t imagine what I’m needed for, but ignoring a demand from one of the Collective is the quickest path to swift punishment.
Reaching around to grab at the towel I left outside of the shower, I dry off and pull on pants at lightning speed, then toss a quick “See you all later” over my shoulder as I haul ass from the bathroom.
