Page 81 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
But just as she is about to slip past the welcome lounge into the shop, I stride forward, then grab onto her wrist, jerking her backward.
She spins around with a glare, pulling her arm away from me.
Reluctantly, I let her go.
“Promise me you won’t…laugh with him,” I say quietly, my voice hoarse in the darkness and quiet of the store. It's not really what I want to say, but I don't know how to articulate what I'm feeling.
Her brows wrinkle together, eyes narrowed, the faint cut at the corner of one starker with this expression. “What?” she asks, shaking her head once. “Laugh? With whom?”
I glance past her, into the darkness of Emporium. “Fleet.” Saying his name is annoying.
Something softens in her features, her lips parting, brow smoothing out. Then she just says, with a small smirk, “I’ll be on my best behavior if you are on yours.”
Chapter32
Karia
The stairwell is frightening. Pitch dark, the scent of wet cement and some sort of wicked incense both fill my nose and each step creaks as I slowly descend into what looks like a deeper well of darkness. There is no handrail and while Sullen is behind me, he does not reach out to help me keep my balance. Maybe he thinks I don’t want him to touch me since I pulled away from his grip earlier. I wish he would, and yet… I cannot stop thinking of my dream. My nails against my eye. The blood streaming down my face.
Sullen, telling me he touched me in my sleep.
I do not remember it; I don’t know how far he went.
Not far enough, but I don’t think I should tell him that.
There was blood beneath my nails, and he seemed angry when he thought I hurt myself, but with Maude’s words on the police searching for someone, the name of this store, and the strange turn of events leading us to a fuckingdinnerwith a gangly blond boy namedFleet,everything feels…suspicious.
Even my hot childhood crush, at my back.
We continue down in silence, but as I reach a landing, I can see a faint red glow through a thick pane of frosted glass. There is the sound of music beyond, mainly bass as I can’t make out lyrics or beats.
I reach out my hand for the doorknob, thinking of Sullen warning me not to laugh with Fleet. I think he meantflirt,and if it were anyone else—Cosmo, Von—I would've told them to fuck themselves. But there was something strangely endearing about the way Sullen tries to be possessive.
I push the thought aside and mentally prepare myself for who might be down here. Maude, Fleet, I don’t know any of them by sight or name, but… what if this is some sort of elaborate trap, and I am walking right into it?
I’ll run, if it is. We’ll both run again.
I twist the ridged knob, cold beneath my fingers.
Then I push open the door and step inside a low-ceilinged, dark room.
The chatter that was taking place the second before I walked in falls silent, only the music playing in the background. I recognize the song. “Antichrist,” by The 1975. For some reason, hearing it in this room with dark red lights strung along the ceiling, a burnished red, rectangular dining table taking up most of the space, a bar cart pulled close to the table, and snake spines pressed into glass hung up along the black walls, it feels oddly… creepy.
As I cast my eyes around the red velvet chairs set at the table, seeing Fleet, Maude, a pretty girl with pink hair, and a guy that looks eighteen with a baby face and black, tight curls, my unease grows, despite the fact I don’t understand why. I am still standing in the doorway, preventing Sullen from fully stepping into the room. I check out the corners of the space and see a hallway that leads somewhere dark. Just as I start to spin around to scope out the walls to my right, there is a quiet, familiar voice in my ear.
“What thefuckare you doing here, Karia?”
Chapter33
Karia
Istartle, turning around to find Cosmo standing in the shadows beyond the door, too close to me.
Panic lodges itself in my throat, my chest rising up sharply, but I can’t seem to get a breath. I release the handle of the door, glancing at the stairwell. At Sullen, watching me. But he can’t see Cosmo because of the fact the door opens inward.
“Do you know the entire city is looking for you?” Cosmo says quietly, his voice smooth, brow raised, but there is wrath in his features. He’s dressed casually; gray sweats and a black T-shirt, hands in his pockets. But his shoulders are rigid and for one crazed second, I wonder how much the back of his head is still swollen from where I hit him.
He steps closer, reaching out to wrench the door open further.
