Page 95 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
“And I think you should let go of her now.” Sullen’s arm bands around my waist and he tugs me backward, my spine flush with the broadness of his body.
Cosmo’s fingertips dig deeper into my wrist. He doesn’t release me. “I can make you disappear again, in seconds,” Cosmo says in a low voice, not letting me go. I don’t think the others can hear us, but I’m suddenly worried Maude is going to discover exactly who Sullen is and either turn him in or become more obsessed with him, like I am.
Sullen’s arm is a vice around my waist, his fingertips splaying over my bare skin beneath my crop top. He leans in closer to Cosmo, curling around my body, dominating me and casting Cosmo’s face in shadow.
“Yeah?” Sullen asks quietly. “And I suppose in the time you make your call, and we wait for someone to capture me, you think I’ll let you keep breathing?”
“Hey.” Maude’s voice has me turning my head, my pulse leaping to my throat. She’s standing right beside us now and I don’t like her this close. I can smell the wine on her breath, the dark melancholy of her perfume. “What’s going on?” Her eyes flicker from Sullen’s arm around me to Cosmo gripping my wrist. A frown mars her brow.
No one speaks.
Maude brings her manicured nails to her throat, her red lips parted as she watches us. “Scully?”His name is Sullen you fucking—“Do you and Cosmo not…get along? Is this about…” She looks to me. “Her?” she asks quietly, and I swear her lip curls even though she was touching me only moments ago, but I know that was to get close to Sullen.
“I have a name,” I say through gritted teeth, my pulse thumping in my jaw. “It’s Karia.”
“Yes but quite frankly, you slept two days straight and every time he’s around you, he seems uncomfortable. I’m not so sure you two are a good—”
“Don’t,” Sullen says, voice dangerous. He’s squeezing my waist so hard I feel nauseous, but I don’t want him to stop. “Don’t speak about her. About things you don’t understand.”
A pleasurable warmth floats inside my chest, burning up to my cheeks. I feel as if I’m spinning, my face flushing hot.
Maude blinks, taken aback. I don’t know why Sullen acted so completely fascinated with her at dinner but the relief I feel knowing he just chose my side in this is enough to wash away any negative feelings.
But Cosmo snorts, bursting through my bubble. All at once, he releases me and I snatch my hand back, curling it around Sullen’s forearm over my waist.
“If you all will excuse me,” Cosmo says with gleaming eyes. “I have a call to make.”
Then he turns his back on us.
No.
I press down on Sullen’s arm, intending to sprint after Cosmo. But as my friend disappears into the small alcove of the cold room, Sullen doesn’t release me. Instead, he slides his arm down, across my back, then threads his fingers through mine, his hand engulfing my own.
I glance at him, at Maude staring at us, but he says nothing as we stride across the room, following Cosmo.StalkingCosmo, it feels like.
I don’t want him dead. I do feel a little bad about hurting him, even if I don’t regret it. But as we step through the entranceway into the cold room—it’s darker in here, as if the red string of lights dulled when the power flickered—I worry what Sullen will do.
And I worry I won’t stop him.
Cosmo’s back is to the dark gray wall, his phone to his ear, eyes on us, lips tipped upward into a smirk.
He opens his mouth to say something, but whether it’s to us or someone on the line, I don’t find out. Sullen releases me, then he steps forward quietly.
“I really wish you hadn’t put your mouth on her,” he says in a low tone. But he doesn’t make a threat. He simply begins to quietly strangle the boy I almost kissed. His hands are around Cosmo’s throat in a blink, his thumbs digging into his windpipe as he tips Cosmo’s head back, knocking it into the wall. I can’t see Cosmo’s expression over the height of Sullen, but I hear his phone drop to the floor with a clatter.
I react on instinct. Crouching low, I swipe up the phone and see the line is connected to Isadora. I hear her voice calling Cosmo’s name. I end the call, then push the phone into my back pocket.
Cosmo is fighting back, trying to knee Sullen, but Sullen presses his body into Cosmo, until they’re flush together, and he doesn’t stop strangling him.
There’s a knot in my throat as I step forward, right behind Sullen. So close I can smell him; darkened roses and the musk of his sweat.
I glance over my shoulder, ensuring no one has followed us.
And no one is there.
When I turn back, Cosmo has his hands fisted in the hem of Sullen’s hoodie and my breath catches as he lifts it up, the fabric of Sullen’s white T-shirt beneath too.
I step closer, pivoting to the side of both of them, and I see horror in Sullen’s gaze, but when I look to Cosmo’s, it’s reflected on his as he stares down at Sullen’s abs.
