“I’d go with the latter.” That impersonal tone. Hinting at too much boredom mixed with revulsion for the entire human race speaks again.
Had I somehow manifested his presence? Sneaking around the house, in search of his room? Xander had said this was a vacation home, his permanent one down the road from the Casper’s.
I was sure there was something I could find of use. Know the enemy if you want to best the enemy.
I didn’t need to beat him, I just needed to prepare and there was only one way to do that.
“Stop being a coward, show yourself.” My voice is a breathless cackle.
I scan the hall, seeing nothing but a black nothingness. My eyes hadn’t adjusted yet, Cole perfectly hidden among the shadows.
His favorite place to be.
He tsks and I spin following the noise. Blood pumping straight through my heart.
“Bored already?” His voice lingering in the air for a few seconds.
“Can’t say you’ve been the most gracious host,” I deadpan, startled to the core but trying to hide it. He was still hiding.
Cole had always been a fan of games and tricks. Thrived off other’s discomfort. Like when I was twelve, waking to a half dozen dogs licking peanut butter off the bed I’d been sleeping in.
The Caspers hadn’t owned one dog, so I wasn’t sure how they managed to get seven.
“Meeting someone,” he says, coming out of nothing. No smirk, not a hint of laughter. Staring, he waited on an answer.
A soured scent twinges my nose. The smell of alcohol radiating off him even from several feet away.
“Found someone who wants in your jeans. Spread those pretty legs for.” Voice cutting deeper than a blade’s edge. “Fuck that tight little hole of yours, until you scream?”
An empty nothingness formed in the pit of my stomach. Cole assumed so little of me. My breathing turned hard but slow. I swallowed, irked.
“Is that what you like? To scream while some faceless moron fucks you from behind. Coming around his pathetic excuse for a dick?” His words are hostile, depraved.
An unexpected warmth injecting itself there at his crude words. I fought to keep my voice neutral. “I was looking for the kitchen.”
His eyes lower, unimpressed. “Upstairs?”
Beaming, I kept an unreadable expression on my face even though my hands felt sweaty. My pulse is still above average.
“You’re a shit liar.”
Reeled back in astonishment, I stood taller.
“The house is big enough. It could be anywhere.”
“It’s my house. Kellets don’t do anything average,” he states nonchalantly.
My lips pursed tight in annoyance at the way he implies average like it was abadthing. A bothersome inconvenience.
A lifestyle beneath him.
Cole looks around, mirthlessly staring at nothing. “Snooping around then?”
My damp fingers tighten on the rail when he takes a step, stale breath hitting me in the face. He smelled like a run-down dive bar. Admitting what we both knew I was up to.
“Remember what happened last time?”
I blink, pushing back the memory. My stomach flips. He was talking about the fire again.