I open my mouth to answer when someone raps on the door.
“Who the fuck is that?” he voices my thought.
“Come in. It’s open,” I shout.
The door opens, and Francisco walks in, wearing a smile, and his favorite sweatpants, the ones Alejandro hates with a passion because they make his dick noticeable when he walks.
“Where were you?” Alejandro asks.
“Raven’s room. Why?”
His smile tells me I was right.
But I don’t have time to think about it.
“Is she fine?” I ask.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” he says to me.
“When did you see her?”
“Like right now.”
“Was there someone else on the floor?”
Alejandro looks at me as I shoot these questions back to back.
“No. Why are you asking me that?” Francisco murmurs.
I slide my eyes to Alejandro.
“When did you see that guy?” I ask.
“Like ten, fifteen minutes ago.”
I head to the floor.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to check on her.”
I burst out of the room and sprint away, one of them or maybe both following me.
* * *
RAVEN
“Getthe fuck out of my room,” I shout, yanking my robe off the bed and tossing it on while the man’s creepy eyes rove over my body.
I give him a shove, but Theodore Sloane doesn’t move.
Frozen in the middle of the room, he looks around, taking inventory of the crumpled sheets on the floor and generally speaking of the state of my room.
I feel profoundly violated by his eyes. This is my space. Everything that happened here is now tarnished by the presence of this man.
I had many plans and envisioned many nice, wholesome, beautiful things. I wanted all of them to happen in this room.
And some of them have happened.