Did it happen simply because we had sex, or was there something more to the heightened emotions of that collision that bound us together more tightly than before?
Can he sense me too?
A smile touches my lips, and the washing machine rumbles to a stop with a harsh beep.
Apparently I’m on laundry duty since I’m the one stuck down here. I spring off the bed and go over to move the damp clothes to the dryer.
It’s a small load, so it shouldn’t take long. I can’t wait to get back into my regular clothes. This dress makes me feel like a dwarf.
Someday, maybe I’ll have a proper wardrobe, multiple outfits to pick between… that I don’t have to leave behind after just a few days because brutal guardians launch an attack. Not that I have high fashion aspirations, but a little variety would be nice.
As I set the dryer running, a whiff of a different sort of emotion reaches my nose. The tang of stress hormones unfurls through the air.
Those aren’t coming from me, and there’s no one else in the room. Frowning, I turn my head and prowl through the space, trying to follow the trail.
I end up underneath a vent for the furnace, which isn’t currently running. Another waft of tension prickles into my lungs from above.
The vents will run all through the house. In my overly sensitized state, a trace seeping down from the higher floors must feel like a lot.
But how upset must the guys be for even a trace to trickle all the way down here?
I push up on my toes toward the vent and realize I can make out voices too. Way too faint and muffled for me to distinguish any words, but they’re obviously raised, curt and hostile.
Is Andreas arguing with the other guys—about me? I guess it would be an argument if he’s trying to convince them to stop being such jerks.
I shift my weight, uneasiness coiling around my gut. I don’t want him fighting my battles for me, all alone.
If he’s arguing on my behalf, I should at least be there to back him up.
I don’t really expect to get anywhere, but my restless feet carry me up the basement steps, my nerves outright buzzing now. My fingers clutch the knob—and it turns smoothly.
I freeze for a second before understanding hits me. Drey didn’t bother to lock the basement when he left.
He didn’t see any reason he needed to.
A pang of joy thrums through me alongside my apprehension. Icango up there and stand with him, then.
Before I can think any farther ahead than that, my body is already rushing forward. My bare feet pad across the worn floorboards to the main staircase and up it, moving swiftly but silently with the stealth that comes automatically to me.
The voices come into sharper clarity as I hurry upward. Andreas is speaking, so terse his tone alone makes my heart ache.
Then I register what he’s saying.
“…the whole reason I started ‘getting cozy’ with her was so she’d open up about things she wouldn’t have told us otherwise. I held up my end of the deal. Now you’ve got to listen.”
What?
My legs lock at the top of the stairs. I stare through the doorway into the shadowy bedroom ahead of me where Andreas stands by the bed.
All three of the other guys are poised around him, but he’s facing Jacob, whose gaze slides from Andreas to me. A glitter even chillier than usual lights in his fierce eyes.
“Yes,” he says, giving Drey a smile so sharp it could flay skin. “That was the deal. And now she knows it too.”
Andreas turns, his gaze snagging on mine. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
My feet propel me forward, one step and another, through the doorway. Then I can’t bear to get any closer to him.
My own voice catches in my throat before I force out the question. “You were acting friendly just to trick me into telling you things?”