Page 12 of Hell House
“You know what they say about denial?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a river in Egypt.”
“Oh my God, that was such a dad joke.” I break out into a full-on smile.
“You’re easily the most annoying person I’ve ever met.” A smile tugs at her full lips, I flick my gaze down for a brief second.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Her breath hitches as I look back into her piercing jade eyes. I feel myself leaning into her when I suddenly feel a buzzing coming from my pants pocket. She hears the buzzing then takes a step back, her frown slipping back into place with a shudder.
“Aren’t you going to see what that is?” She asks as my phone buzzes again.
I slip my phone out to see a few missed texts from Emmet.
E: Stop flirting and get your ass back to the house already.
E: Headmaster Hayden is asking for an update.
E: Did a quick sweep of her phone, looks like she’s single.
Her eyes fill with mistrust as she assesses me for a moment, taking in my tense shoulders. “Bad news?”
“Nah, just my housemate bugging me.”
She nods her head, her pony bouncing with the movement. My hand itches to bring her closer so I can play with it, but I force myself to head back to the house.
“I’ll see you around, witch.”
She frowns at me, “Later, douchebag.” I chuckle as I peel myself away from her. I have the oddest feeling that I could have spent all night exchanging barbs with her. I feel a pang of regret at what I have to do to her, but I don’t have a choice. Everything hangs on carrying out the headmaster’s demands. Everything.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Emmet
Isift through Salem’s digital footprint while I wait for Pierce to get his ass home. My father had developed several discreet pieces of tech that afforded us the life I’d grown up in, but it also served us well when we were gathering intel on those in our lives. This wasn’t the first time I’d swiped someone’s phone for access to their most intimate details, and it wouldn’t be the last.
It’s the reason Pierce opened up to me about his deal with Headmaster Hayden, because I already knew. There was nothing that went on with my housemates that I didn’t know about. I take a sip of whiskey, as I go through Salem’s messages. It was clear she had a strained relationship with her family. Her mother seemed flighty at best, forgetting she had a daughter. My jaw twitches with irritation reading the last text between the two.
Salem: Mom? My card keeps getting declined. Did you pay the bill??
Mom: Fuck if I know. Don’t bother me with trivial details.
Salem: … ok. But if I can’t buy anything that’s not a trivial detail, that’s a huge detail.
Mom: What more could you possibly need? All your meals are taken care of at that school of yours that we paid for.
Salem: Mom, could you please just look into paying the card?
Salem: Mom?
Salem: Mom…?
I take another sip of whiskey, the liquid burning my throat as it goes down.
“Dude, did you get anything good?” Pierce plops down on the couch across from me. I swivel the liquid in my cup around as I continue scrolling through Salem’s information.
“Nothing yet.” I lie. I’ve learned plenty about our little witch while he was busy chasing after her. I learned she’s been kicked out of three schools, she doesn’t have many friends, her family comes from a long line of money, she went through an adorable boy band phase when she was younger before finding that she enjoys listening to Lana Del Ray with an occasional Taylor Swift binge. She’d rather be reading or listening to music than interacting with people, and she’s been arrested at least once that I could find for protesting. It warmed my cold heart to see that she’d been marching in the streets for someone like me. Though I was privileged with money, sometimes people couldn’t look past the color of my skin. While we moved through affluent circles, when I put a hoodie on and went jogging, I was so fucking aware of my surroundings. There’s nothing quite like the blind hatred of stranger who professes they’re acting out of a moral compass for the good of the community.
