Page 42 of Hell House
“Nope, not me." I sip at my whiskey, letting it burn my throat and coat my stomach. There’s been too many emotions pelting at me tonight and I want to feel the sweet nothings that alcohol gives me.
She sits up on her heels staring at it for a moment. She shakes her head. “I don’t have the emotional capacity to deal with this right now.”
She stands up, swaying a little, those two shots hitting her fast and hard. A knock comes from her door, and we look at each other wondering who it could be. She goes to open the door and a incredibly wet Pierce is standing on the other side. He’s leaning against the doorframe, wracking his eyes over Salem like he’s ready to devour her whole, water dripping from his hair. I swear being in the vicinity of these two feels like I’m about to witness a spontaneous combustion.
“Um, I’m going to head out.” I say pushing myself off of the bed.
“No, Skye. Stay.” Salem implores, not taking her gaze off of Pierce. He frowns, his jaw ticking with irritation. “Did you need something, Pierce?”
“I thought we could finish our conversation from earlier.” He grumbles, clearly frustrated and I’m feeling all kinds of uncomfortable wishing I could vacate the room so they could work out whatever is going on between them.
“I can go if you want?” This small room is feeling immensely smaller by the second.
“Stay-Go.” Pierce and Salem say at the same time.
His green eyes that are a shade lighter than Lukas’s flash with anger before he puffs out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. We’ll talk later.” He runs down the winding staircase, his steps pounding all the way down.
“Okay. Spill it.”
Salem groans, sinking down the wall she’s leaned up against, then sprawls her legs out.
“I kissed Pierce tonight and I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t gotten interrupted there might have beenmore.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need more alcohol.” I top off my drink and sit on her bed. This red comforter on here was so freaking comfortable.
She laughs. “That’s not even the crazy part.”
“What do you mean?”
She chews on a stray cuticle. “Okay. I could be completely out of my mind, Skye, so promise me what I say doesn’t leave this room.”
“I swear.” She levels a serious glare my way that makes me feel like I’m a toddler in trouble. “I swear, Salem.” I say again. I would never betray her trust.
“When we were at the game, I felt like… I don’t know, like I knew that something bad was going to happen before it did.”
“How do you mean?”
“I can’t really explain it, but before that first lightning strike hit the ground, I got the oddest sensation that danger was approaching.”
“That’s not sooo weird. I’ve heard of people experiencing that before.”
“Right, but when the second one was about to hit, after you, Javelynn and I were separated, it happened again. I found myself leaping over the fence to get to Pierce, and then… Fuck.”
I hand her another drink because whatever she’s about to tell me has her unsettled, no unsettled is too kind of a word, she seems freaked out and scared.
“I… Skye. I think I might have been able to direct the bolt of lightning away from Pierce.”
I shake my head no. “That’s impossible. It probably just ricocheted or something.”
She scrambles up on to her knees, her eyes wide. “Skye, I don’t know how else to explain it, but I felt this tug from in here and I raised my arm like this and threw it. I felt it latch onto me before I threw it.”
I stare at her, mouth agape. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t know what to think!” She cries. “And then the stuff with Pierce in the hallway, I’m such a mess. Out of all the people, why am I drawn to that one.”
“Something about those Ledger boys.”
Salem assesses me, and even with three shots down her throat she’s too sharp to miss my meaning.
