Insatiable (The Edge of Darkness, #1)(13)
The latch on the door unlocks, and my friend sneaks out, leaving Dez asleep in bed. Her hair is a mess, and there’s a bite mark on her throat. She blows out a breath as she looks at me. “I’ll call an Uber. I’m too hungover to drive.”
We step over a sleeping Base at the entranceway and slip out the front door.
The manor is strangely silent. “You wouldn’t think it was noon. Luciella must’ve given the staff more than one day off.”
“Three days, I think. She hates having them around.”
The outside air hits us, and we both shiver.
“I’m going to come stay at your place for a few days,” I tell Tylar, shivering even more at the thought of going home to Chris. “When do you leave for Rome?”
“Sunday,” she says as we sit on the steps, waiting for our ride. “I know you want to ask. So ask.”
I shrug. “What you and Dez do is none of my business. ”
“It was that stupid game,” she says, sighing. “I thought I was going to sleep with him, then Kade made them all leave.”
When I’d gone back into the manor last night, Kade had grabbed Base by the collar before he could take a line of coke from the coffee table and dragged him out of the room. Then when Dez decided to come up for air after devouring Tylar’s mouth, Kade had said that the party was over.
I had a few more shots, and then me and Tylar went to one of the spare rooms. She snuck out once she thought I was asleep, and I heard her giggling outside the door.
The gate opens, and I watch as a black motorbike drives in and stops next to us. The rider stands tall, tugs off his gloves and then the helmet to reveal dark messy hair and sleepy blue eyes.
Kade drops the helmet on the ground; he looks like he hasn’t slept in days. He rolls his shoulders as he gets off the bike, and as he lifts his gaze to me, I notice a bruise under his cheek. I gulp and look away.
“I think Base might be dead,” Tylar says, yawning. “He’s lying in the lobby in just a pair of boxers.”
Kade nods, and I want to look at him again so badly, but I don’t.
He walks up the stairs on my right, and my skin prickles at his nearness before he vanishes into the manor. My shoulders jump as he slams the door.
“So moody,” Tylar says. “I wonder where he went? Dez said he ran out the manor at seven this morning.”
I don’t reply as I stare at my shoes, kicking imaginary stones.
When the Uber arrives, we run down to the gates and jump in. Tylar lives an hour from here, and her place is smaller, filled with loads of art, statues and plants. Her cats press up against my legs as I try to walk to her room, nearly tripping me on the stairs.
Instead of showering and getting dressed, or doing anything productive, Tylar and I put on fresh pyjamas and climb into bed. We stay there for the rest of the day, and when I finally charge my phone, Luciella video-calls us for an hour to make plans for our upcoming trip to America. She’s flying out to meet up with her mother and Ewan, and see her dad, and has invited me along for a holiday.
I fall back to sleep after we eat pizza.
We do this for three days, and over those three days, I ignore every single message from Chris. They only grow angrier, more threatening, and even after I block him, he uses a new number to ask me to come home.
Or begs me more like.
Tylar finally drives me home after we collect her car from Lu’s, reminds me that I’m covering her class tonight then air-kisses me as I leave the vehicle. I rush to my bedroom, sighing in relief when I reach it and close the door, putting the chair beneath the handle to stop Chris from getting in.
I shower and lean against the tiles, remembering how close Kade was to me by the gate. His arm was around me, and then his hand was on my throat. I slide my hand up to my neck and bite my lip, closing my eyes and imagining it’s him.
The moment breaks when someone bangs on my bedroom door, loud enough that I can hear it in my bathroom.
Chris stares at me like an angry owl from across the dining table while Nora discusses with Kyle the importance of being more involved with the family instead of partying all the time.
I can barely swallow my food without feeling his vomit-inducing gaze on me. It’s murderous – like, serial killer murderous. If there wasn’t anyone else around, I fear what he’d do.
If Chris grips his fork any tighter, it’ll snap.
Psycho.
“When are you going to America?”
Nora’s question is enough to pull his concentration to his mother. He had no idea I was going away. Great, more punishment.
When I tell her that I’m leaving tomorrow, she asks, “And will adults be going?”
“Can we not do this? I’m twenty-one.”
“Regardless of your age, the last time you went over there, you came back with multiple bruises and a broken arm. How are you going to prevent that from happening again?”
I shrug. Your son has a screw loose. “Maybe not drink and fall in front of oncoming traffic?” That was the lie he’d made me come up with.
“There’s no need for that tone, dear. I’m just worried about you. Whenever you go away with your friends, you come back injured.”
“Why are you going there?” Chris asks, and I know he’s going to strangle me against my door when we’re alone, to try to squeeze every little last detail from me.