Page 103 of Insidious Heart
And then he’s gone.
With a disappointed sigh, I slide down my bed, pulling the blankets up to my shoulders as I roll toward the window. After a while, rays of the morning sun start to stream through the glass, staggered and dancing between the branches of the tree outside. Victor left my window cracked—he knows I keep my bedroom cool so I can pile on the blankets—and the sounds of birds chirping, the world slowly waking up to the crisp autumn morning begin to lull me to sleep.
Only to be woken up a while later by pounding on my bedroom door.
“Stevie!” An unfamiliar voice yells through the wood before I hear the deadbolts start to click. “Stevie! Hey, you there?”
I scramble out of bed, my heart hammering in my chest, fear fluttering in my stomach as I dart to the dresser. “Hold on please!” Frantically, I rummage through the drawer and pull out the first pair of sweats I can find, sliding them up under my ghost’s hoodie quickly before running to the door. “I’m getting dressed!”
My eyes bounce around my bedroom in search of any sign of my overnight guest, then I run to the bathroom, make sure it’s clean—thank you, Victor—grab a hair tie and toss my hair into a messy bun.
“I’ll be right there!” I shout as I shove my feet into my moccasins before quickly making my bed. If this patch is making sure I’m up so Beau can come in here, thenIneed to make sure it doesn’t look like I slept until… I check my phone as I plug it in. “Holy shit,” I whisper.
It’s almostsix-thirty.
Which means I just slept for nearly twelve hours.
I know yesterday was rough, in more than one way for sure, but I haven’t slept that hard in god knows how long.
Must have been the sex.
I almost laugh at that but don’t because the knob on my door shakes a couple times before whoever is on the other side bangs on it again. “Stevie, get out here!”
“Sorry,” I pant as I throw open the battered wood, only now realizing I never locked it from the inside last night when I came up here so it must have been my ghost who did it. “Sorry, I was in the bathroom.”
The Demon Seed standing in the hallway frowns as he glances at my clothes, his sort of hazel eyes going wide when gets to my face. “You, ah…” He clears his throat and looks away.No one must have told him about my scar.“You have a—there’s someone here to see you.”
“What?” I blurt, my own eyeballs going wide.
But he nods. “You got a visitor downstairs.”
“Avisitor?” That’s not supposed to happen. I’m not allowed to talk to anyone outside the club, let alone invite them over or something.Beau is going to lose his shit if he finds out.“I have a visitor?”
The patch sighs, long and annoyed. “Yeah. You got a visitor.” He turns to start toward the stairs but I don’t miss the mumbled, “Lefty said she was weird but damn, I didn’t think she was stupid too.”
I scowl at the back of his head because I’mnotstupid and he’d know that if he bothered talking to me at all. Not that I really want to engage with the members of my father’s club, but still. None of them have ever tried talking to me, just like they’ve never bothered standing up for me or helping me after a lecture. Which means it shouldn’t really faze me that the entirety of the Demon Seeds thinks I’mweirdorstupid.
It’s probably for the best anyway.
Not just because Beau would flip his lid, but also because not talking to them helps me avoid any unwanted attention. Like the kind Joker used to give me without ever willingly talking to him. They can keep on thinking I’m a weird stupid girl and we’ll all be better for it.
I hurry down the stairs after my less-than-pleasant messenger, his irritation with me obvious in each clomp of his boots, but when we get to the bottom and he nods toward the living room, I come to a screeching halt.
“Linnie?”
She spins away from the dingy wallpaper by the empty bookshelf and smiles. “Girl, what is up with all the man meat crawling around your house?”
“Uhm… “ My gaze bounces from the patch sitting in the recliner watching what is clearly porn on the TV to the one leaning in the doorway of the dining room drinking a beer and staring at us. Between those two, the one that came to get me, and at least one or two more, my friend is probably confused as hell right now. And I am aterribleliar. “Well… uh…”
“Is it always like this here?”
“Kind of.” I shrug then try not to seem awkward or terrified as I walk forward and gently grab her elbow. “Why don’t we go out on the porch.”
“Whatever you say, girlie.” Linnie brushes her blonde bob out of her eyes and glances back at the guy watching the vintagemovie. “But I didn’t mind looking while I waited for you.”
Gross.
I close the door behind us, my heart racing as I search the street for any sign of my father then move to the swing hanging on by a thread. “What are you doing here, Linnie?”
