When Tico finally spoke, it wasn’t what I thought it would be.
“So you have another person locked up in the walls?” He braced his arms on the table and leaned in, “Are you that lonely?”
I shook my head and pushed off the table, walking back to the door.
“It’s okay to need a friend, Preston.”
He just didn’t get it, which was exactly why the world would eat him alive.
I stopped with my hand on the door and looked over my shoulder. “By the way, the girl I was talking about is Marnie Dupire.”
Desire, need, anger, and happiness had various effects on the body. The threat of incoming danger was no different, though the signs were harder to recognize. Most people didn’t pick up on a quick stomach flip or the shiver that shot up their spine. But for those that paid attention, that silent alarm was unmistakable.
A shift in the air or a drop in temperature as the hairs on the back of the neck rose were all warning signs. My survival growing up depended on listening to my body’s signals. Unfortunately, the option to avoid it wasn’t always there. In this instance, my captive role prevented that.
I knew something terrible was coming. I could feel it in the heavy footsteps I shouldn’t hear. My pulse picked up on the dark cloud floating in, and everything inside me told me to run. But there was nowhere to go—no place to hide in this gilded cage.
The only thing I could do when the door hissed and clicked open was press my back against the bars and try not to panic when a booted foot stepped into the room.
This wasn’t the same as when I went home and knew what was coming. The weight of the world followed my captor through the door. Every breath I took pressed down on my lungs like the air had grown heavier. This was the oppressing depth of dread.
One look at Preston and I knew survival was the best outcome I could hope for in this scenario. The usual void in his gray stare was replaced by a flickering black flame of anger. I needed to watch my footing. One wrong move could be the difference between life and death.
I could adjust his mood somehow…maybe. I’d never tried seduction or playing docile. Trina did it all the time. I’d even seen Shelby turn Logan from full-on insanity to sweet as pie.
I forgot one crucial factor when I touched my ear to my shoulder and shot him a smile…I wasn’t Shelby or my sister.
Preston stopped and curled his lip. “Don’t do that. You look like your fucking sister.”
Considering I was the other half of a set of identical twins, that was an odd thing to get mad about. Not that I would point that out. It was safer to stay cautious. Especially when Preston’s eyes slowly trickled over my huddled form.
The man watching me wasn’t the one I was used to. It wasn’t the killer version of him either. This was something else. Something I don’t think many people saw. And if they did, they sure as hell didn’t live to tell about it.
Preston took one long, purposeful stride, and I swear every shadow in the room flooded into the scowl on his face.
I didn’t know what to do.
Did I say something? Did I move? Or should I stay completely still and pray that he didn’t notice me despite the fact that he was looking right at me? For the first time, I was genuinely scared for myself. Preston was close to snapping. I could feel the tension tightening his string of control with every step he took.
Then, he stopped, and I was even more unsure what to do. Anxiety bubbled up inside me, which only churned my stomach more.
Preston tipped his head, and I held my breath waiting for him to say something.
His voice never came. All I got was a pair of rolled-back shoulders and the shadows darkening his expression.
This was bad. I didn’t need the hairs on the back of my neck to tell me that.
“Did you bring more water?”
I wasn’t sure why I said that. I don’t know why I spoke at all. Maybe I was delirious from thirst? Or maybe my panicked heart was trying to placate him? Either way, it was a bad choice on my part. That much I knew the second his eyes fell on the empty bottle still sitting upright on the floor.
I never wanted to disappear more than I did when the muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Now, you want a drink?”
The venom in his tone burned down my throat as I forced down a heavy swallow.
If there were any kind of benevolent force out there, he would cast me back into darkness and cause the bulb on the floor to burst.
