Page 71

21

Kace

All we could do was stare at the petite blond.

Stare.

As if that nonsensical, wordless gesture would grant some clarity on the fucking bomb she dropped with the finesse of a bull traipsing through a china shop. It didn’t just sit on the floor idly; it exploded. Fucking exploded.

When nobody answered her and she didn’t rush to clarify her strange statement, the silence grew. And grew. And grew. What started as a minuscule seed became a full-fledged tree towering in the center of the shed. It provided a metaphysical wall between us and her. Me and her. Her body may have been pressed to mine, my head on her shoulder, but there was an ocean of space between us.

“You don’t believe me,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question, but Aiden, of-fucking-course, felt the need to respond.

“Monsters, sweetheart?” He quirked an eyebrow mockingly, but only someone who knew him as well as I did could see the tightening of his eyes. He didn’t believe the little firecracker, but her words made him nervous.

What had she seen that made her think monsters existed?

What had happened to her?

I could see Beau itching to go to her, to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. I knew because it was a reflection of my own feelings. Almost instinctively, I shifted so my arm was over her stomach. If it bothered her, she didn’t protest. I would be the first to admit that butterflies fluttered in my stomach, their wings beating against the lining.

“Monsters exist,” she said demurely. “I’ve seen them.”

“We all have.” Aiden spread his arms to encompass all of us in the room. “Humans are the worst monsters out there. Sometimes, our subconscious takes the form of—”

“Don’t fucking bullshit me,” Bianaca snapped, removing herself from my embrace. Instantly, I missed the way she felt against me. The heat of her. Her absence pulled back layers of skin and bone and muscle. “You think I’m making this up.”

Aiden held her stare stubbornly. “I don’t think you’re making this up. I think that sometimes our brain compartmentalizes things to make you believe stuff that doesn’t exist.”

“Whatever. I don’t fucking need this right now.” Each word was succinct, a slash of a knife against flesh. She made a beeline toward the exit, her footsteps echoing, and every pore in my body wanted to call her back to me. I didn’t know why I felt the way I did. I barely knew the girl but yet…

She was intimately familiar to me. Almost painfully so.

“Wait!” Tanner called. He ventured a step toward her but stopped when he saw the expression on her face. Cornered, almost. Wounded. She was scared and was trying to hide it behind an impeccably detailed mask. How was I able to read her so easily? Why were her facial expressions so familiar to me? I didn’t know the answers to those questions. When B stopped at Tanner’s one word, hand extended toward the doorknob, I thought that he had reached her. I thought she would come back and listen to us.

But she was stubborn and seemed to have this delusional mentality that real life monsters existed. I knew that monsters existed—I believed myself to be one of them—but not in the form of sharp teeth and milky white eyes. They didn’t hide under the bed, but theydidlurk in the shadows. Always waiting. Always seeking out new, unsuspecting victims.

That was how my mom died. Walking home from the grocery store just after it had gotten dark.

My stomach tightened at the memory, emotions I intended to keep compressed rising up to meet me head on. I pushed them away stubbornly, focusing instead on B and Tanner. They appeared to be in a standoff, her eyes locked on his.

“Please, wait,” Tanner said. “If you’re going to leave, give it five minutes.”

Five minutes. The professors wouldn’t be in the general vicinity of her dorm room at that time.

She continued to stare at him as the time went on. Slow. Like molasses. She didn’t say anything during that time, not even to Beau, who was staring at her so helplessly and despondently I felt for the bastard. I honestly did. Anyone with eyes could see that he was desperately in love with her. At the same time, I understood why Bianaca was fucking pissed.

When Tanner nodded, eloquently telling her she was okay to leave, Bianaca turned briskly and exited the shed. She didn’t bother to glance back.

Only when she had disappeared from view did Aiden explode, knocking the desk over with a growl.

“Fucking shit!” he cursed. His eyes remained locked on the door as if he was expecting her to make a grand reappearance.

“You shouldn’t have said you didn’t believe her,” Tanner pointed out softly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Languidly, he put one to his lips, lit it with his lighter, and took a long inhale. “You sounded like a condescending asshole. And Beau…” He turned toward the newest recruit of our little escape group. “You’re just a regular asshole.”

I snorted out a laugh, muffling it when two pairs of eyes directed their glares at me.

“But monsters? Really?” Aiden asked.