don’t respond, I just keep going. I’m not interested in drama or gossip right now.
“Who are you about to lose?”
I stop dead in my tracks, the hairs at the back of my neck standing up on end. In the next second, I’m right in front of her, looking down at her. I see her swallow but she’s trying to be brave, acting like she isn’t fucking intimidated right now.
“I’m not about to lose anyone,” I growl, but even in the back of my head, I know it’s only a matter of time until I do.
“Really?” she challenges, her face stoic, but it’s the look in her eyes that paralyzes me. I can see everything I’m feeling inside, in her eyes. “Because it sure didn’t look like it before.”
“If I were you, I’d watch the next words that come out of my mouth, especially when you don’t even know who you’re talking about.”
We stare at each other for a long second, her chest rises and falls so fast, my heart is pounding but she doesn’t look away.
“Sit down,” she softly says, watching me.
“What?”
“Sit down, jerk. You look fatigued and dehydrated. When was the last time you ate?”
Surprised, I just stare at her, at a loss for words. She blinks her large eyes, silently waiting for my next move, so, I take a seat, keeping three chairs between us. I wouldn’t want to be near her, for all I know she might be death in the flesh, if she can easily get a rise out of me when I never actually talk to anyone, or let anyone temper with my thoughts and emotions the way she’s done in a few minutes.
Death has been dancing in the shadows of our cold, lifeless mansion since I was a little boy. We tried taunting her, throwing all the wealth and power we have at her. For a time, she went away but now…
I glance back at Aiden’s hospital door, ignoring the vibrating of my phone in my pocket. I know Liam will be back tomorrow from camp as school starts next week. And he has no idea what’s happening here.
“Why are you here?” I ask, keeping my voice low. I can feel her questioning eyes on me. She’s one curious little thing, and that might be a problem.
“It’s a hospital dummy, that question is irrelevant,” she counters, but the fire that was on her tongue before is now muted, not gone. A girl like her would never be caught dead without her ammo.
“Do you always avoid direct questions, or do you just have secrets in your pretty little head you don’t want me to know?” I look at her this time, catching her gaze but she quickly looks away.
“I would never share my secrets even if I had them,” she murmurs, looking away, her gaze fixing down the hall at another hospital door.
“Because girls like you don’t like juicy secrets?” I mock. She’s a rich girl with an attitude. She has the whole miss popular, lead cheerleader vibes going on,
“Secrets are fun when they’re not hurtful to you or anyone you love. Like who’s dating Shane Matthews, the cute guy from my middle school or who cheated on a stupid Math test that anyone could pass with their eyes closed. Those secrets are harmless.”
“Shane Matthews?” I question, turning around to look at her.
“Oh God, yes, he’s…”
“A self-absorbed fool and dumb as a doorknob,” I finish, thinking of his asshole brother from Clintwood Academy.
“Do you trash talk everyone or is today just an exception?” she questions.
I shrug, glancing back at Aiden’s door, my foot tapping as I look down the hall, hoping to see someone, anyone, my mother maybe, running down here to check on her first-born son.
“Hmm, I’m going to go with…it’s part of your everyday lifestyle.”
I don’t bother responding to that either. I’ve lived all my life being judged, with everyone’s speculations about my life buzzing around me like damn flies. I’ve grown desensitized to all that shit. Besides, she’s nosy.
“Anyway, you do know that secrets come out one way or the other, right?”
Did she see last night’s headline flashing on the evening news? Did she see my father’s face and his latest whore making the rounds of every network?
“That’s the first sensible thing I’ve heard you say since you rudely interrupted me.”
“You hate secrets?” she questions, choosing not to fight me on her level of intelligence. Wise choice, Little Minx.
“Like you said, secrets have a way of coming out, sooner or later.”
I think