Chapter 10 #3
“I know a living body from a dead one, Owen,” he snapped, then frowned. “She’s breathing. Grab her ankles. Help me take her to the pool house.”
I grabbed her legs while Theo scooped her up, under her arms, and together we carried her to the pool-house couch.
Theo propped a cushion under her head. I grabbed a folded blanket from the chair in the corner and laid it over her.
We both stood back. Her chest rose and fell. She had some color in her cheeks. It was impossible. She’d been in that water for twenty minutes, at least.
“Do you know her?” I whispered.
“No, never seen her before,” he whispered back, chewing on a thumbnail.
“How’d she get in your pool?”
“I have no idea.”
“You don’t know how some random woman ended up face down in your pool?” Was she a girlfriend and he didn’t want to tell me? She had to be someone he knew. The grounds were fenced. The gate had been closed. People didn’t just wander off the streets into Witherborne Mansion.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Theo snapped. “I don’t know! I got back from a . . . thing, and she was there.”
“You’re alone?”
“Yeah.” He swept a hand through his hair and paced to the window then back again. “Why does this keep happening? Should we call the cops?”
“No!” I cleared my throat and dialed back on the panic. “I mean, probably not yet, right? She’s alive, so . . . she’s going to be fine. Probably.”
He didn’t argue. Just kept pacing and chewing on his nail.
“Maybe she’s a fan?” I suggested. “Maybe she broke in somehow, and fell in the pool?” It seemed unlikely, but weird stuff happened all the time. Especially around Theo.
“Another body turns up less than a week after Jay’s body is moved here? C’mon.”
But this body was alive. “You’ve never seen her before, so maybe Bentley knows her?”
“Bentley?” He stopped pacing. “Yeah, maybe. But he doesn’t bring women home . . . He uh . . . He goes out for snacks.”
That was something I was not getting into now. “He turned up at my place.”
“He what?” That cool fury flashed in Theo’s eyes now too. He strode toward me, coming in hot. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” I backed up a step and Theo slowed. “I didn’t say anything because . . . well . . . it doesn’t matter right now, but he’d do this, right? To mess with you?”
Theo planted his feet and glanced at the girl. “Yeah, probably. You’re right.” He sighed, and the tension melted off him. “She probably knows my brother.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it.”
“What did he say to you?” Theo asked, quickly coming back around to the whole Bentley had been at my place thing.
“He’s paranoid someone else is going to kill you. Like me.”
“He thinks you want to kill me?” Theo snorted. “He’s such a fucking idiot.”
“Obviously I’m not going to—”
“Pfft, I know that. He’s obsessed. Sorry. Again. For Bentley being a dick. For all this drama. Damn, why did you even answer my calls?”
“It’s okay, I guess. He didn’t really do anything.” Just broke in, sat by my bed, and picked out the pillow he’d use to kill me. Nothing really.
We fell silent and watched the young woman breathe.
She seemed okay, apart from being soaked through and out cold.
She didn’t look that much older than us, and was dressed casually—denim shorts, one sneaker gone missing somewhere, and a faded T-shirt with a cartoon sloth dangling off a branch under the words HANG IN THERE, which, considering she was currently passed out on a vampire’s couch, felt right.
Even half drowned she had the look of somebody who’d been a whole lot of fun right up until the almost drowning part.
“What do we do?” Theo asked.
He’d stopped pacing altogether now, and stood next to me, arms crossed, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. For a second, I got a glimpse of the real man he was underneath all the swagger and publicity. And that man was scared.
“Watch her for a bit, keep her warm. If she doesn’t wake up soon, we’ll call a doctor.”
“You know a doc who won’t call the cops?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
He side-eyed me. “You’re full of surprises, Owen.”
“Yeah . . .” I smiled, hoping it would help reassure him.
The girl gasped. Her eyes flew open, her gaze darted between us, then she launched herself over the back of the couch in one surprisingly swift movement.
“That’s a reaction,” Theo said.
A small voice said, “Foul beasts, stay back!”
I glanced at Theo. He shrugged one shoulder, tucked his thumb into his jeans pocket, and pointed for me to go check she was alright.
I stepped around the side of the couch and saw her on the floor, knees tucked to her chest. “Just so we’re clear, he’s the foul beast. I’m Owen, the pool guy.” She looked up and I smiled. “Hey. You good?”
She blinked through wet bangs. “You’re all wet too.”
“Yeah, I fished you out of the pool.” I showed her my empty hands. “We’re not going to hurt you. But you need to stay warm. You’ve been through an ordeal. You should rest.”
“Who are you?” she sniffed.
“Owen,” I repeated.
“Oh right, yeah. Who is he?”
I crouched down to her level. “He’s Theo. He’s alright.”
She nodded, chewed on her lip, and asked, “Who am I?”