CHAPTER 25
Ihadn’t noticed she had returned until waking up that morning.
Her slight frame was nestled beside me on the bed, hands tucked up high against her face.
She was still wearing her clothes from the night before, and I couldn’t help the small smile that appeared.
It raised questions as she shifted beside me.
She wasn’t in her usual attire, but rather a small, thigh-high black dress.
Her makeup, now faded through sleep, still held a slight shimmer on her eyelids. Why was she so dressed up?
My eyes drifted from her peaceful expression down the curves of her body, already feeling myself begin to react to her.
The heat within me building as she stretched out, hitching the dress higher to just under her ass.
My eyes widened at the sight as I sat myself up on the bed.
I needed a distraction, to stop myself from wanting to run my hand down her body and drag her to me.
I reached over towards my nightstand, pulling a cigarette from the packet, and lit it, taking a deep drag before holding it in my fingers.
A cheeky grin spread as I drifted the cigarette in front of her face.
“What are you doing?” Her raspy voice spoke.
“Oh, you are alive. Thought I was gonna have to report a dead body.” I smirked as her eyes sleepily opened to me.
“Ha, ha, very funny. Why are you waking me up anyway?” She stretched out onto her back before tugging at the hem of her dress, pulling it further down.
I continued drifting the cigarette in my fingers, “Well, if you don’t want it then...” She snatched for it as I moved it from her.
“Ah ah, what’s the magic word?” A taunting tone to my voice as I raised my eyebrows to her.
“Fuck you?”
I chuckled, passing her the cigarette, “Close enough.”
I watched her for a moment as she came round, the cherry of the cigarette glowing bright before letting smoke trickle into the air.
“So, fancy telling me how you managed to get in? While I was sleeping.” She shrugged, staring at the ceiling. “I mean, I’m game for a late-night snuggle buddy as much as the next person. But I kinda like to know they are coming before I wake up next to them.”
She scoffed, tilting her head to me. “I am not your fucking snuggle buddy. Just needed a place to crash, and yours was the closest.”
“Now don’t I feel special.” Pulling myself from the bed, intrigue setting in.
“Why are you looking so fancy?” Raising an eyebrow at her, unable to resist the taunting thoughts running through my mind.
She yawned, running a hand over her eye, wiping away the sleep still in a drowsy state. “Got dragged out by a friend.”
My head tilted in a sarcastic surprise, “Wait, hold up. You have friends? Well, I never.”
She raised her head from the pillow, shooting me a deathly glare as my smile widened.
“She's more like a sister if you must know,” she muttered under her breath. “You insufferable ass.” I nodded, crossing my arms across my chest.
“So what, you just bailed on this so-called sister of yours. Why didn’t you go home with her?”
She paused, draping her arm over her face, leaving me unaware if she had even heard me at all or had drifted back off to sleep.
The cigarette lazily perched between her fingers as her arm hung off the side of the bed.
A moment passed, walking to the edge of the bed as I tapped the side of her foot with my hand. “Oi, don’t ignore me.”
Giving an agitated groan, she shrugged. “I don’t know, what do you want from me?”
“Where do you live anyway? You haven’t mentioned it once. Seems only fair that I know, seeing as you abuse my hospitality on the regular.” She paused, almost like my question took her off guard. Pulling herself up to lean on her elbows, clocking my gaze.
“It’s fucking miles away. Hence, the impromptu sleepover. Might take you some day if you’re nice to me.”
I grinned, holding out my arms, “Aren’t I always?” She smirked, brushing me off with a shake of her head. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she lazily pulled out her phone, eyes flicking upon the screen.
“Well, I need to go.” Pulling herself from the bed.
“Is everything ok?” Straightening up, my brow furrowing in confusion, had I said something wrong? Did I push it too far by asking where she lived?
“Uh, yeah. Just somewhere I need to be.” She slipped on her jacket and boots as she looked up at me.
“I think I’ve got everything, so I’m gonna head out”
“Oh. Okay.” An unwanted disappointment sounded in my tone. I shifted myself so she could pass, heading for the front door.
“Where are you going?” Slipping out, casual and breezy, holding some curiosity about what she was up to. She kind of just turned up here and there. Like a bad penny, you can’t shake.
She gave me that flat, unreadable tone, “I just need to pick something up from the other side of the city.” That would have been a good hour's walk from here, and from my glance to the window, it didn’t look like the rain was planning on letting up any time soon.
A part of me didn’t want her to leave. The offer blurted from my mouth, not thinking of the consequences it would hold.
“I can give you a ride, if you want.” I saw her hand hesitate on the door handle as I appeared from the bedroom. She turned back, brows drawn low in confusion.
“You have a car?” I hesitated for half a second too long.
“Yeah. Bought it,” I said, trying to keep the lie wrapped in that unconvincing nonchalant tone. If she were to bring up Selene again, I wouldn’t know how long I could hold up the lie. But I could feel her eyes on me, slicing into the cracks of that statement.
She didn’t press, thankfully. Just gave a long, drawn-out sigh like she was at war with herself. Then, finally, that quiet reluctance. “Fine.”
It felt like a win—a weird one. But I’d take it.
Her reaction when we got to the car was predictable. I didn’t even have to look at her to know she was glaring holes through the bodywork.
“This is not your fucking car.” I bit down on a grin and leaned against the bonnet, casually tossing the keys in one hand, before jingling them to wind her up. She stood there, arms crossed like she was ready to slap the truth out of me.
“You have not bought this car. I thought you meant you had some shitty Vauxhall Corsa or something, not this.” God, I could listen to that scepticism in her voice all day. That bite. It was growing on me. I raised an eyebrow in response,
“Well, it is. Are you getting in or not?” Her eyes narrowed, zeroing in on my face.
“Depends. Am I gonna get dragged out of it when the real owner catches up with it?” I couldn’t help the slow, devilish smile that crept up, stretching wider as I caught the flicker of a memory behind her eyes.
“You should be used to that happening, right?” The second the words left my mouth, I saw the fire in her eyes.
“Fuck off.” I just smirked.
She slammed the passenger door behind her and settled into the seat. Her eyes drifted over the interior, still very much settled on the notion that it wasn’t mine. I slid into the driver’s side, the engine humming beneath us.
“Where to then?”
Her eyes dropped to her phone as she turned the screen around. One glance at the address told me something was wrong. I felt it right away— that place wasn’t meant for casual errands.
“What are you going to that part of town for?”
“I told ya, pickin' something up.”
I pressed her again, “What can you be picking up from there?” My eyes flicked from the phone to her face as she shifted herself to face me and leaned in further.
“Are you going to start telling me about your work, moneybags?”
I paused. She had me in a corner there, “No.” I wasn’t going to start with her, not when we were literally sitting in a car that screamed secrets.
She leaned in closer as my eyes flicked over her features, “I thought so. So, in the nicest way, shut up and go.” Smiling as if she knew she’d won.
I scoffed, a dry sound that was more amusement than annoyance. So, I drove.
We moved from the polished heart of the city into its bones, where beauty decayed and people avoided eye contact. The kind of place I hadn’t walked through since I was a kid running errands for Danny.
And now I was pulling up to a run-down clothing shop straight out of a bad memory.
My eyes scanned the door, the chipped signage, the grime-covered windows.
The kind of place that didn’t sell what it advertised.
Misfit didn’t flinch. She climbed out as if she’d done it a hundred times before.
But I noticed the tension in her shoulders, the kind she tried to hide when bracing for something.
She stopped near the entrance and turned, her voice neutral. “Are you coming or waiting here?”
I hesitated, my eyes lingering over the street and then back to the shopfront before letting out a deep sigh. I killed the engine and stepped out of the car, wordless. Part of me needed to know what she was doing. She pushed open the shop door and slipped inside, and I followed.
The second that pathetic little bell jangled overhead, I knew I was in the wrong kind of place.
The air inside was thick with a sort of stillness that wasn’t peaceful.
It was tense. Heavy with years of whispers and backroom dealings.
I recognised it instantly, the hush that meant something moved behind the walls.