Indeed, some strands were caught on the bandages I’d put on her finger.
“Hang on.” I shifted closer. The fabric of my shirt she wore brushed against my jean-clad legs.
My entire frame dwarfed hers. Anyone behind me wouldn’t even be able to see she stood there at all. “Why’re you so small?” I asked, reaching for her hair.
There was a noticeable pause.
“Be careful. If you rip out any more of my hair, I will scream.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I commented.
Our skin collided, my fingers brushing lightly against hers to untangle the mess. Everything froze for an undesignated amount of time, and I swear we created our own energy—something that had never existed or been felt before.
Startling. Unexpected. Unmatched.
“Did you get it?” Her voice was hoarse, and it was affirmation she felt it too.
I made a sound. Timidly, she pulled her hand back.
“Wait,” I called, circling my fingers around her wrist.
Her quickly indrawn breath made my stomach flip.
“I’ll do it,” I said, pushing past the currents competing with the task and slipping the hair tie off her wrist.
In seconds, I had her hair pulled up despite its uneven length.
“How do you know how to do that?” Blue eyes glanced over her shoulder.
“Is it supposed to be hard?” I picked up the spray. “It’s going to sting again.”
Both her hands wrapped around the edge of the sink and squeezed. Her intake of breath made me slightly angry.
The cut wasn’t overly deep, but it wasn’t a small prick either. Whoever did this had been using force.
“What’s your name?” I asked quietly as I worked to clean up the cut and apply the cream.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Thought it would be good to know the name of the girl I just saw naked.”
She moved with her gasp. She was incredibly dramatic, not just in mind, but with her whole body. “Ach!” she exclaimed, and I avoided being hit by one of her flailing hands just in time. “You said you didn’t see anything!”
“Pretty sure I didn’t say that.”
“Yes-huh!”
“I said you didn’t have anything I wanted to see. How would I know I didn’t want to see it unless I already had?”
She gasped again and stomped on my foot. For a small, bare thing, it actually had some power. “Ow!”
“Take that back!”
Holding my foot, I laughed.
She raised herself to her non-impressive height, lifting her chin, and an austere aura seemed to bloom around her like a shield. “I’m leaving.”
She brushed past as if I were beneath her.
I caught the back of the T-shirt, stopping her. “I still haven’t put a bandage on your neck.”
“Forget it. I’ll just go to the hospital.”
“Guess the reasons you were willing to go to jail earlier don’t matter anymore.”
Her head tilted and with it, the small ponytail. “You think I wanted to go to jail?”
“Seemed to me like you thought it was the safer option.”
Her shoulders slumped. I actually didn’t get any satisfaction from outsmarting her. That was a first.
“Am I still bleeding?”
“Yes.”
“Are you lying?”
“Yes.” Then I added, “But it’s an open cut and really needs covered. You’ll get a scar.”
She gasped and hightailed it back to the sink. “Hurry!” She pointed to the area while holding her ponytail out of the way.
Another loud boom of thunder rattled the thin window as I was smoothing the bandage into place. Her body swayed back into mine. Without thinking, I cupped the side of her hip, holding her against the comfort of my body, offering a solid place to hide.
The second the sky turned dark after another lightning strike, she put space between us once more.
But the space she created was filled in by the sound of her soft, timid voice. “My name is Ivory. Ivory White.”
I wanted to crack a joke. What kind of pretentious name was that? I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. The feel of her backing into me for protection clung to the center of my chest, making anything else impossible.
Swallowing thickly, I gathered up the trash lying in the sink. “It’s late and storming. Put on the shorts I gave you and come get some sleep.”
I left her standing in the bathroom, her body still turned away. She knew just as well as I did that she wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight.
13
Ivory
* * *
Five men in a one-bedroom apartment. Yes, I counted Snort. In my opinion, he was more human than his owner.
Math wasn’t my best subject, but you didn’t even need to know math to know this was an unbalanced equation. This entire apartment would fit in my living room, and I lived there alone.
“Where does everyone sleep?” I asked, standing in the center of the room, gazing around as a new kind of fear swept over me.
I was exhausted. Physically and emotionally. Not only had I been almost murdered, warned of potential danger, told to no longer exist, gotten arrested, and then passed out in the street, but I was now… here.
Standing in some drafty old building in clothes that were not mine, with cuts and scrapes stinging my body, and realizing for the first time that I was essentially surrounded by a bunch of strange men.
What in the hell was I thinking coming here?
Oh, right. I wasn’t. I’d been unconscious. It didn’t matter. I had nowhere else to go. So I had to make a choice to take my chances out there on the streets or stay inside… My thoughts led my eyes to float around the room.
Beau was across the way, partially hidden in some giant chair that faced several lit-up computer monitors, a headset pulled over his dark-red hair.
Fletch was sitting on the couch with a giant bag of chips in his lap. Whatever was on the flatscreen seemed to enthrall him to the point of not even realizing Snort was breathing heavily right beside him, hoping for a snack.
Earth was nowhere to be seen, thankfully, and Neo… I don’t see him anywhere either.
An unsettled feeling stirred in my stomach, making my toes curl against the scratched-up wood floor. My breaths turned labored, and the strangeness of all of this began pecking at whatever shred of sanity I had left.
Blurred movement out of the corner of my eye made me whirl, my vision struggling to keep up with the quick change.
A strong grip curled around my elbow, steadying me even as I felt alarmed.
“What are you doing?” Neo practically demanded.
Blinking rapidly, my eyes focused, his dark features filling my line of sight. “Neo,” I whispered, relief washing over me. “I thought you’d left.”
“This is my apartment,” he said as though I were stupid.
I felt kinda stupid in that moment. “Where were you?”
Two lines formed between his eyes and I expected him to be harsh again, but his voice was patient. “In the kitchen. Here.” He offered a fresh bottle of water and was also holding a paper plate with a sandwich on it.
“What’s that?” I asked, taking the water to unscrew the cap.
“A ham sandwich.” He was back to talking to me like I was stupid. “I figured you might be hungry.”
My stomach growled loudly, but I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Eat it anyway.”
My eyes widened. “I said I’m not hungry.”
“And I said eat it anyway.” He challenged.
Despite my exhaustion, my hackles rose. “Don’t you try and tell me what to do!”
Neo picked up half of the sandwich made with white bread and held it to my lips. “Take a bite.”
How dare he! “I don’t know—hmmph.” My words were cut off when he stuffed a corner of the food into my mouth.
Utterly shocked he would do
such a thing, I straightened, eyes wild with blue fire, and stared at him incredulously.
His dark eyes watched me, waiting. “Bite,” he whispered, reminding me he was still holding the food stuffed into my mouth.
My jaw obeyed even as my mind rebelled. Neo pulled back, glittering onyx eyes still on mine.
The sandwich sat in my mouth forgotten because I couldn’t focus on anything at all when I felt like I was being swallowed whole by an entire galaxy.
“Chew.” He reminded.
Snapping out of it, I made a face when the tang of mayo exploded over my tongue. The bread was too soft, and it stuck to the roof of my mouth. The ham, well, I wondered if it contained more chemicals than actual meat.
“Don’t like it?” he asked, unperturbed.
“I hardly ever eat sandwiches, and when I do, it’s from a gourmet bakery down the block that makes their bread fresh daily and imports their ham from a butcher in the Hamptons. It’s organic.” I chewed some more. “And I don’t like mayonnaise. I prefer aioli.”
“Here.” Fletch appeared, holding out a greasy bag. “Add some chips to it. Then the bread won’t stick to the roof of your mouth.”
“No, thank you.”
Snort leaped off the couch, his toenails click-clacking over the wood as he came to my side. The snorting sounds he made intensified when he sat at my feet.
Plucking a piece of “ham” off the plate, I held it out to the dog. He snatched it up like he was starved.
“Better not let Earth see you do that.” Fletch warned.
“Where is he?” I wondered.
“Downstairs at the bar.”
“We’re above the Rotten Apple?”
Both men nodded.
“Eat more.” Neo shoved the plate at me.
“I couldn’t.”
“I’m not picking you up off the floor if you pass out again,” he snapped, shoving the food more insistently.
I picked up the half I’d already taken a bite out of. “You can have the other half.”
“Thanks!” Fletch said, grabbing it and shoving half into his mouth at once.
“Fletch,” Neo growled.
Frankly, I was grateful he took it. I snuck another bite to the dog while they were arguing.
“I saw that,” Neo informed like I’d been caught robbing a bank.
“Where does everyone sleep?” I asked, subconsciously taking a bite of the mushy sandwich.
“Earth has the bedroom,” Fletch said, pointing past the bathroom. “I sleep on the couch, Beau’s bed is on the other side of his desk, and Neo sleeps on the floor.”
“On the floor!” I said, looking at Neo for confirmation.
He nodded.
“But aren’t you uncomfortable?” I demanded.
“I have a blow-up mattress.”
Was that supposed to make it better?
Going across the room, Neo grabbed a pillow and blanket from the corner, bringing it back toward the couch.
“You can sleep here tonight,” he told me, putting the pillow on one end of the sofa.
“But what about Fletcher?”
“You don’t even take up half the cushion. Plenty of room for both of us,” he said, plopping back down on the other end to prop his feet up on the coffee table.
Teeth sinking into my lower lip, I wondered if it was too late just to leave.
Making a sound, Neo grabbed Fletch by his ear, hauling him off the couch.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Fletch wailed.
Beau glanced around from whatever he was doing and laughed.
“You can sleep on the floor with me tonight,” Neo instructed.
“Aww, man.”
Knocking at the door made my body tense, my eyes swinging around for Neo.
“It’s just Earth.” He promised, passing by to undo all the locks.
Earth stepped in a few seconds later, his dark, level stare landing on me. His entire upper lip curled, and he looked anything but friendly.
I barely batted an eye. I was used to people like him. All bark. No bite. The fact that Snort was dancing around his feet only proved it.
He made only a disgusted sound before going to his bedroom and shoving the door shut behind him.
“Get out the mattress,” Neo told Fletch, his hand curling around my upper arm. “C’mon.” He led me to the couch and pushed me down.
“I’ve never slept on a couch before.”
“Think of it like you’re camping.”
“I’ve never been camping either.”
Neo made a rude sound. “Go to sleep.” He draped the blanket over me and turned away.
“Neo?”
The way his hand fisted at his side when I called his name made a funny feeling squirm around in my chest.
“Huh?” he asked without turning back.
“Thank you.”
“No more talking,” he rebuked gruffly and continued away, shutting off the TV as he went.
The room was plunged into darkness with the exception of the glowing computer monitors that kinda made me feel like I was onboard some weird spaceship.
Hey, the way this day was going, I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I don’t even know where I am?” I muttered, pulling the blanket closer around me.
“You’re in the Grimms,” Fletcher answered.
My nose wrinkled. “What’s the Grimms?”
“Aren’t you familiar with NYC?” Fletch questioned.
I peered through the dark at him as he helped Neo set up their bed. I wasn’t sure how both of them would fit on the blow-up mattress, but I didn’t want to ask. They all shared the same bar of soap, for crying out loud.
“Of course,” I proclaimed. “I was born and raised here.”
Forgetting the bed, he glanced at me. “Where?”
“The Upper East Side.”
Fletcher made a strangled sound. I didn’t know why. It was a perfectly respectable place.
“She’s probably never been below 5th Avenue,” Neo muttered.
“Of course I have!” I insisted. Then in a much softer tone, I said, “I think.”
They both finished making their bed, and when they were settled, I stared across to where they lay. “So how far are we from there?”
“In terms of miles? Not far,” Neo replied. “In terms of lifestyle? Light-years.”
“The Grimms is the grittiest part of the city. The poorest. The ugliest.”
Without thinking about it, I reached up and gripped the pillow.
There was an ominous but sad quality to his next whispered words. “Some people say once you stay here, you can’t ever get out.”
Does Fletcher want out? Does Neo?
Pushing back my uneasy feelings, I scoffed. “If you want to leave, call a cab and go.”
“If it was that easy, you wouldn’t still be here.”
Fletcher’s words made me uneasy, but Neo’s?
They frightened me.
14
Neo
* * *
The skies rumbled and roared like the gods above us were at war. Maybe they were. I had no idea what or who watched us from above, but thinking they were tumultuous and nonconciliatory sure seemed like a correct assumption.
Every time the wind rattled the windows, a boom of thunder shook the sky, or an overly zealous blast of rain splattered the building, Ivory moved.
She was a conundrum, Miss Ivory White.
On one hand, she was snotty, haughty, and carried herself with a monied air.
On the other, she was jumpy, nervous, and afraid of her own shadow.
A fish out of water. That’s what this storybook beauty reminded me of. Flopping around, gasping for air, and looking for any drop of water that could make her feel like she wasn’t lost. The second someone placed this fish back in its ocean, she would swim off with utter confidence and never look back.
That was the thing about a fish out of water. It could only survive in its own environment. If there wasn’t someone there to pu
t it back… it would die.
Craack! The sharp, sudden sound of thunder seemed to rip open the earth with its unexpected violence. A high-pitched keening sound followed. Then everything in the entire apartment shut down.
The computer monitors that always lit up the room went black, plunging everything into darkness so opaque I couldn’t even see my own hand when I held it out.
“Fuck!” Beau spat, the sound of his chair rolling across the floor and crashing into something disturbing the utter stillness of the dark. Another noise, which I assumed was his headset being flung onto his desk, followed.
Beside me, Fletcher was undisturbed. I’d never met anyone with the absolute ability to block out everything when he slept.
“Everything okay?” I called to my friend who was moving around across the room.
“Peachy.”
“Backup?”
He made a rude noise. “Of course I’m backed up. My backups have backups. I just hope none of these motherboards got fried.”
Hacker speak. I was used to it.
“Need some help?”
“Nah. I’ll look at it in the morning when the power comes back on.”
The light from his phone dimmed when he went behind his desk to the mattress on the floor.
The rain pelting the windows was the only sound in the room when I slipped from beneath the blanket and crawled across the floor. It didn’t matter how dark it was in here. I knew this place like the back of my hand and maneuvered skillfully.
Ivory was sitting on the sofa, knees pulled into her chest, arms wrapped around them. I don’t know how she managed to appear even smaller than she was, but she did.
A lump formed in my throat as my eyes made out her form in the night.
Her body trembled.
Her breathing was uneven.
Speaking seemed out of place here. Even just whispering her name seemed intrusive. Kneeling in front of the sofa, I reached out my hand.
She flinched when my fingers brushed the back of her hand. Her head lifted out of the shelter of her body. Skin as white as snow… Even in the darkness, I could make out her features because she was so utterly beautiful not even the shadows could disguise it.
I brushed away the wetness on her cheeks and tucked the hair in her face behind her ear. Pausing at the trembling of her lower lip, I debated on my instinct.
Ivory White : A House of Misfits Standalone Page 7
