I snuck around upstairs, looking for the guest bedroom where Diana would likely be staying in. If she isn’t actually sleeping with Keiran.
I pushed open the door directly next to Keiran’s room and hit the jackpot. It was blatantly clear the room had been inhabited by a female and for a long time now. I fought back the flare of anger and shrugged off the bag on my shoulders. As tempted as I was to snoop, I didn’t have much time before Keenan would get suspicious and come looking for me.
I removed the jars he instructed me to keep warm and carefully opened the first. The pillows were my first victim before I moved on to the sheets and then her clothes. Satisfied, I made my way to the bathroom and the shower where, just as I suspected, there was a feminine bottle of shampoo and conditioner. Opening the caps, I dumped a few fleas inside before screwing them back tight and hoping they would survive. I was down to my last jar, which I saved for the best part. I made my way back down the hall and pushed through Keiran’s bedroom door. His room was exactly as it had been when I was last here during a much darker time. I remembered most how he humiliated me when he used my mouth for the first time.
It pushed me to do what I needed to.
I went through the same ritual I did with Diana’s room before making my way back downstairs. Keenan was inhaling his last bite when I walked in the kitchen.
“Took you long enough,” he remarked without looking up from collecting his trash.
“Well, you know how we girls like to primp.”
He cut his eye at me and pursed his lips. “So it would seem.”
He was suspicious but didn’t press further. I shrugged and followed him out to the living room where we watched movies until it was no longer safe for me to be there without running into Keiran.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Keiran
August 17th
Dear Diary,
I wouldn’t dare speak the words aloud. Not even to Willow, and yet I’m having trouble admitting them to you even.
Today, I experienced the strangest feeling of my life. Fear has evolved into something much scarier.
Something much more potent and dangerous. One school year had ended and now another begins.
I missed him. How pathetic is that? To miss someone who hated me more than he cared to breathe.
But that wasn’t it, was it? It was what I felt when I saw him again.
*
“What the hell!”
It was the middle of the night when I was woken up. Screaming erupted soon after, and I immediately jumped up from the couch where I’d fallen asleep.
I scrubbed a hand down my face before trudging up the stairs to see what was causing all the ruckus. I definitely knew who, but the what was unknown.
All the lights upstairs were now on, and when I reached the landing, I saw my uncle and Keenan standing in the guest bedroom doorway.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, you’re little girlfriend is screaming down the house,” Keenan snapped.
Coming home did nothing to ease our relationship. He refused to talk to me, but when he did, it was always a sarcastic retort. Wrong or not, I was growing tired of it. How many times could I apologize?
I pushed past them to enter the bedroom. Diana was standing in the middle of the room slapping at her skin. “What the hell is wrong with you?”