Fire And Ice

Chapter 46 - Behind the Sunshine

Hailey's P. O. V

Panic alarms were wailing in my head.

As the front door closed behind her, it occurred to me that Ari may have set us up.

Tim gave me a look and returned to the couch, picking up on where he left off with his meal. Looking for something to do and not wanting to leave a mess for Ari, I took the unused plates to get cleaned.

Just as I finished and was drying my hands off, he brought his plate into the kitchen and began washing it. When he was done, he used a look to ask where to keep it and I pointed him to the rack.

After several minutes of silence in the sitting room, Opelene decided to chip in, 'You still have to get him settled.'

'Right...' I may need to have a word with Ari later.

Opelene sighed, 'Just get it over with, and you can retreat to your room where you won't need to stew in your own discomfort.'

I huffed, "Tim...?"

He raised his head to look at me.

Why did he have to have such intense eyes?

I cleared my throat, avoiding his eyes, "Ari thinks it would be a good idea to let you stay here - for the time being. Just so you can be comfortable while you look for a good apartment to block the sounds of the city. Or till you get used to it."

My eyes followed the ripples of his exposed arms as he leaned back in the sofa, contemplative, "As much as I hate the thought of taking more help from our underage leader, the noise outside was kinda fucking with my head as we were driving here. And it seems much better in this ridiculous ass mansion."

I stood up, "Good, I'll get you settled. There are about six or seven rooms left that you can choose from."

He raised a brow, "Left?"

"Ari obviously stays in the master bedroom, and I've been here for like a week, so..."

"Great! We're housemates..." He drawled.

I rolled my eyes and started towards the stairs, not bothering to wait for him to follow. After grabbing our bags, he trailed after me up the stairs and to the rooms. I dropped my bags in my room first and proceeded to present the rest of them to him.

After not much deliberation, he asked which of them was closest to the fence bordering the compound.

I shrugged, "You saw the driveway, nothing's close. Just go to that one," I pointed to the door opposite Ari's room, "there should be a tree outside the window, so you can easily make your dramatic escape whenever you feel like."

Since the hallway went in a sort of square round the stairway, his room was also diagonal from mine. Meaning, the farthest it could geometrically be.

He smirked, "Oh, Sunshine, you know me so well."

I rolled my eyes again, "I guess, till Ari returns, you can ask me if you need anything. You know where to find me." Then I stalked off to my room and clicked the door shut behind me, flinging myself onto the bed.

My phone chose that moment to ring. A look at the screen had me groaning.

I had managed to keep my mom off my back by texting her every so often that I was fine, but I guess Keily had finally gotten her paranoid enough to call.

"How long are you going to keep this up?"

I gritted my teeth, "Hello, Mom."

She continued as if I'd said nothing, "Hailey Sight, I've let you have your fun, now get your butt home. Do you know how worried you've made your sister?"