Delilah Jade Frisco {slow updates}

7

The worst part of a prison isn't the smell or the conditions. It's the fact that you can't leave - except in your mind. Stay long enough and your mind becomes the worst prison of all... -JEI

C H A P T E R 7

I lost.

Just kidding, of course I won.

I've got a solid poker face throughout the games. Matthias, on the other hand, has no poker face. He gives himself away every time he tries to lie. He's adorable - I mean, amusing (apparently my brain is confusing a word today) - when he scrunches up his face in frustration each time I catch him.

He got so upset about my winning that I actually felt badly enough to offer him a free question - an offer he sneered at as he stomped out the door of his office to probably go pout somewhere else.

"Delilah, we should go now," says Aiden urgently after the sound of Matthias' stomp-steps had receded.

I yawn and lie on the couch again. "Pass, ya'll, I'm gonna take a nap." As I fall asleep, I hear Aiden sigh before he lifts me up and carries me out of the room.

When I wake up a few hours later, it's to Matthias yelling. "You are all useless idiots! You can't even follow simple commands without screwing up! I could have sent Delilah who's seventeen, new to this ordeal, and a captive, and she couldn't have possibly messed up more than you have! Get out of my sight before I drag you to the basement and replace my favorite punching bag with your body!"

I get up off the couch in the living room and stretch before following the noise to its origin. Whoever Matthias was yelling at is long gone (probably made a break for it; I know I would have. Actually, who am I kidding? I annoy the guy on purpose.).

Back to Matthias: his body is leaning against a wall, his heaving chest shows his heavy breathing. His eyes are closed as he runs his fingers through his hair over and over until it stands at an awkward angle.

"Matthias?" I say, tentatively. Despite what Aiden, Declan, and Elliot may think, I am somewhat sensitive to timing. Right now, I'm gonna treat him like a wild, angry animal until I know it is safe to do otherwise.

"What, Delilah?" he asks harshly. "I'm not in the mood for you right now."

I smile gently and say, "It's good to know you're in the mood for me sometimes, I guess."

He doesn't respond for a moment and then the implication of his words hits him. He chuckles softly. "Despite how annoying you try to be, you certainly have brought more life and cheer to this house than there has been previously."

I walk up to him so that I am a mere foot away and look up to his face. "Are you alright, Matthias?" I reach up and gently loosen his fingers so that he is no longer clutching his hair. I lower my hands and he grabs them in his, gripping my hands so they are enclosed in fists. My breath catches in my throat.

"Don't touch me," he says gruffly, squeezing my fists and then releasing them. He opens his eyes for the first time and looks down on me with an intense expression I could not understand. But it made my heart beat faster.

I take an involuntary step back, shock at the reaction my heart had given.

Matthias' eyebrows rise, and I realize that my movement had given away my discomfort. And suddenly, I am at a disadvantage as he advances towards me as I retreat until my back is against a wall and he is in front of me.

"Does my closeness make you uncomfortable, Delilah?" he asks, smirking. The intense expression in his eyes is near flaming now.

I swallow then force a cocky smile. "Of course not. Why would I fear you?"