Page 56 of Speak No Claim

“Hot?” she repeated. “Like aroused?”

“My body reacted to him, and now I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“Who is him?” she carefully questioned.

I spoke with conviction, “Your brother.”

I blinked, and she demanded out of nowhere, “You need to go!”

“What?” I countered, confused.

“You heard me! You have to leave!” She pushed me out of her bedroom suite. “Go home, Hennessy!”

“What? Why? What’s going on? Why are you kicking me out?”

She opened the door, shoving me out of there too. “You got to go before⁠—”

“Too late,” Onyx’s voice stirred down the hall, right at us.

He was leaning against the far-left wall with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

“Deja,” he rasped in an eerie tone, “you know you’re not allowed to bring home strays.”

Her composure changed into something I couldn’t quite place.

“I’m your neighbor,” I reminded.

He nodded to my freshly covered wound. “Deja bandage you up? That’s brave.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll remember that the next time you ask me to stitch you up.”

“Are you two having a slumber party?” He gestured back and forth between us. “Aren’t you a little old for that?”

Deja answered for me, “She was just leaving.”

Without missing a beat, he simply stated, “She shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

On the same cue, she bit out, “She’s my friend.”

“Deja doesn’t have friends.” His gaze shifted to me. “She has alliances. Is that what you are?”

“Onyx, stop it!” she ordered. “You’re being an asshole.”

I couldn’t help myself. “What else is new?”

He stepped toward me with his hands still in his pockets.

I stood my ground, being straightforward. “You were following me tonight.”

He regarded me for a second, cocking his head. “Was I?”

“Don’t!”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t pretend that wasn’t you tonight. I know it was.”

He mused, “You seem convinced of that.”