Page 15 of Gravehouse

FOUR

IVY

It’s official.I hate Asher.Come ride my dick.

I seal myself inside this glass cage I’ll call mine until Asher decides I’m more useful dead than stroking his need for revenge.

My fingertips drag over the floor-to-ceiling glass, keeping me from a thousand-foot drop. A California King bed floats above nothing, pressed against the far wall. The ocean stretches below it, meeting the sky at some impossible point.

“Jesus,” I gasp, shaking my head. It’s beautiful. I have no clue how they built it.

I turn away and stop dead. Another wall made of glass, only this one is in front of a large mountain with snowy slopes that spill into the valley below it. The general aesthetic of this room is all clean lines and dark furniture.

Black concrete and steel fixtures decorate the kitchen near the corner, and what I’m guessing is the bathroom is tucked behind a floating wall.

Flicking the light on in the closet, I freeze. A spiral staircase curls through the center.

“What the fuck kind of closet needs stairs?” I wrap my fingers around the metal railing and test its weight.

“Admiring your cage?” His voice scrapes from the doorway, and my shoulders lock. Clearly, he isn’t done fighting.

I turn just enough to watch him. “You mean bedroom.”

His proximity has the hairs on the back of my neck lifting, so I put the bed between us like it’s some kind of armor.

“It can be whatever I want it to be.” He pushes off the frame. “Until you prove you can behave.”

My fingers curl into the Egyptian cotton. “While we’re on this subject, where exactly doyousleep?”

His mouth curves and sadness weighs me down. The smirk of a boy I once knew…

“Worried about me, Venom?” He takes another slow step forward, tilting his head. “Worried you’ll wake up with my hands around your throat?”

I keep my feet planted and loosen my grip. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Our history blurs between us until he finally breaks the tension by clicking his tongue.

He tugs the hood of his jersey over his head. “Good to know your smart mouth wasn’t fake.”

My mouth snaps closed.

Just as he reaches the door, he pauses. “Oh, and don’t worry. Your little friends know where you are and they’re on their way.”

Wait. Is he going to lock us all in here?

“Asher, you can’t keep us all here.” My feet start moving me closer to him and I stop, because what the fuck?

He seems to think over his next words.

“Who said anything about keeping them here?” His eyes down my body. “They’re free to come and go as they please.”

Another pause.

“You, on the other hand...”

“Where even are we?” I refuse to look away from him. To back down.

His fingers drum against the concrete like every answer he gives me is a riddle. “Veilarath. We’re on the other side of Veilarath.”