Poison Tongue by Nash Summers

Author:Nash Summers [Summers, Nash]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2016-08-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

SOMETHING WET touched my face.

I blinked. A huge, wet nose was right in front of my face, and two blue, blue eyes stared at me.

“Hey, Coin.” I reached my arm out and scratched behind his ear. He barked once and then scrambled out of the room.

I sat up groggily, surprised to find myself on the sofa with the blanket I’d given Monroe to sleep with pulled on top of me. The sunlight was peeking in through the orange, sun-faded curtains. It coated the room in gentle, warm light.

The room was empty except for me. I looked around, wondering how I’d wound up sleeping on the sofa. The last thing I remembered from the night before was talking with Monroe in the living room.

And then I remembered the fire.

Soft voices echoed through the hallway at the other end of the room. I tossed back the blanket and stood, stretching, before heading in that direction.

At the end of the hallway, Ward leaned against the wall, arms crossed. The moment I came into view, he looked up at me. His unease with Monroe in the house was palpable. I could practically feel his wariness radiating off him.

Things hadn’t been the same lately between Ward and me. We usually never fought or argued about much. Most of the time we were on the same page about everything. But since Monroe had moved into town, things were strained. We were strained. I hated it.

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Levi,” Ward replied.

The voices came from the room my mama did her readings in. I looked toward the door, then back at Ward. “What’s going on?”

“Alta wanted to talk to him,” Ward replied.

I cocked an eyebrow. “And you’re standing guard outside of the room because….”

“I am not sure I trust him.”

“But you do like him.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I cannot help it. You like him. Your heart likes him.”

“If it’s any consolation, I wish I didn’t.”

“It is not.” Ward looked away from me.

“Ward—”

The door opened. Monroe stood in the doorway, head down, looking defeated. My mama stood behind him. They both wore matching frowns and forlorn expressions on their faces.

When Monroe saw me standing out of the room, he smiled weakly. “Hey.”

“You all right?” The tone of my voice seemed to surprise him.

Monroe nodded, avoided eye contact. “I gotta go.” He reached out to touch me, realized after a moment what he was doing, and immediately dropped his hand.

Without another word he made his way down the hall. Me, Ward, and my mama stood there silent, listening to the sound of Monroe walking through our old house with pattering, small footsteps behind him.

When I heard the front door close, I turned to my mama. “What was that about?”

She sighed heavily, rubbed her temples. “Come on in, sweetheart. Let’s talk.”

I followed her inside. She left the door open, but Ward maintained his post in the hallway. Candles were lit all around the room, even though daylight attempted to sneak through the fabric of the curtains. The shadowed cloak of darkness helped Mama focus when she wanted to do a reading.

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