Chapter 33 · Noise

The knock hit like a fist through drywall, and Nico's hand came off my jaw so fast the cold hit before the shock did.

"Don't move," he said. Not loud. Lower than a whisper, which somehow scared me more.

"That's not a knock," I said. "That's a door trying to come off its hinges."

"I know what it is."

He was already three steps back from me, already a different person than the one who'd had two fingers under my chin ten seconds ago. Gun out from somewhere I didn't see it come from. I still had my back against the wall where he'd pinned me, my shirt still twisted where his fist had been in it, and none of that mattered anymore because the pounding didn't stop.

"Nico. Who's out there."

"Kitchen. Now."

"Answer me."

"Kitchen, Eli."

I went. Not because he told me to — I want that on record, even if it's only for myself —