Echoes (Dance with My Demons #2)

26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Avery

As soon as the bell goes for free time, the three of us sneak out of the boys' dorms to join the rest of gen pop. I'm surprised they didn't come look for us during class, but given Grey's occasional absence, I'm assuming they don't care enough to bother.

The crowd of patients file into the hall, waiting. Damon pushes his way through the crowd, climbing onto a table to grab their attention.

"Listen up. When I call your number, leave the hall. Do not cause any problems or I'll unleash hell on you."

Standing by Grey at the back of the hall, I watch as Damon holds up various numbers with his fingers, people leaving in intervals.

"Are you going to tell me about the numbers one day?" I mutter to Grey.

He laughs, leaning against the wall, carefree. "I hope not, little killer. But if I need to tell you, I will."

I grumble under my breath, admitting defeat. When Damon holds up the number three, I go to move, but Grey stops me, grabbing onto my arm.

"Your number has changed," he says.

"Since when?" I ask, confused.

He looks at me, flashing me a smile. "Since now. You're group one, effective immediately."

I throw my hands up in exasperation, sliding back against the wall. "I can't keep up with you guys."

"No one can," Grey laughs, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "And you should be thankful I have the stamina of a fucking God."

My cheeks flush red, and I look around at the remaining crowd of people, trying to distract myself. Immediately, I spot Theo, lurking on the other side of the room, glaring daggers at everyone around him.

"What's Theo's number?" I ask curiously.

Grey follows my line of vision. "Theo is in group five."

"Makes sense," I mumble, sarcastically.

Over the tops of heads, Theo spots me, eyes softening. I give him a smile, tilting my head toward the doors. He nods, and I look at Grey.

"So, I'm hanging with Theo now?"

Grey nods, giving me a tight smile. "Yep. Deadman and I have some things to take care of, so go have your fun—not too much though."

When Damon holds up the number five, I watch as Theo pushes through the crowd, making a beeline for us.

Grey leans down again to my ear. "You can go with him. No need to wait for your number."

"Stay out of trouble," I laugh, giving him a quick kiss goodbye and a smile of appreciation.

"Never," he whispers, eyes flashing wildly.

I watch as the two of them have some weird exchange, giving each other a small, stern nod before I leave the hall with Theo.

We head down the hallway, hand-in-hand, toward the empty rooms. People scatter out of our way, pressing against the wall while they stare at our locked palms in horror. I have to hold back a laugh, imagining their thoughts.

She's with that psychopath.

And what's even more funny… is that it could mean both Theo and Grey.

Our little studio room is exactly as I remember—a void, empty of life. We sit down on the floor and Theo reaches into his pocket, pulling out his tattooing kit. My heart races in excitement, my hips shifting as I get comfortable.

Theo looks over at me, doing a double take before his eyebrow twitches.

"What happened to your thigh?" he asks casually.

"Huh?" I look down, noticing that my shorts have ridden up, exposing Grey's hand drawn artwork. "Oh…"

I'm not sure how to explain that, mind tumbling and turning as I try to find words. Theo just laughs under his breath, shaking his head.

"He's a possessive little shit."

"Well," I start, lifting my arm to show off the tattoo. "He felt it was only fair since you got there first."

Theo smirks to himself, sterilizing the needle. "Did he now? And if I tattoo you again today, is he going to make you bleed more?"

"Probably," I answer honestly, not at all worried. " Are you tattooing me today?"

"Yes," he says, gesturing for me to move closer. "Give me your arm."

I slide along the cold ground until our knees are touching, face-to-face. Holding up my arm, Theo scans over the previous ink, nodding happily.

"It healed well."

"You seem surprised."

He sneers. "Considering what Whittingham put you through, I'm definitely surprised."

"Fair call," I mutter, wondering if the staff have noticed the fresh ink. They would have to be blind to have missed it, but then again, nothing we do seems to surprise them.

I fill Theo in on the earlier events while he gets everything ready, watching as his face contorts in anger. He dips the tip of the needle into the small bottle of jet-black ink, twisting it to shake a few loose droplets before positioning my arm onto his knee. I rest my arm against him, watching as he pierces my skin.

I don't flinch at all, unfazed by the burn. Theo takes notice too, shaking his head with a laugh.

"Pain tolerance has gotten better."

"It was never an issue," I argue. "You just exceed the level of normal."

He smirks, focusing on my skin. "I'm not going to argue with that."

More patterns appear over my arm as he expands on his previous work. I stay still, talking to him about things, and filling him in on the meeting from hell.

Surprisingly, he doesn't say much, but I can tell by the anger in his eyes that he's holding back—probably so he doesn't accidentally hurt me with the needle.

"What's solitary confinement like?" I ask him, knowing he's been in there before.

"It's fine for me," he says coolly. "But for everyone else, it's probably hell."

I nod. "You like being alone."

"It's peaceful. I don't have to deal with people."

"How does it differ from our rooms?" I ask, wondering just how much more lonely it could get.

Theo pauses for a moment, lifting the needle. He wipes a stray bit of ink with his finger, leaning back.

"It's small, probably half the size of our rooms. There's no adjoining toilet though—it's next to the bed, which is on the floor, no base. Essentially just a thin mat with no blankets or pillow."

"Ew," I murmur, disgusted at the thought of sleeping next to a toilet.

Theo rubs his thumb in circles over a patch of unmarked skin. "It's also dark. There's no windows, just one tiny light on the wall. It flickers non-stop."

"They can't do that surely."

"Yet they do. And meals are only once a day. The only way to know what time it is comes from the pipes. It's behind the men's showers—so it's deathly quiet until the pipes start banging in the walls at shower time."

I stare at him in horror. "That sounds terrible."

"You wouldn't have liked it," Theo answers simply, twisting my arm to examine the drying ink. "It's fucked up that they were trying to take you there. I don't know what their fucking problem is."

Nodding, my eyes scan over the pretty, weaving lines on my skin. "I would have survived."

"What do you think?" he asks, ignoring me. We both know I probably wouldn't have survived. I'm thankful that Damon stepped in when he did, even if I now know things that haunt me.

I'm not sure what to think about everything. My tumultuous relationship with Dr. Smith has taken another turn—just as I was starting to like him again, I find out he's related to Damon.

Not to mention Alexander. I can't even begin to process that.

Damon wasn't kidding when he said this place was full of secrets. What else were the Lilydale staff hiding from us?

"I love it," I tell Theo happily, resting my arm in my lap. "Are you going to do your skin now?"

Theo nods, grabbing a fresh needle and starting the sterilizing process again. "We are."

"We?" I laugh.

He smiles, pushing the ink toward me. "I can't let that fucker get one up on me."

"What?"

Theo hands me the needle before gesturing to his body. "Pick your spot."

My eyes trail over his body, not because I'm trying to find a spot, but because he's drawn my attention to it. His muscular, toned physique might be hidden under the depressing gray uniform, but my body knows what lies beneath.

When my gaze accidentally stumbles and pauses over his hips, Theo takes that as a sign, pulling his shirt off.

My mouth dries as I stare at his torso, noticing more ink. Like Grey, he has some down the side of his ribs, but I'm pulled away from it when he pushes the waistband of his shorts down a few inches.

"What are you doing?" I mumble quickly, looking behind me to the open door. "People will see us."

"We're not having sex," he says with a small laugh. "You wanted here ."

I shake my head in confusion. "I'm lost."

"Write your name on me."

My head snaps up, then down at his hips—then back up again to stare at him wide-eyed. "You want me to write my goddamn name on your hips?"

"Yes," he answers without hesitation. "You better get started. It would be a bit awkward having just 'Av' written there."

I snort. "If I can manage the 'e', at least you'll almost have my nickname."

Theo's eyebrows furrow as he looks at me curiously. "Ave is your nickname?"

"It was Aves," I murmur softly, dipping the needle into the ink. "Paige used to call me that."

"A friend?"

I nod. "She was my best friend. Her family were assholes too."

Theo stays still as I approach him with the needle, my nails brushing over his hip bone. I look at the untainted skin, wondering if I should really ruin it with my name.

He twitches underneath me, jolting slightly from my touch. I drop a little lower, just under the bone. "Here?"

"Perfect spot," he agrees. "What happened to Paige?"

"Her brother murdered her," I tell him dryly, pressing the needle into his skin like he showed me before. "She was like a sister to me."

Theo reaches out to stroke my forearm, making me pause out of fear of bumping the needle. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I say sincerely. "She's free now."

"What was she like?"

I look up at him, gazing in admiration. No one has ever asked me about Paige—no one really cared about my friends.

Smiling, I continue piercing the first letter of name into his lower hip. "She was awesome. Loved country music and made me listen to it all the time, even though I was a pop-punk girl. If there was ever a problem to be solved, even if it was unsolvable, she would damn near drive herself crazy trying to fix it. Deathly allergic to nuts though. I nearly yeeted her from existence with my shampoo once."

"What the fuck?" Theo laughs, caught off-guard.

"I ran out of shampoo and my father refused to buy me more. By the two week mark, I was pretty desperate with greasy hair so I stole a bottle. And I figured if I was going to steal one, I should at least treat myself instead of the usual dirt cheap brand we used. So, I picked out some fancy blue one. Unfortunately, it had nut oil in it and when Paige hugged me, she went into anaphylactic shock. Luckily, we were at school and they had spare EpiPens."

Theo stares at me, bewildered. "I didn't even know that was possible."

"Me either. Paige thought it was funny though…" I trail off, focusing on the next letter. "I have a question for you though."

"Fire away."

My lips twitch into a smile. "The day you broke into my room to leave the little present."

"You're referring to Hallman's finger?"

"Yep. How did you get in there? The door was locked. I mean, we obviously know Grey and Damon can go wherever they want, but my access pad wasn't smashed to smithereens."

Theo snorts, knowing I'm referring to the day we snuck down to the morgue. "I borrowed a staff card and got the access code."

"Borrowed?"

"Bribed."

"Try again, Theo."

He laughs. "Threatened."

"There we go."

I'm nearly finished with my name when I hear footsteps heading toward the room. Pausing, I glance at Theo first, worried. He doesn't appear to share the same sentiment, just gazing at the doorway casually.

"Why the hell am I not surprised?" Grey murmurs, leaning against the doorframe. His eyes trail over my posture, bent over with my face in Theo's lap.

"I can do you next if you want," I laugh.

He pretends to sigh, walking into the room. "Maybe next time, little killer. Then again the scar on my palm is a nice warmup."

Taking my eyes off Theo's skin for a moment, I peer at Grey over my shoulder as he takes a seat on the ground. "You did that yourself," I point out, amused.

"True," he says happily. "But I'd still love for you to mark me."

"What the hell is with your obsession with me stabbing you?" I tease, shaking my head as I finish the tattoo. "There—all done."

Theo looks down, nodding. "Nicely done, Aves."

I freeze, locking eyes with him as he gives me a knowing look. But behind his expression, there's also the question as he waits for the confirmation that it's okay.

My face breaks into a smile. It's been too long since I've heard someone call me that. It makes me think of better times—or gives me the hope that good times are still a possibility.

"Shit, there's the bell," Grey grumbles, picking up Theo's shirt like it's contaminated and tossing it to him.

"Thanks," Theo says, standing up as he pulls it on.

I get to my feet, brushing off my shorts and noticing little black dots of ink staining the material. "Fuck."

"Don't worry about it," Grey says, brushing my hair back to place a soft kiss on my neck. "Did you want me to come see you tonight?"

"If you like," I smile. "But don't go out of your way. I'm also happy to sleep."

He grins at me, leading the three of us back toward the hall. "I'll be there, little killer. Just try to stop me."