Monster in His Eyes
Page 47

I tense, staring at him with shock as his anger surfaces. He tosses the menu back in the drawer and shuts it before interjecting again. "Give me both of those. Yeah. And hurry it up."
He hangs up, tossing his phone down on the counter with no regard, and brushes right by me without speaking. I stare at his discarded phone, my stomach clenching, as he heads upstairs.
I don't follow.
Instead, I make my way to the den, not turning on the light or touching anything. I sit down on the couch and pull out my own phone, tinkering around with it to distract myself. I'd text Melody but she's on her way to meet Paul's parents to spend Easter with them, and I don't want to burden her.
It takes Naz a while to return. I don't hear him, never do, but he pops up in the den, switching on the light when he walks in. My eyes remain glued to my phone as I flick little colorful birdies across the screen, but I can feel his eyes.
Now he's looking at me.
His voice is quiet, calmer, when he asks, "What are you doing?"
"Killing pigs."
He lets out dry laugh. "My favorite pastime."
I cut my eyes at him. "You play Angry Birds?"
I can't imagine him playing games like this.
"Sure, whatever." He sits down on the arm of the couch beside me and offers a small smile. The sight of it, although strained, lightens the air. He might be mad, but he's not mad at me. "You look beautiful tonight. I feel bad not taking you out. I should be showing you off."
"It's okay." I set my phone aside and shift my body to face him. "I don't mind staying in. I like being here."
"Good, because I like you being here." He reaches out and cups my chin, running his thumb across my bottom lip. I think he's going to kiss me, and my breath hitches in anticipation, but he switches focus instead. "So, how's school going?"
"Uh, okay." We've mentioned school before, but it's the first time he's outwardly asked me about it like this. "Most of my classes are going well."
"How's philosophy?"
"Terrible."
"Huh." He pulls his hand away from my face. "If it gets too bad, let me know and I'll take care of it."
"You going to take my tests for me? Do my homework?"
"Whatever you want me to do."
A loud chime echoes through the house, and suddenly he's tense again, his back stiffening and shoulders squaring. He sits freakishly still, like he's been turned to stone by Medusa's stare, as the chime rings yet again.
"Pretty sure that's probably the pizza dude at the door," I say.
He cuts his eyes at me as he stands up, mumbling "stay here" before stalking out. I stay where I am, twiddling my thumbs, until he returns with the food. He sets the pizza box on the table with two smaller containers on top of it. Nosey, I pop them open, seeing it's chocolate mousse and tiramisu.
"You like chocolate," he says, waving toward it as if to explain. He got them for me. "Eat up. I need to make a few calls and handle some things."
"You're not going to eat?"
"Not right now."
"Afraid it's poisoned? Because the way you talked to the guy on the phone, I might be a little worried, too."
He laughs as he turns on the TV, turning the volume up, before dropping the remote on the couch cushion beside me. "It's safe. I'll be back in a bit."
He walks out, leaving me in the den alone again.
I eat and flip through channels, eat some more and flip some more, going again and again until I'm stuffed and I've been through every show a few times, settling on some reality program I'm not really paying attention to. I tinker with my phone some more before getting up and strolling around the den, once more migrating to his bookshelves.
I don't know how much time passes—fifteen minutes, maybe thirty—before he strolls in, catching me as I pull an old, worn book off the shelf. Crime & Punishment.
"Good book," he says, sitting down in his chair behind his desk, setting his phone in front of him. "Ever read it?"
"No."
I'm suddenly regretting everything I said to Melody earlier this afternoon. I want to read the damn book just so I don't look like an idiot to him. "Huh."
I return the book to the shelf, my fingertips skimming the spines of those near it. "You have enough philosophy books I think you probably could do my work for me."
"It's an interesting subject," he says. "When you don't overthink it, anyway."
I turn to him curiously. "Do you believe in the death penalty?"
"Yes."
He doesn't even have to think about it.
"Do you think murder is wrong?"
I expect another emphatic answer, an outright yes, but this time he hesitates. "That's too broad of a question. Are you excluding justifiable homicide?"
"Is killing ever justifiable?"
"Of course it is." He gazes at me, and he looks like he wants to say more, but he hesitates again. "Have you heard of the Plank of Carneades? Santino teach you it?"
"No."
"Let's say we're shipwrecked, and we both see a plank floating in the water, but it's only big enough to hold one of us."
"This sounds eerily like the end of Titanic."
He laughs and continues. "You get to the plank first, but knowing I'm going to drown if I don't do something, I shove you off and steal it for myself. Because of that, you die. Was that murder?"