Every morning, I met Luther in the library, and we scoured the books. It felt futile, going over the same words every day without fail, but it was better than nothing, until I found a different course of action.

And if I never got out, what would Brynn think? The snow had been falling for several weeks by now, and according to Luther’s makeshift calendar, it was early December. Brynn would be back from Korea soon, and wondering why I had dropped off the face of the earth. I needed to get out for her.

The second thing I was desperate to figure out was how the hell Felix spent his days. The where wasn’t a mystery, because I knew he locked himself behind the door under the stairs. What was behind the door, I had no idea, and the possibilities were slowly driving me insane. There were so many, I literally didn’t even know where to begin. Was he a superhero with a lair built into the old house? He seemed more like a sexy villain than a hero. Was he a secret alcoholic, with his own distillery? Doubtful. Felix was so offended by Theo’s addictions I couldn’t imagine he had any of his own, or even knew how to make it.

On and on my brain would circle, going from possible escape routes to Felix’s secrets and back again. It hadn’t escaped me he and I were the only ones to not say “I love you” yet. But while Theo, Luther and I operated under pure honesty, Felix and I still held back from each other. The only time we didn’t was when we were fucking, still finding transparency easier in the dark.

Maybe I just needed to accept that was as far as our relationship would go. We were happy. Did we need complete honesty and sappy words?

Convincing myself never seemed to work, because I always found myself following him down the stairs. I tried to peek, but he was always too stealthy. By the time I made it to the bottom step, the door had already closed securely behind him, the knob locked.

I tried picking the lock, not that it had ever gotten me anywhere. Whatever was in his secret room, Felix was determined to guard it with his life.

I was sitting on the bottom step one morning after following him, debating whether I should go back and curl into bed with Theo or join Luther for another useless prowl of the library when a noise caught my attention. It was a sound I hadn’t heard in months, and I swung my head around to the window.

A car was making its way up the long gravel driveway, crunching rocks as it proceeded. What the hell? I got to my feet, trying to make out who was headed towards the house. Footsteps padded down the stairs.