Luther bent his head toward the plant pot now, examining it. “I think it’s a black widow, so you probably should be afraid of it.” He spoke with authority. “We should kill it. You don’t want one of those to bite you in the night. Nasty buggers. They survive on other insects. I wouldn’t be surprised if Felix’s orchid soil harbored a few different species that got trapped inside with us, and have been contained to this room with how cautious he was with the door.”

“Thanks, Daddy Luther. Can you kill it now?” I took a step back. Bite, nasty, and spider did not belong together in my vocabulary.

“You are afraid of them!” Felix grinned, and without another word, scooped up the large spider and thrust it in my general direction. “Unless you want a closer look?”

I jumped back. “Get that fucking thing away from me!”

“Seriously?” Savannah snapped. “Felix, do not torment Theo. He’s obviously terrified.”

“Thanks, sweet girl, but I’m not terrified.” I couldn’t stop the shriek that escaped my mouth when Felix took another step towards me, a wicked grin on his face. I knew I hated the fuckhead for a reason. “What the fuck has gotten into you, bro? Has too much sex gone to your head or something?”

I was all for a new, playful Felix. But not when spiders were involved.

“Come on, Theo. Man up,” Felix taunted.

“Let’s not be foolish. Black widows are dangerous.” Luther slapped Felix’s hand, and the spider fell to the floor. His large brown boot fell on top of it, smashing it. He made sure the spider was dead, and then looked around at all of us. “There. It’s over. The scary spider is gone. Can we move on now?”

Felix rolled his eyes, Savannah punched him, and I slowly moved back towards the group. Eventually the spider was forgotten.

But nothing in the house ever stayed forgotten for long.

21. Savannah

The conservatory was an escape away from the house.
Knowing there was a room I could go to that felt like I was outside, even while I was still trapped, was absolute heaven. And true to his word, Felix brought in one of the overstuffed chairs the afternoon after the spider incident. I would sit and pretend to read, watching him putter over his plants.

We were all waiting for Brynn to return, hopeful she would come back with good news. None of us spoke about it, but the energy in the house had shifted. I knew for the guys, this was the first time they had ever felt like they had a true shot at getting out of the house, and I wanted to make sure they held on to that feeling as tight as they could. I had only dealt with confinement for a few months, so for them—I couldn’t even imagine.