How to Kill a Man in Thirty Seconds

Chapter 27: Screw the Alumni

 I gritted my teeth at him instead, "Something funny, Hunt?"

His forest green gaze flickered to meet mine and this time, he didn't attempt to hide the mocking grin which covered his face, "Aha. I find this very funny, Charley."

My eyes rolled to the back of my skull and back, "Should've known you liked laughing at people. Didn't they teach you that it was bad habit back in preschool?"

His reply was nonchalant, "I don't often feel the need to laugh at people. You're an exception it seems."

My eyes examined the back of my skull once more, "Hilarious, Hunt. What about yourself? Did that never cross your mind while you were growing that toenail collection of yours?"

"No, I didn't," Adrian replied with an amused shake of his head, "But I do have a large tooth collection, Charley. And every time a tooth shakes and falls, into the jar it goes. It's quite splendid, really."

My jaw hung open and I stared at him in horror.

The massive eye roll that followed made me certain Adrian's eyes would never roll back from his head again. It would be a pity; the emerald orbs were the only thing close to attractive about him.

"I'm joking, Charley," he clarified, "Is it your goal each time you speak to make me question your intelligence?"

I gritted my teeth once more and glared at him wordlessly, before dragging my eyes away from his watchful emerald gaze. I grabbed a fresh garbage bag before continuing to chuck more litter into it. I must have been channelling all my anger into it for I found each plastic cup my fingers latched onto scrunching beneath the force of my grip.

The words escaped my lips in a hushed defensive murmur, and I nearly hoped he hadn't caught them, "Whatever. I read that the Ifugao tribe from the Philippines venerate dead ancestors by keeping skulls of their dead relatives in baskets under their huts. When it comes to what humans consider normal, Hunt, I believe nothing is impossible."

This time, in addition to the massive eye roll that followed, Adrian's eyebrows rose so high they disappeared beneath the tufts of black hair that had tumbled over his forehead. It made him look utterly ridiculous, "I assure you I don't collect teeth, Charley. Or the body parts of dead people for that matter."

I cast him a plastic smile, "What a relief it is to hear that. You amaze me each day, Hunt. You really do." In reply, his emerald eyes only narrowed in disdain.

Silence reigned as I tied the end of the bag and tossed it over to the heap that was building in one end of the room, each of us immersed in our own thoughts of despair. My gaze fell to the swimming pool beside me, its blue waters glistening under the fluorescent lights.

"Do you swim?" the words escaped my lips before I could stop them.

A long silence followed and I assumed he hadn't quite heard me the first time. But glancing up, I realized he had paused mid-shove, his gaze lingering on the floor as if he was looking but not quite seeing it, his body stock still. For a moment, I wondered if he was even breathing, lost in his own thoughts.

But then he glanced up, forest Charley gaze locking with mine. "Not anymore," he replied in a low tone, before resuming his work, but the words sounded forced. Withdrawn. Plastic cups scrunched like paper in his fist as he chucked them into his garbage bag in silence.

My brows furrowed, "So you did swim once? Why not anymore?"

Adrian's hand stilled once more and he swallowed, pausing for what felt like an eternity. When he finally glanced up, his jaw was locked and his green eyes held some emotion I couldn't quite decipher.