LOVER TO LOVER ━ AHS Hotel

EIGHT

"I'm just warning you," she replied, hesitantly biting the edge of her fingernail. "Call it a friendly gesture."

"I'm not your friend."

Sally didn't respond. She simply flashed Hadley a vicious smile, which earned her a disgusted scoff. Hadley licked her lips, trying to forget Sally's words, but they were burned into her brain before she could register them. She wasn't paying attention to cutting, and if she hadn't blinked her eyes, she might've just chopped off the tip of her thumb.

Hadley set the knife down, drawing in a long breath of air. "He's not going to leave," she muttered, flickering her eyes upward. "He likes me. I can feel it."

Sally snorted. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the top of her dress and plucked a single one out. Rounding the table, she placed the deadly object in her mouth.

"What?" Hadley growled. "What's so funny?"

Lighting the end of her cigarette, Sally exhaled a cloud of nicotine from her nose. She flicked some of the embers in Hadley's direction. "Ever since he arrived, you've been living in a fucking fantasy world. Not even your little pomegranates can make him stay."

Hadley's eyes narrowed into slits.

"He'll leave once you try to kill him. That's what you want right? Suck him dry, Hadley." Sally took another drag from the cigarette, the ends of her mouth curling from ear to ear. "And you know I'm not talking about taking him in your mouth."

Hadley released a disgusted sound, dragging her knife through the celery again. She finished the end of it and lifted her head, watching a small fit of giggles erupted from Sally's nasty mouth. "I haven't been tempted by him yet."

"Yet," Sally repeated, slapping a hand on the table. "Yet."

Hadley turned, tossing the chopped celery into the boiling pot. As she spun back around, Hadley was prepared to spit out a backbiting response, but she was suddenly caught off guard when she noticed Sally was now two feet from her. Hadley clutched the handle of the stove, swallowing hard. Sally watched her with a tilted head.

"Why do you care so much?" Hadley seethed, pushing herself off of the stove. She stepped closer to Sally, invading her space, and noticing the way her face changed once someone got too close to her sickly pale skin. "Why don't you just go away?"

"Because the second you kill that boy, I'll be called in for damage control," Sally hissed, top lip lifting back in disgust, "and I'll be damned if I have to clean up another one of your messes!"

Hadley's nostrils flared. Her eyes blazed with fury. If Sally wasn't so close with Elizabeth, she'd be the one sucked dry by now. Or worse: she'd be the meat in this soup. But the bitch was already dead, and Hadley was left wishing that she had been the one to commit the dirty deed.

"Leave me alone, Sally." Hadley pointed in the direction of the kitchen exit. "Go project your misery onto someone else!"

They were nose to nose now, with Sally's dark stare burning into Hadley's. "You'll see," she chuckled, voice rising as she straightened her back. "They always leave!"

"GO AWA –"

But before she could finish, Sally's presence had disappeared. The lights flickered, the table shook, but there was still no sign of the frizzy-haired woman. The only sound in the room was the boiling broth on the stove. Hadley pursed her lips and looked around for any signs of Sally. She was nowhere to be found.

Hadley cleared her throat and turned back to the stove, trying to ignore Sally's voice continuing to taunt her in her head.

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