by Vera Hollins
Haunted house. Masen. Me.
Why did that sound like a terrible idea?
I glanced at Masen, who looked at me with no expression on his face as he waited for me to answer. He wasn’t opposing this, which was alarming enough, because that could mean he wanted me to come with them, which blurred the lines between us even more, which then took control away from me even more, and—
Okay. Take a deep breath.
“I think it’s better if you two go on alone,” I said and made a retreating step.
“Come on, please?” Eli asked, looking at me with puppy-dog eyes, level one million. “It would be so much fun.”
“I don’t think—”
“Are you running away again?” Masen interrupted me, seeing right through me.
I looked daggers at him. “I’m not a coward, Barbie. I never run away.”
“You’re a coward and a liar, because, yes, you’re running away. Just like the last time.”
I bit hard into my cheek, torn between proving him wrong and playing it safe.
Fine. Yes, I was afraid and running away, just like last time, but it was only because I wasn’t ready for what I felt when I was next to him. I wasn’t ready for him.
But, then again, I’d told myself I was never going to be a coward or let anyone intimidate me, yet I’d given him that power all too easily.
I stuck out my chin. “Fine. I’ll go to the haunted house with you.”
A smile of satisfaction briefly illuminated his face before it was gone behind a new mask of indifference, and my stomach churned because another line had just been blurred.
I checked my phone for any texts from Mateo, but there weren’t any. Hopefully, that was a sign that his “date” with Shreya was going well and not that the Ferris wheel had broken loose and rolled off and away.
As we neared the haunted house, I watched Masen’s back, trying to determine what all of this meant for him. Going through the catalogue of memories, I recollected each of our encounters since Steven’s death, focusing on the change in our interactions and the way he’d acted around me.
I’d go ahead and say he was just playing around, but I’d seen him in action before. This was not how he operated. He didn’t do things in a roundabout way. He went in for the kill, never ashamed of taking what he thought belonged to him, especially when it came to girls, whom he saw only as trophies.
No, now he was different, and he was trying hard to hide his emotions. I knew what that meant, because I was the same way, so I’d have to be a fool to ignore it.
I felt his gaze sweeping over me as we entered the zombie-themed haunted house, proving me right, and for the first time in forever, I was overly conscious about my looks. I couldn’t even compare to his type of girls, and he’d mocked me for my heavy makeup and punk clothes too many times for me to think he hadn’t been serious.
But I wasn’t going to be apologetic about who I was. I stared him square in the eyes, daring him to insult me, but what I found there was anything but dislike. A sweet ache built in my chest as he held my gaze, becoming addictive on so many levels.
The semi-darkness swallowed us, and somewhere out there, I could hear the sounds of chains clanking against metal. The adrenaline and tension I loved started to course through my veins. I loved haunted houses for the same reason I loved roller coasters, but now the line I treaded on between fear and thrill was even thinner because Masen was here.
We headed down a narrow hallway with creaking floorboards, passing by a sign on the wall that read “Restricted Area. Proceed with caution.” I shivered at the creepy sounds and growls that reached us from the distance and held the lizard more tightly as the sounds grew louder.
The green and red lights barely illuminated the space enough for us to see, clashing against the fog that twirled around our feet. A quick violin sound ripped through the air, followed by a female scream, and I stopped, my breath caught in my throat.
A dark window rattled next to me. I twisted around and made a low sound in my throat as a zombie pressed himself against the window. His face was a gory mass of gashes and blood. I jumped back, almost colliding with Masen.
He reached out to steady me from behind, and heat surged through me at the contact. Our gazes met over my shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes impossibly dark in here. Every inch of me was highly aware of him.
I swallowed and stepped away, brushing invisible dust from my jeans. “Never been better.” I looked at the zombie. I expected him to break through the window, but he didn’t.
“Boy, he’s ugly,” Eli said.
“As ugly as they come,” I concurred.
We moved further down the corridor and around the corner, where a mass of limbs dropped from the ceiling right onto Eli’s lap. He screamed, thrashing as he tried to get it off.
“Fucking hell,” Masen cursed with a grimace and pushed the ghastly pile off Eli’s lap in one swift move.
“Okay. I’m officially terrified,” Eli said with a nervous chuckle as he moved away from the bloody limbs.
“Do you want me to hold your hand?” I winked at him.
He laughed. “I can handle it.”
The bloodstained hallway continued on into a dark room, and my legs grew shaky. I reluctantly stepped further inside, growing disoriented because I couldn’t see for the life of me. I extended a hand in front of me so I wouldn’t hit something as I stepped forward slowly. Chills ran down my spine as cold air hit my neck. I gripped the lizard, breathing loudly through my mouth.
Something shifted right next to me, and I couldn’t determine if it were Eli and Masen or something else . . .
A growl ripped through the silence the same moment something grabbed my ankle, and I jumped high in the air.
“Shit! Get off me!”
I moved to the side, but I tripped over something and crashed to the ground, which turned out to be carpeted with a dozen small sticks . . . No, those weren’t sticks. Those were bones.
“Shit!” I hopped to my feet and backed away, but I didn’t know where I was going in the complete darkness.
Eli screamed just as someone growled in my ear and wrapped their arms around me in a tight embrace. Panic hit me out of nowhere, and I started thrashing against this person, my survival instinct kicking in.
“Get off me!” I managed to free myself, but then I ended up in another embrace, and the foreign scent just heightened my fear. “I said, get off me!” I pushed against the body and stumbled back, panting.
I collided with another body, and fear poured into my every single pore, freezing me for a moment too long, and it was all I could do not to start punching this person. I almost dropped the lizard as a hand wrapped around mine and pulled me away from these people. This person’s scent was familiar, so I didn’t protest as he guided me across the room without stopping until we were out and in the dimly lit hallway again. Eli was already there; his eyebrows knitted together when he took me in.
“What happened in there? Are you okay?” he asked me, but words failed me. My heartbeat was a pounding noise in my ears.
I looked at Masen’s hand still holding mine and then at him, fighting for the air. His eyes were a tempestuous hue of blue as he watched me, which was strangely reassuring.
“They were just actors,” he said softly. “They were just acting. Nothing else.”
I nodded, struck with gratitude. He could’ve left me there to lose myself in panic or rage. He could’ve used my weakness against me. But he hadn’t.
The words came out before I could question them. “Thank you.”
His lips curled into a slow, breathtaking smile as he tightened his grip around my hand in response, and I found myself returning his grip.
“There are more of them!” Eli said.
I looked over my shoulder at the zombies that had climbed out of the nearby hole, and new chills rushed up my spine. Eli went further down the hall away from the zombies, and Masen pulled me after him, still hold
ing my hand.
I yanked my hand away despite wanting to do anything but that, which was reason enough for me to keep that wall between us. He frowned at this, his previous smile disappearing.
“I’m not a child,” I said. “I can walk by myself.”
His frown deepened. “You’re not a child, but you’re acting like one.”
I didn’t get to answer him because the zombies got too close and we had to move. We rushed down the narrowing hallway and reached another room, which turned out to be a morgue. I chuckled with anxiety because “corpses” were laid out on morgue tables all around the room. It was a recipe for disaster. I squeezed the lizard in my hands, my pulse kicking up again.
“I think it’s best if we get the hell out of here immedi—”
I didn’t get to finish that sentence because a female corpse next to me jumped up from the table with a growl and reached for me. I shrieked and darted away before she could grab me, with Masen moving closely behind me. All at once, all the corpses in the room stood up and closed in on us, their heads and limbs positioned at a weird angle.
Eli screamed and moved first, heading for the exit as fast as he could, and Masen and I went after him. One zombie jumped at me out of nowhere, hovering above me with his slashed, bloody mouth open wide, and Masen slid in between us, pushing him back.
Eli and I barely managed to get outside before the corpses reached us. Masen came out moments later and closed the door, dropping the latch into place, and we burst into roaring laughter.
“That was terrifying!” Eli said and fell into another laughing fit.
“Definitely. Whoever did those guys’ makeup is the next Leonardo da Vinci!” I said through my laughter, all the adrenaline, tension, and fear from these last few minutes pouring out of me. It was the first honest laugh I’d had in weeks, and now that I’d started, I couldn’t stop laughing, holding my stomach because it hurt.
I realized too late that Masen wasn’t laughing anymore. He was observing me, never looking more serious than now as his eyes devoured me, and my laughter slowly came to a halt.
“There’s the exit,” Eli shouted excitedly. “Let’s go.”
He moved for the door on the other end of the long corridor, and I went right after him, tearing my gaze away from Masen, my heart thudding. Eli made it out, and the self-closing door shut behind him. I was halfway to it when Masen grabbed my hand and spun me back toward him.
“What are you—”
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered, cupping my face with both hands.
And then he was kissing me.
He was kissing me. Masen was kissing me. Slowly, deeply, hotly. I clutched the lizard, preparing for panic to sweep over me, but it never came. Instead, the warmth in my chest tripled, and my lips started moving against his, tentatively at first, and then more confidently, and it was like a lightning strike, only it was all in my head, body, and—oh, geez, he’s an amazing kisser.
He angled my head back and kissed me harder, winding his arm around my back. He pressed me against him as he deepened our kiss, and heat exploded in my chest. I grabbed onto his T-shirt—to steady myself or pull him closer, I wasn’t sure.
Just when I thought I would die from the heat and lack of air, he pulled away, leaving me with jumbled thoughts and a racing heartbeat. This was . . . this was totally insane and amazing.
He broke into a small smile, his gaze smoldering. “You taste even better than I’d imagined.”
I pressed a trembling fist against my lips, stunned into silence. It seemed he wanted to say something more, but the door opened and a staff member peered inside, Eli waiting right behind him.
“Is everything all right, you two?” the staff member asked us in a Texan accent.
Masen nodded at him, all traces of the desire on his face already wiped away. He made his way to the door with his usual swagger, completely unfazed by what had just happened, while I was left to fight against myself. I wanted to convince myself that hadn’t been real. It hadn’t been real and I hadn’t been enjoying it. I hadn’t just kissed East Willow High’s biggest asshole.
But it had so been real, and after years of not wanting physical contact with guys—of despising it—I’d discovered a new world in which unimaginable pleasure existed. I wanted to feel it again—
Nope. Uh-huh. I’m not going along that route.
No matter how good it had felt, kissing Masen had been foolish, and there was still at least a 50% chance that he was playing me. Or that he would forget about me now that he’d gotten a taste. That was more probable. Everything would be easier if that was the case.
Deciding to act as though the kiss had never happened, I stepped outside and met Eli’s gaze, whose expression was unreadable. “What took you guys so long to get out?” he asked.
Masen smirked. “A zombie attacked us right after you got out. Satan pissed her pants.”
I whipped my glare at him. “No, that was you. You should wear diapers from now on. They will save you from future embarrassment.”
He barked out a laugh instead of getting insulted, which only irked me more.
“This has been a lot of fun,” Eli said with excitement in his eyes. “Umm, Mace and I are going swimming on Sunday. Do you want to come with us?”
I met Masen’s gaze, thinking of all the excuses I could use to avoid joining them. But that would be running away, and, as I’d said to Masen earlier, I wasn’t a coward. Eli was my friend, so if I had to sacrifice something to make him happy (such as the few brain cells I would lose being around Masen) I would do it.
“That’s a great idea, General Fabulous, but how about you come to my house and use my indoor pool? It has a shallow end so you can swim in it, too.”
Masen gave me an incredulous look. He obviously hadn’t expected me to suggest something like that.
Eli’s eyes rounded. “You have a greenhouse and an indoor pool? That’s amazing. What do you say, Mace? Can we go?”
A small smile played on his lips as he looked at me, and I wished I knew what he was thinking about. But then he looked at something behind me, and his smile fell. His face grew taut with animosity that could be felt all the way at the North Pole.
“Mel?” Mateo asked.
I turned around to face him, my lips stretching into a grin. “Mateo, dearest!” I started forward with my arms spread wide, but then I saw he was alone. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Where’s Shreya? If you tell me you killed her and threw her into the nearest ditch, I’ll Krav Maga you until all your organs bleed out.”
“She’s waiting for me in my car.”
I looked at him under my lashes. “She is? Why?”
“Because the pirate ship ride—”
I slapped my forehead. “The pirate ship? But you should’ve gone to the Ferris wheel!”
His eyes hooded. “Well, we didn’t. Anyway, as I was saying, the pirate ship was too much for her, and she—” He stopped abruptly, his eyes drifting to Masen, and I looked at him, too. He’d been watching us carefully, with a hint of something I could only describe as jealousy on his face, but he masked it the moment I looked at him. My gut stirred with wicked pleasure.
I approached Mateo and leaned in a smidge closer than necessary, wishing I could see Masen’s expression. “She what?” My voice dropped to a whisper.
Frowning, he tore his gaze away from Masen and replied quietly, “She threw up the moment we got off.”
I gaped at him. “No, she didn’t.”
He scratched the back of his head. “Yep. So, I’m taking her home.”
At least something good was coming out of it—they’d be spending more time together. “Be nice to her,” I warned him.
He shrugged his shoulder. “I’m driving her home, aren’t I? What’s nicer than that?” He motioned with his head to Masen and said loud enough for him to hear, “What are you doing with him?”
Masen folded his arms over his chest. “You’ve got a problem with me, Diaz?”
Mateo�
�s frown grew deeper. “If you’re acting like an asshole to Mel as usual, yes.”
Masen cocked his head to the side, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “The last time I checked, you weren’t her bodyguard.”
“And the last time I checked, you were still a douchebag. I don’t have to be her bodyguard to protect her from guys like you. Mel already told me everything about you.”
Masen directed his glare at me, and the flutters of guilt expanded in my chest. “Did she, now? And what did she say?”
“She told me what absolute trash you are, which is not news. You’re just like your friend Hayden.”
Masen took a threatening step toward Mateo, fisting his hand. “You’re asking for it.”
I slid between them before I could think better of it, feeling this weird need to defend Masen. “Now, now,” I said. “We don’t need a clash of the alphas here. There are children around us.” I looked pointedly at the said children before I met Mateo’s gaze. “And while Masen is far from a white knight, it turns out, by some miraculous shifting of universes, that he isn’t that bad. So, hold your horses.”
Both Masen and Mateo gaped at me, but while Masen’s icy gaze ebbed into something warmer, Mateo’s turned into a full-on glare.
“He isn’t that bad? Do you even hear yourself?” Mateo chuckled incredulously. “What now? You’ve been brainwashed, too? You fell for one of them, too? First Sarah, then your friend Jess, and now you. I didn’t peg you as that type of girl.”
I winced because this hit too close to home. “Now, hold on a sec—”
“Keep talking shit about her or my friends and you’ll end up without teeth,” Masen said, taking another menacing step toward him.
I pressed my hand against his chest to keep him back, dumbfounded, because he was defending me. My chest constricted with heat. “Wait,” I said.
Mateo chuckled loudly. “I’m not afraid of you, pretty boy.”
Masen’s nostrils flared. He pushed against my hand with his glare fixed on Mateo. “What did you just call me?”