Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Then Julian added, “Noemi can’t make it, though.” And I realized that by your girl will be there, he meant Destiny.
Con, Dominic, and Landon all made various noncommittal responses. They were in the same camp as me. Halloween was fine, but not worth the trouble Julian went to. And definitely not worth the trouble he expected us to go to.
So when I said, “I’ll be there,” they all looked at me in surprise.
Except Landon who gave me a penetrating look. I kept my face blank, but he’d made a career out of seeing what people tried to hide. I tried to tell myself there was nothing to see.
I would go to this Halloween party because making sure Destiny was keeping up appearances was my job. That was the only reason.
Julian set me up with his Halloween guy, even after I told him that no one in their right mind had a Halloween guy.
“Everyone has a Halloween guy except you,” he disagreed. “And I don’t want you just putting on a fucking cape and some cheap ass fangs.”
He was dead on about the cape, but I hadn’t planned to bother with the cheap ass fangs part. His EA made me an appointment, and then, when I didn’t have anything better to do, I went. I should have known better, but I still somehow expected to walk into a glorified Spirit store. Instead, I pulled up to a mansion. Whoever lived there clearly celebrated Halloween all year round because it was painted soul sucking black. The columns had looked like they’d recently been splattered with blood. There was a giant cat skeleton poised to pounce off the gabled roof. Flashing green light emitted from the turrets on either side of the monstrosity.
I looked around, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into. A collection of gravestones looked back. Red eyes blinked at me from the overgrown grass. “Christ,” I muttered, quickening my step. I rang the doorbell and heard a bloodcurdling scream echo through the interior. A fuzzy spider dropped down in front of my face.
I sprang back, a curse on my lips, ready to tell Julian he could go fuck himself, I was going to show up with a bedsheet over my head or not at all.
Then the door opened, and Destiny was standing there in a black bodysuit.
“What are you doing here?” she asked before I could. Between us, the spider retracted on its web, the motion too smooth and mechanical to be real. I looked up and saw that the line was anchored to a gear on the porch ceiling.
“I’m asking myself the same fucking question,” I muttered, watching it until it locked into place. I looked back at her. “Julian sent me.”
“Why?” Destiny crossed her arms, looking a little too belligerent for someone who didn’t own the place. “You’re not going to the Halloween party.”
Though I’d been about to call it quits, her tone of voice changed my mind. I stepped into the doorframe, crowding her back. “Then why do I have an appointment with my Halloween guy?”
It was the dumbest thing I’d ever said, and I knew it was dangerous being this close to her, but I liked the look that it put on Destiny’s face. Her brows knit, her arms tightened, and trepidation mingled with something else darkened her blue-green eyes. “Why?” she asked belligerently. “And don’t try to tell me it’s because you love Halloween. I’ve never seen you at this party before.”
I could have made up a bullshit reason, but for some reason, I told her the truth. “Because I knew you were going.”
Our eyes locked. Her lips parted. A warning went off in my head. Bad fucking idea, Garrett.
“And I have a vested interest in making sure you play your role,” I added.
Annoyance thundered across her face. “I don’t need a babysitter, Garrett.”
I noticed she’d stopped telling me she wasn’t a kid. We were both aware of how well I knew that now.
Before I could say anything else, a skeleton appeared at the top of the sweeping staircase.
“So sorry, Garrett,” the skeleton called down. His–her?--hand rested lightly on the banister, the bones making a quiet screech as the skeleton came down the stairs. “I’m a little behind schedule.”
I realized as the skeleton came down that it was not actually a skeleton. From the gloom of the second story, I’d only seen the glowing white bones that patterned out from the inky black bodysuit, but up close, I could see that there was a very thin man inside. The effect of his warm smile encased in the eerie outline of jawbone was unsettling to say the least.
“It’s my fault,” Destiny said. “I held them up.”
I looked at her black bodysuit, wondering if this was a preview of her costume. I hoped so. If Destiny looked like an honest to God skeleton, I might be able to stop thinking about her.