Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
“You’re not afraid of me are you, Puppet?”
“…Ciaran?” I questioned slowly, not quite believing what was right in front of me or what I was hearing.
He laughed lowly and reached around Mel to extend a leather-gloved hand. “Come here. I need to get you checked over.”
I frowned at his terminology. I wasn’t a dog that needed examined for fleas and ticks and going off with him sounded about as appealing as peeling off my own skin.
Mel shoved his arm away. “Fuck off Hannibal, she isn’t going anywhere with you.”
Someone snickered at her chosen nickname. Ciaran didn’t share their sense of humor. His head slowly turned in Mel’s direction and when he spoke his voice was cold. “This is my one and only warning to you. Don’t get in my way. Not when it comes to her. You won’t like the consequences.”. His attention then redirected to me along with his hand. “Come here.”
“You didn’t just threaten her and then ask me to hold your hand. Hard fucking pass.”
“Also locked us in a barn and then went on a killing spree. No one with a brain would go with you,” Grace ranted.
With a heavy sigh, Ciaran swiftly moved my friends out of the way, much too easily, and grabbed me, hoisting my body up and over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing.
Mel and Grace tried to intervene but were quickly thwarted by his buddies. Expletives filled the air as he carried me away from them.
“They won’t hurt them,” Ciaran assured.
“Like they didn’t hurt those other people? Put me down!” I twisted my body left and right, slamming a fist into his back.
“Enough.” He clapped me on the ass with the palm of his hand and then proceeded to rub away the sting.
“Did you just—?”
“You like that?”
His playful tone pissed me off. Everything about what was happening pissed me off because I didn’t understand what was going on.
“Fuck you,” I growled.
He laughed softly and continued to carry me until we got to the entrance of the woods. I was lowered down with a surprising degree of gentleness, all things considered.
“Walk with me or back into my arms you go.”
“I’ll walk,” I bit out.
He grabbed my hand and led me through the backyard. No one paid us any attention aside from a few lewd shouts. Small mercies did exist, I suppose. Unfortunately, they didn’t last long.
As we were making our way back into the house, I began to come down from my adrenaline rush, making me acutely aware of the aches and pains on various parts of my body and the cut on my arm.
I had just witnessed, the severing of a hand, a girl’s face split in half with an ax and condemned an old classmate to death because he’d tried to plant a knife in me and Grace.
How long ago did I tell myself this night had taken a bizarre turn?
People moved out of Ciaran’s way without him saying a word. They might not have immediately recognized me, but he was another story. Why was I letting this homicidal boy take me away?
I didn’t know.
Maybe I wasn’t really here. I was witnessing it all through an out-of-body experience. That wouldn’t be such a far-fetched conclusion after all the shit I’d just seen go down.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked once we reached the staircase.
“I already told you.”
Being alone with him would not be smart. If he decided that he wanted to stab something at least down here I could throw one of these random strangers into his blade.
Did he have a knife? I checked his person and couldn’t see one. I hadn’t earlier either but that didn’t mean anything.
Cooper had concealed his.
We returned to the second level and entered a bedroom done in an island theme that had previously been locked and deemed off-limits to party guests. Apparently, that didn’t apply to him. A small bedside lamp lit the decent-sized space.
Ciaran led me passed the bed and into an attached bathroom, kicking the door shut behind us. The room remained dark and silent for all of three seconds. He flipped a switch and light spilled from rows of recessed bulbs. He finally let go of my hand and turned to face me, reaching for my mask.
“Let me see you.”
My partial disguise was lifted away and set down on one side of the double vanity. Ciaran’s joined it before he began an intrusive probe of my entire body.
He took hold of me and placed my ass between the two sinks, positioning himself in-between my legs. I stared at him in wonder.
“So, you just come to parties, kill a few people, and then make sure the survivors have a clean bill of health?”
“Few things wrong with that assessment. I didn’t kill anyone tonight and survivors is plural. I’m only standing between your legs right now.”