“No,” he says on a sigh, shoulders sagging.
“Why not?”
I really shouldn’t ask, but the words burst out. He has absolutely no reason to be nice to me. We’re opposites, mortal enemies on campus and in life.
“Because as much as you’re a twat,” he says, “whatever you’re going through probably sucks, and my bitterness over a Halloween party isn’t worth getting you canned.”
He moves as though to leave, and something seizes my whole body, as though a spirit truly is possessing me. It’s like someone or something else moves my hand when it darts out to grab him. Many startles, going still in my grasp, looking down at the place where I’m holding him before dragging his eyes back up to mine.
“Thank you,” I say, voice too quiet, too raspy, to raw around the edges. “I…”
My thoughts wander off. The place where I hold him burns. This time it’s me making the move, me holding him, me grasping after him. The heat wells up inside me again, but I do a better job of keeping it out of my face this time. Something coils up my leg under my pants, the mist from the fog machines climbing higher, like the snake in the Garden of Eden crawling upward to tempt me.
I swallow when I realize my mouth is hanging open. I mustlook absurd in my zombie makeup and torn clothes, but Many peers down at me without a hint of laughter in his dark eyes. He reaches for my glasses and plucks them off, folding them with one hand and tucking them in his pocket. When he steps forward, I press my back harder against the wall behind me, but there’s nowhere to go, and even if there was, I’m still holding onto him. The mist climbs higher, a cool kiss caressing my thigh, and my head swirls. I’m a puppet on a string when I raise my hand and brace it against Many’s warm, firm chest, unsure if I’m about to push against his stupid, stupid, lewd crop top or pull him closer. Whatever is possessing me whispers to choose the latter, the voice cool as silk against my ear.
“You like this,” Many says, and his voice is also quiet, way too quiet.
I shake my head. “Halloween is demonic.”
My denial lacks any bite whatsoever, and Many simply smirks, that cocky, lopsided expression that lights up his eyes with glinting mirth. He gets even closer, until his body heat is lapping against me, providing a sharp contrast to that cool, coiling mist dripping into my ear. He dips his head so his stubble can almost scratch my cheek, and my hand twitches on its own, as though something wants to move it to cup his face.
“I wasn’t talking about Halloween,” he says.
Whatever has seized hold of me sings in triumph, and my mind goes strangely, blissfully blank.
Chapter Four
Many
WHAT HAS COME OVER me? Sure, I’ve fantasized about messing with Denis, but never likethis.
Even more baffling, he’s actually responding.
I know when a guy wants me, and every ounce of Denis screams “want.” His eyes are unfocused, and not simply because I took his glasses so I could get a better look at those pretty green eyes. His mouth hangs open, his breath gusting hot past parted lips. A flush his makeup can’t hide lingers in his cheeks and burns up his throat, and fuck me, all I want to do is lick my way up it.
I came here to get answers, but this is somehow even more confusing than when this guy was simply an overzealous jerk with a hate boner for Halloween. I’ve been telling myself this is all part of the game, part of the fun of messing with his head, but then I stepped closer and everything changed. It was like something pushed me toward him. I could almost feel the ghostly hand against my back, shoving me nearer to the man I’m crowding against a wall in a secluded hall. He has me by the wrist, his other hand against my chest as though he either wants to push me away or yank me closer, and I doubt either of us know which.
“Halloween is demonic,” he says in a hushed whisper better suited to filthy promises than zealous denouncements.
“I wasn’t talking about Halloween.”
His breath hitches. I’m so close I can hear it. That spectralhand at my back definitely gives me a shove this time, I’m absolutely sure of it, or perhaps I’m simply more determined to explain away my actions. I chase that breath like he’s taking the last sip of air in the universe and I mean to steal it back for myself. When I meet his lips, I taste his shock first, then melt into the sweetness of him, the softness of his startled mouth. His hand curls, finally clinging to my crop top and tugging me closer. His other hand tightens around my wrist as though I might run away, but I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Something is pushing me toward him, shoving me into him until I’m gathering him in my arms and crushing him against me.
He whimpers, and I answer with a groan as that sweet, plaintive plea shivers down my throat. Something howls in my ears, perhaps a distant scream somewhere in the haunted house behind us. We’re separated from it here in this hall, but I suppose the shouts and sound effects can still reach us because I could swear something starts positively braying when I stick my tongue in Denis’s mouth.
I break away gasping, keeping a hold on him, scared he’ll run. A guy like this might give in to a kiss, but I need more, and I don’t know what I’ll do if he freaks out now.
His hand twitches, almost like he’s moving unconsciously, and he grips my crop top more tightly. Encouraged, I barrel forward through this mad, improbable adventure.
“I want to bend you over,” I say, leaning close and rasping the words against his ear. “I want to put you on your knees. I want to get my tongue in you until you’re crying for me to stop.”
He gasps, hips betraying his desire, but again it’s like something else moves his body, like it happens without any input from Denis himself. Instinct or a spectral hand presses his need against me.
“I’ve never done any of that,” he says, some part of the real Denis breaking through the otherworldly, surreal haze of thissudden lust.
“That’s fine,” I say. It’s not like I expected him to be experienced, quite the opposite. I’d be shocked if he’s held hands, let alone given in to desires he likely sees as sinful.
“No, I mean, I haven’t even kissed anyone,” he says. “I…I’ve never done any of this, nothing at all. Ever. With anyone.”
