“I’m engaged!”
“Oh my god!” I shriek. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!” And I am. Ella and Rebecca are ridiculously cute together.
Ella was my college roommate and now my closest friend. We’ve been through a lot together, wild frat parties, hard professors, and long exams. We went to the same graduate program, and unlike me, she got a job directly after receiving her degree, employed as a conservationist at a museum where she interned.
“Will you be my bridesma—”
There’s a click. Then dial tone.
I try to ring her back, twice, but the line refuses to go through. Cellular service is spotty around here, especially in the forest.
I’m thrilled to be her bridesmaid. I’m already running numbers in my head, wondering where I’ll squeeze some extra money for dresses and travel. I wouldn’t miss her wedding for the world. Doing so would be a crime against our friendship.
My girl Ella is getting married!
Meanwhile, I’m…stuck.Everyone’s getting married, starting jobs, buying houses, and having babies while I’m having sex dreams about a gargoyle—that’s how far behind I’ve fallen, and I can’t help the jealous lump that forms in my chest reminding me how many steps backward I’ve taken. Talking with Ella would help. It always does.
I don’t have the chance to call her back, because when I leave the forest and turn on Main Street, there are three packed tour buses parked across the street from the museum.
My heart sinks into my stomach.
Three buses. On aMonday.Hopkins’ Museum of the Strange was supposed to open thirty minutes ago.
I swallow down my panic, straighten my glasses, and quickly park my car nearby, giving the people loitering outside my most sincere apologies. I offer reassuring smiles and spooky antidotes, promising that the museum will be worth the wait. They’re upset, and they should be. It’s not like me to be late.
We need the business, and Hopkins has placed his trust in me. With how things are going, I can’t afford to be fired.
I plaster on a reassuring smile. “Give me a moment to open up and you’ll be free to examine Hopkins’ mysteries for yourself.”
There are angry whispers behind me, and they make my hands shake, my keys jangling while unlocking the front door. If I can just get through the next few hours, it’ll all be okay.
The gargoyle is waiting for me as I flick on the front lights. He’s right where he’s supposed to be, behind the front desk, and not in my dreams.
Not in my mouth either.
“Good morning,” I greet him, joining him behind the counter.
I stiffen, my gaze drifting down his body, because jutting out from his usually smooth groin, is a large, erect cock.
I dig the Tylenol out of my purse and take two.
Chapter4
Curiosity Kills the Summer
Summer
He has a cock.
Taking off my glasses, I wipe them and put them back on. It’s a smudge. It has to be.
The monster cock is still there.
My dream…
It wasn’treal.
Right?
