He adjusted my skirt and nodded.
My eyes narrowed, and I threw his favourite sentence at him. “I want to hear you say it.”
Theon’s lips broke into a rare smile that made my stomach flutter. Shifting closer, he said in my ear, “Promise,” and kissed my cheek.
It calmed me down a little, and I followed Jade out once I was certain that he wouldn’t leave. “So where do you wanna go?” I asked her when we were in the corridor that led to the back door.
“Outside? Both bathrooms are in use and I can’t find Katy and Laura. I don’t want to go out alone on Halloween night. I blame horror movies for that.” She opened the door with one hand, the other on her stomach. I heard her stomach growl loudly, and she groaned in pain.
“What’s wrong? What did you eat?” I asked worriedly, stepping in front of her.
“That asshole bartender mixed something I don’t usually drink with my...drink. And I ate pork thinking it was something else.”
Oh, pork. Her stomach was enemies with pork. Who the fuck served pork on Halloween? Was it a new thing?
“Okay, let’s find you a secret spot for you to force everything out.”
“Yeah.”
She couldn’t stand upright anymore, so I put my arm around her shoulder and helped her walk. We stepped outside into the cool night, the distant bass from the party house still pulsing. The sky was overcast, and the orange glow from the jack-o’-lanterns lined along the garden path flickered in the dark. Shadows from hanging ghost decorations swayed in the breeze, casting strange shapes on the ground.
Jade groaned again, holding her stomach with one hand while the other clutched her side. “I swear, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. A Halloween party, and I’m about to...do this.”
I gave her a sympathetic look, guiding her through the back garden. “It’s okay, we’ll find a spot. You can’t wait for the bathrooms, and you can’t risk doing it here.”
We wandered further into the darkness, passing a stack of hay bales set up for decoration, a fake cemetery with gravestones, and a skeleton propped up against a tree. Jade tugged on my arm and pointed to a large, plastic cauldron set up near the far side of the garden, hidden behind a row of creepy tombstones and fog machines. It was perfect.
“I’ll—I’ll go behind that,” Jade said, her voice strained as she eyed the cauldron with desperation.
“Hold on,” I said, looking around and spotting a stack of plastic bags near the hay bales. I grabbed one and handed it to her. “You can use this.”
“Bless you,” she breathed, taking the bag from me with shaky hands.
“Okay, I’ll keep watch. You do what you need to,” I said, stepping a few paces away to give her some privacy.
Jade hurried behind the cauldron, and I heard the rustling of the plastic bag. I turned my back, staring at the fake gravestones, trying to drown out the sounds coming from behind me.
After a few moments, Jade’s voice came out in a shaky whisper. “Ainsley, I need you to do me a favour.”
I turned my head. “Yeah, what do you need?”
“Can you go to the car and get the wipes from the glove compartment? Laura gave me her keys when I saw her forty minutes ago. She was getting drunk and needed someone else to hold it. Please” She held out a set of keys. “Here.”
I moved closer, taking the keys from her. “Yeah, of course. I’ll be right back. Just hang tight.”
Jade groaned. “Not like I’m going anywhere.”
I gave her a quick smile before jogging towards the parking lot. The cold breeze bit at my skin, and the sound of the party faded as I hurried through the side gate. I found Laura’s car parked where we’d left it.
Fumbling with the keys, I unlocked the car and snatched the wipes from the glove compartment. After locking the door, I turned to leave, only to crash into something solid.
I staggered back, blinking up at a broad chest wrapped in a dark hoodie. The eerie glow of the streetlight flickered across his face, partially hidden behind a creepy mask. He didn’t step aside or offer any apology.
“Excuse me,” I muttered, sidestepping him quickly, but before I’d taken more than three steps, his hand clamped down on my shoulder, sending a sharp jolt of fear down my spine.
What the hell?
I spun around, ready to rip into him, but the words froze in my throat as his other hand shot towards my neck. My instincts flared, and I twisted out of his grasp, adrenaline igniting every nerve. Run. That thought was all I needed. This wasn’t some Halloween prank. And if it was, I wasn’t about to stay put and find out.
