Well, then. Fuck you all very much.
After dinner, Tessa orders a car to take us back to Everwood, but when it arrives, it’s not the spacious van she requested, nope, it’s a clown-car-level cramped SUV. Jonathan climbs in first, pulling Marissa onto his lap. She giggles, her arms looping around his neck, and I hate to admit it, but he looks more comfortable than he ever did with me.
Everyone else climbs in, and of course, there’s no room left for me. I hesitate for a split second before making a choice that’s equal parts brave and reckless. Screw it. I slide onto Hayes’s lap, feeling the warmth of his body against mine.
Jonathan doesn’t even notice.
Hayes smells good—too good, like cedarwood and something fresh, it’s intoxicating. I squirm around a bit until I feel him harden against my ass, and a thrill shoots through me, unexpected and electric. I seriously don’t know what’s wrong with me, but instead of moving away like a normal person, I lean back into him, a strange, defiant smile playing on my lips.
His breath hitches, and I feel the tension in his muscles, the way his hands hover near my waist, unsure of where to rest them. There’s a moment, a charged pause, then his foreheadpresses against my temple. “Jesus, Tori. You’re killing me,” he whispers against my ear, his breath warm, delicious. He splays his hand at my back, holding me steady the whole ride back. His warmth seeps into my skin. I need to feel wanted right now, desperately. I talk myself out of turning to face him, straddling his lap, and rubbing myself against him until I feel a bit of release. I wonder if Jonathan would notice me then.
The car crawls to a stop in front of the Everwood, and we pour out of the car like liquid. The temperature has dropped a bit, the air is cooler and crisp. The sky dark with a thin veil of puffy white clouds that drift low over the moon.
“Come on, let’s try to go this way,” Tessa calls as the car pulls away. None of us seem to want to go, but we follow her wordlessly.
We climb through the overgrown path, leaves crunching beneath our feet like brittle bones. Jonathan and Marissa drift up ahead of us, their figures dark silhouettes among the trees. The rest of us trail behind. The wind whistles through the tall trees, almost forming soft, whispered words. I grab onto Hayes’s arm when I stumble over a rock. Griffin guffaws, and Tessa slaps his arm to shut him up.
We step out of the woods through a break in the trees. Up ahead, a tall, rusted fence holdsa broken sign that reads Everwood Amusements. The park is eerily silent. A towering Ferris wheel juts up toward the low-hanging fog, its top three cars completely hidden behind puffy white clouds. Behind it, swings droop down from a high perch of some sort and rock gently in a silent wind.
Tessa turns on her cellphone flashlight and hands it to Marissa as she pulls back a rotting piece of plywood that covers the chain-linked fence. The wood splinters as she yanks and crumbles like ash to the ground. The fence falls open, inviting us in.
The six of us stand frozen, taking in the scene before us. The park looms like a ghost of its former self, a playground for nightmares. “This doesn’t look like a very reputable establishment,” Griffin mutters, his voice tinged with skepticism.
“I need a tetanus shot just looking at it,” Hayes mumbles.
Ripped blue tarps hang limply over weathered wooden stalls, their surfaces smudged with dirt and grime. A two-story haunted castle looms in the distance. “This looks like the beginning of a really cheesy horror movie,” Hayes adds, a note of resignation in his voice. “I’m getting too old for these trips.”
Marissa swings the beam of light into the front booth. Crusty paint peels from the wood in long spirally curls. The ground in front is littered with empty beer cans, trash, and a filthy old mattress. The place feels heavy with sadness.
A shiver runs over my shoulders. There’s something unsettling about the place—something more than just its dilapidated state. The air feels thicker here, charged with a strange, suffocating energy.
“This is stupid,” Griffin says, shrugging with a smirk. “Let’s just go inside. Tessa, Tori, you want to go in the funhouse with me? You can both sit on my lap and see what comes up.”
“Shut up, Griff,” Tessa sighs, rolling her eyes. “You can’t say that kind of stuff anymore to women.”
“Call the HR department on me, see if I care.” He chuckles.
A beam of light flickers back from the small booth. A figure emerges—tall, thin, and unsettlingly familiar. He strides toward us, his flashlight cutting through the darkness and casting a harsh light on our faces.
I blink, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the blinding light.
“It’s you,” the figure says, his voice deep yet nasally, sending an involuntary shiver up the back of my neck. I can’t place the face, but there’s something oddly familiar about him.
My heart drops as recognition dawns. Oh, no. It’s the guy from the bar last night—the one from the bed this morning.
Uh, hi,” I manage, trying to keep my voice steady, even though my insides twist and bubble with panic.
“I knew you were a tourist,” he says, a sly smile creeping across his lips. His eyes gleam with something unsettling, something that makes me want to leave immediately. “Did you come to see if my stories about this place were true?”
“You guys know each other?” Jonathan asks, his finger jabbing back and forth between us, his brow furrowed with suspicion.
“Sort of. We met—” I snap my mouth closed, utterly flustered. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want anyone to know the full truth either.
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all.” Griffin chuckles darkly.
“Nah, it’s not awkward,” Lyle—the guy from the bar—says smoothly, stepping closer, invading my personal space with a casual confidence that makes my skin crawl. He leans in, his breath hot and too close. “We met earlier this morning while waiting for coffee. The line was long, and I might have talked her ear off about this place. What can I say?” He shrugs, his gaze boring into mine with an unnerving intensity. “I would have said pretty much anything to get a hottie like her to come visit me here.”
Thank God it’s dark because my face feels like a flaming ball of fire. I shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, desperate to move, to escape his gaze.
