His eyes are wild, his breathing jagged, but otherwise he’s unharmed, and when he comes to the same conclusion about me, we let out matching breaths of relief and move back into each other’s space.We’ve escalated from accidental grazes and lingering touches to a full embrace.This is the closest we’ve been all night.The pull must be a symptom of the attraction under aversive conditions, and even though the fear hasn’thad a chance to fully work itself out of my system, I let my body relax against his.I wrap my arms around his waist, duck my head into his uninjured shoulder when his arm curls around my back and his hand slides up to grip my ribs.He still holds the knife in his other hand, angling it away from our bodies as he drops his chin to the top of my head.We stay like that for a heartbeat, and it feels… right.
“Are you okay?”he murmurs into my hair, and I lift my head to meet his gaze.
“Yeah…” Maybe if I say it enough it’ll stick.“Yeah.”
His palm moves from my ribs to my jaw as his eyes dart across my face.His head dips just a fraction, almost like he wants to kiss me, and it’s more instinct than anything else that makes me tilt my chin up.A second later my senses kick in and I move to pull back, but he’s already let go of me, gripping the handle of his knife and rubbing his free palm over his mouth.His shoulders are up around his ears, his voice low and gritty when he asks, “Where are the others?”
I can’t help the sigh of relief that tears from my throat.If he’s asking, then he didn’t come across any bodies in the hallway.I heard the sound of someone being attacked, I heard that familiar sickly sound of flesh being torn by metal, but maybe they got away.Maybe Heart Eyes was too preoccupied with finding me so we could engage in a little flirtation in the bathroom and he didn’t get to finish the job.God, I hope whoever it was has that first aid kit handy.
“I think they ran,” I say, but that doesn’t take the darkness out of his expression.
“Did you see where they went?”
I saw where one went, but I’m shaking my head before the attraction under aversive conditions can make me spill, moving to the counter to collect the corkscrews.
“We have to get out of here,” I say over my shoulder.“He could come back.”
Wes watches my movement toward the mirror and sees the message Heart Eyes left etched into the middle of it: a rough, crooked heart with a “J” in the middle, and underneath it, something I don’t think I’ve seen since middle school: 4EVA.
It’s different from the time and effort invested in the display on the dance floor.This is juvenile, a more possessive assertion than the idealistic declaration from before.I’d think it was done by a different person if not for the fact it’s once again directed toward me.
“Fuck this guy,” Wes mutters, turning his back on our somber reflections as I take one more look at the rounded points of the corkscrews and decide to abandon them.I don’t want to get close enough to Heart Eyes to see if they could do anything.
Wes holds his knife in front of him, gesturing for me to stand behind him as he pulls the door open.
We don’t get too far once we step out into the hallway, though.The bloody handprint marring the male icon on the door across from us, a smack-and-drag stain akin to the car scene inTitanic, stops us in our tracks.
CHAPTER 23
“I would have slaughtered with you forever.I would have turned myself inside out for you.”
—NotHope Floats
“Shit.”
Wes curses when he pushes the blood-marked door fully open.
The white tiles of the bathroom look like a Jackson Pollock painting, smeared and streaked with red.The source of the color is instantly apparent.I only need to lift my gaze from the example of abstract expressionism to see John propped up against a urinal.
When he looks up, flicks his hair out of his eyes, and sees us in the doorway, I spot the dark stain spreading out underneath his left shoulder and through the gaps of his fingers.It’s almost exactly where Wes was cut, but I can already tell this isn’t going to be fixed by a Band-Aid.
“I—” John winces as he tries to straighten, pain etched across his face, blood gushing out of his shoulder.“I tried to stop him from getting to the bathrooms, but he—he got me.Dani and Jennifer ran.I think… I think they got away.”
They did, but he didn’t.
“I don’t think he even realized I wasn’t… He just wanted to get to you, Jamie.”
He stayed to try and protect me and Laurie, and this is what he has to show for it.He said he doesn’t take risks, but he’s the first of us to go on the offense against the killer, to try and save us from an attack, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
“John.”His name falls out of my mouth in a sigh as I move forward and almost slip on the trails of his blood.Dropping to my knees in front of him, I try to ignore the way they hit the ground too hard when I do.Even though I have the best intentions, I can’t figure out a way to make the bleeding stop.I gave the first aid kit to one of the women, and if they’re smart, they’re far away from here and hiding.
Looking back to Wes for assistance, I almost lose my balance, but his free hand grips my elbow before I can, and I can’t help but grasp his arm and smile in gratitude.I never thought reflexes would rank highly when it comes to hotness traits, but his are certainly coming into the top five.
“Where’s Laurie?”John pants, drawing my eyes from Wes and the kind of thoughts that aren’t going to patch up his wound or get us all out of here.Catching sight of the paper towel dispenser, I point toward it, but Wes is already striding two steps in its direction without any chance of slipping.His hand goes into the slot, but it comes out empty.Fuck.
“Where’s Laurie?”John asks again, the concern in his voice still clear despite how weak he sounds.I open my mouth but the answer dies on my tongue.It’s not that I don’t trust him or Wes.They’ve been narrowly avoiding death with me all night.It’s just that I love Laurie more.I will lie and omit and play dumb for that bitch.I would’ve let Heart Eyes gut me like a fish if I thought it would help her escape.The only way I can buy Laurie time to get out of this clusterfuck is ifno one knows where she is.
So I lie.“She ran, too.”Finally biting the bullet, I press my palm into John’s shoulder.His blood coats my hand like syrup.Somehow he still has the Midori bottle in his hand.It’s covered in blood, too, but I suspect it’s his rather than Heart Eyes’s.The broken bottle would’ve been useless up against whatever is making red run out of his shoulder in a steady stream.
