“What was that?” Mia asked as she looked between me and Ava.
“Maybe he likes Ben’s ass too,” Ava blurted, and despite myself, I started to laugh. Mia joined in, and the tension waseased again. Ava handed me her cup, and I took a much-welcome drink.
“Ooh, there’s Bea, be right back.” Mia was already halfway across the room before Ava could reply.
“It’s nice to have you,” Ava said as she watched her friend. “I don’t mind really, but wearing this, I’m glad everyone’s looking at you.”
Glancing down at myself, I looked at her. “Not everyone,” I said as I looked over to the kitchen, and with a heavy sigh, I watched Gray talking to Denzel.
“You need to talk about that?” Ava asked me quietly.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Okay.” I felt her arm slip through mine. “If you ever want to, I’m here.”
Ava was smaller than me, and I looked down at her. “Why? You hardly know me.”
“I’m a great judge of character,” she said as she took a sip of her drink before handing it to me. “I mean, I completely knew Jett would be awesome and Gray would be a dick.”
“You told me Ash was the nice one,” I reminded her dryly.
“He is . . . tome,” she countered as her eyes searched the crowd for him. “He’s the most open, I think.”
That was true; the twins played it tight to their chests. Ash was a little more relaxed about things.
“They each have their positives and negatives.”
Jett and Gray were walking back to us, and I shifted nervously where I stood. “Ava, I hate to do this . . .”
“Go,” she said as she took her cup back. “You’re having fun, go mingle with Mia.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. When I reached Mia, the music that had been playing as background music got turned up, and she grabbed my hand and yelledDanceto which I agreed.
I spent the next while on the dance floor. Mia drifted in andout, but I liked dancing and was never alone. Two guys approached me, and I danced with them, always stepping out of their reach when they tried to get closer.
Mia was back on the dance floor, and we were both dancing to Thirty Seconds to Mars’s “Closer to the Edge,” and I was having fun. The lights dimmed, and my feet faltered when I saw six of the football team had all pulled up black bandanas. Wildly, I looked at the door and saw it was closed, and then as I looked back, I saw Gray watching me. He gave a wink, and just like that, the lights went out.
The screams were instant as the music cut off, and I got shoved as people on the dance floor moved.
“Mia?” I called, and I felt a hand take mine. “Mia?”
“It’s me,” she said as she stepped closer to me. “Mayhem?”
“Yeah.” I turned slowly in the darkness. They hadn’t told me. They always told me when it was Mayhem.
I startled when I heard a loud scream pierce through the speakers, and then low, eerie laughter followed. Suddenly, a spooky voice screamedRun, and it echoed all through the house as people panicked and screamed.
“Don’t run,” I warned Mia as I felt her pull away. “Never run, they can’t do anything if they can’t catch you.”
Reaching out my hand, I guided us to the wall and pushed us both up against it.
“You knew this was happening?” Mia whispered over the noise of people running, falling into each other, and the horrible, creepy laughter.
“No.” We stayed there as we felt and heard people laughing or crying out around us. I’d always been clued in on Mayhem before, but being on the other end of it was pretty unnerving.
“Oh look!” Mia tugged my hand, and I looked around and saw the neon glow sticks moving through the darkness. “Is that new?”
“No, that’s not the Devils.”
