“Yeah.”
“Something moved to our left.”
“I know,” I say, because we are being hunted right now. Nixie can talk shit like the fact that we can’t touch someone unless we have matching colors on our wristbands, but Cave is insane—he simply doesn’t care. If you come into his territory, he is going to make sure you don’t stay long.
“Is it Brawley?”
“No,” I reply. “He is louder than that.”
She slows down, and I drag her along. I can’t tell her Cave is my bear in the hunt, because if anyone knew, it could be used against me. “Then who?”
“Keep moving,” I insist. “Don’t look at it. Don’t talk to it. And don’t acknowledge it.”
“What? Are you trying to scare me?” she asks, thinking this is all part of the game.
“I said, keep moving, Kayla,” I snap, and she must hear some of the fear in my voice because she moves faster.
My panic settles when Brawley shouts out that he is coming for me. He knows I’m in here and he won’t let Cave hurt us. Cave will hopefully change course and go after Brawley, buying us some time to hit the edge of the cemetery.
I tighten my hand around Kayla’s and move faster until we clear the cornfield. Then we stop at the old, rickety fence to catch our breath.
“Phew,” I say. “Do not let me go back in there again. When they say avoid the scarecrow at all costs, make sure you do. All of us go in and out of our island personas, but that guy, that’s him all the time. He sleeps in there and scares so many children beyond what is expected when families come that I think he feeds on their tears. Nixie hasn’t let him do a real chase yet because she doesn’t trust him.”
“Then why did you drag me through there?”
I take her free hand and place it on my chest. “Because I like the thrill of it, and knowing we are out and Brawley is stuck in there buys us a few minutes.”
“Motherfucker!” Brawley yells, and I laugh.
“Time to hide. I hope you’re ready for him to hunt us.”
“I was born ready,” she replies, and we take off running hand in hand—I have never had so much fun.
We race into the sea of grave markers. “Left,” I tell her, and we cut down between two rows of headstones before suddenly the ground up ahead disappears.
Something hits us from the side so fast my brain doesn’t register what’s happening until we’re already going down, tangled together because of the cuffs. The headstone to my right catches my shoulder on the way, and then I face-plant on the dirt with Kayla half on top of me and something very large smothering us both.
I turn my head to the side and spit dirt out of my mouth. Clay is looming over us, one knee in my back, one hand pressed flat on Kayla’s shoulder blades. It’s like he planned exactly where we would be, knew the moment we would get there, and waited. Which, knowing Clay, he did.
“Going somewhere?” he says.
I turn my head the other way to find Kayla’s face about six inches from mine, dirt on her cheek, and her lower half is still sprawled across me—but not in the fun way.
“Get off me,” she snarls, bucking around in a valiant attempt to dislodge the surly deadweight from on top of us.
Clay doesn’t move. Behind us, through the cemetery gate, I can hear Brawley approaching. Excitement bubbles in my gut—I guess my punishment is coming faster than I expected.
Kayla
Clay laughs, and Vero fidgets underneath me. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t turned on right now. While Clay may be a dick of huge proportions, he is hot, and his cock is pressed right up against my ass. He clearly likes it rough.
Clay wraps his hand around my hair and rips my head backward, then leans in close. “The more you fight, the better this is for me. You don’t want to give me what I want, do you?”
I grin and slam my head backward. The satisfying crack has Vero laughing as I snark, “Red looks good on you, Clay.”
He tightens his grip on my hair, but this time, he isn’t stupid enough to get closer. Instead, he uses the hold to drag me upward, and my free hand flies to his as I try to stop the asshole from ripping my hair from my head. The motion has me on my knees, then back on my feet, Vero following as his arm links with mine.
Brawley reaches us and takes in the chaotic scene, his eyes dropping to our conjoined wrists. “Where is the key?” he demands.
