I need to get control over myself and calm the fuck down, but the second I open my eyes again, I glimpse at the dead body next to me. My chest squeezes, feeling as if my lungs only shrink further.
Normally, the bodies don’t bother me, but being trapped in the mortuary rack with them? My mind gets the better of me, imagining their heads slowly turning to the side to stare at me. Even with the cloth covering their faces, I can vividly imagine their milky white eyes locked on me, a terrifying grin curling their lips.
I move the heel of my palms over my eyes and press tightly, attempting to banish the images from my head.
Calm down, Reverie. Just calm the fuck down. They’re dead. They won’t come alive and fucking eat you.
I repeat that mantra over and over, and while it’s not necessarily relaxing, it gets the creepy image out of my head, which is just enough to keep me from vomiting everywhere.
As the tears begin to bubble out of my eyes and past my palms, I hear a metallic squeak before the door suddenly swings open. I move blindly and scramble off the metal pan as he slides it out. I fall off it and land painfully on my hands and knees while my phone skids across the cement floor. I feel nothing but stark relief, my head bowed as sobs overtake the staggered breaths sawing in and out of my throat.
Dread’s presence is suffocating as he stands over me, his shoes just in my field of vision, eyes peeking through the curtain of hair falling around my face.
“Didn’t take you long to become an asshole again,” I rasp, my entire body trembling from the lingering anxiety.
“Didn’t take you long to give me a reason to be,” he retorts coldly.
I huff out a humorless laugh and straighten to rest my ass on the back of my heels. The pain in my knees flares, demanding my attention now that my adrenaline has depleted.
Dread stares down at me, his expression stoic and devoid of emotion. However, there’s a dark glimmer in his eyes, prompting my heart to sink into the pit of my stomach. I recognize that look—it’s the same one from the night in the pool, when he gave me an impossible ultimatum after learning my father was being released from prison.
He’s furious.
He’s hurting.
And he’s spiraling.
Which means he’s really fucking irrational.
“Kell—”
He’s lunging toward me, hauling me to my feet by my arm before Ican blink.
“You want to say my name, darling?” he bites out. “Then let me give you a reason to.”
I gasp, instinctively resisting him. However, it doesn’t faze him, and he’s dragging me out of the small room down the familiar hallway in the funeral home.
I open my mouth to question how the hell he got us in here until I remember I have a spare key on my car keys. Which I left on his desk.
“Dread, stop,” I snap, yanking on my arm uselessly. He ignores me as I fight to keep up with his long strides, stumbling over my feet.
We reach the door at the end of the hallway, and he pushes it open before swinging me inside, releasing me so I trip and fall flat on my ass.
For the second time, the fresh wave of adrenaline keeps me from feeling the pain shooting up my spine. Instead, my attention is on the massive metal structure in the middle of the room, with its square door wide open. Beyond it is the inside of the retort—where they burn the bodies to ash. He brought me to the crematorium, and I don’t need to be a goddamn mind reader to know exactly what he intends to do.
With wide eyes and a heaving chest, I slowly turn back to Dread.
He grins, and I’m staring at the pearly white teeth of the fucking devil.
“Don’t you fucking dar?—”
Again, he lunges for me, and I scream as he grabs me, forcing me toward the retort.
I thrash in his arms wildly, clawing at whatever part of his body my hands reach first.
“No, no, no! Let me go!”
He doesn’t, and despite all my kicking, he shoves me inside the brick chamber, leftover ash sticking to my hands and arms. It’s still very warm to the touch, having not completely cooled down yet. Thankfully, we hadn’t used it for the past few days. Otherwise, my clothes would’ve caught fire by now while my skin bubbles and melts.
