“True.” Hands tucked into the back pockets of her mini skirt, she glances around the emptying foregrounds. “Shit. Talk abouta lose-lose.” She chuckles. “Good thing I came, or you’d be screwed.”
“I’ll be fine,” I decide. “And at least neither option was swimming.”
“Then we’d really be screwed.” Lexie laughs. “Can you imagine? Both of us jumping in the water and sinking like a couple of rocks?”
“Very true,” I agree, grateful for my best friend’s humor and the picture she’s painted. “So see? It’ll be fine. It’s only a haunted house?—”
“You should do the arcade,” Jagger interrupts. He isn’t talking to Lexie. He’s talking to me. Hell, it’s like everyone else has disappeared with the intensity in the man’s gaze.
“Didn’t you just say you’re not allowed to give any hints?” I point out.
“If he does, it’ll disqualify us,” Lexie notes. “Or at least that’s what I thought I heard.” She looks around the carnival grounds like she’s waiting for a ref or a guard or a judge to pop out of the bushes at any second and kick us out for breaking the imaginary rules.
As if my best friend doesn’t exist, Jagger moves even closer. “Pick the arcade, Little Thief.”
The warning sends a shiver racing down my spine. “Why?”
He waves his hand toward Lexie. “Your best friend said so herself. You don’t like the dark.”
“Or scary things in general,” Lexie adds.
She’s not wrong.
I hate haunted houses. I hate anything scary or dark or eerie. But what I hate more? It’s being told what to do, especially by a man who’s been nothing but a pain in my ass since the moment we first met. Taking a page from Jagger’s playbook, I tear my attention from him and face Lexie, maintaining the facade that he isn’t standing three feet in front of me. “If we’re going forodds, you should do the arcade. You’re a hell of a lot more talented than I am with those kinds of things, and what’s the most I’m supposed to do? Survive a little walk in a scary house?” I snort. “I’ll be fine.”
“Violet,” Jagger warns.
Lexie’s awesome and ignores him just like I had. “You’re sure?” she asks me.
“Positive.” I can feel Jagger’s sharp stare on the side of my face, but I don’t acknowledge him. “Wanna meet at the stage once we’re done?”
“I can do that.”
“Perfect.” I tack on a reassuring smile and straighten my spine. “I’ll be fine. It’s only a haunted house. See you soon.”
Well aware I’mthisclose to changing my mind if I give myself a minute to overthink anything, I start toward the edge of the premises where the old abandoned haunted house sits when a hand grabs my wrist and tugs me to one side.
I bite back my squeal of surprise as my back hits a wall. The rough brick digs into my bare skin and through my thin T-shirt as I glare up at Jagger Harden. “There a problem?”
“You’re gonna lose.”
“I’m not?—”
“Hug the right wall, but always go left,” he growls. “Every. Single. Time. Do you understand?”
I’ve never seen him like this. Is he…worried? A chill races down my spine. “What are you?—”
“Even when it’s scary,” he orders. “Even when it feels like you’re going in circles. Even when the right feels like the safer option. Hug the right wall. Go. Left.” His touch vanishes and he stalks away, leaving me speechless. As he disappears around the carousel, I swallow thickly and touch my cheeks, trying to calm down and focus on his directions.
Left. Go left. Hug right. Go left.
I can do that.
17
VIOLET
There are at least forty girls standing around the haunted house entrance and twice as many men. Not going to lie, I’m nervous. Like, really nervous. Despite my bravado when talking with Lexie, I really don’t like scary things. Or the dark. I really hate the dark. There’s something about your imagination and the way it plays tricks on reality. The way it twists and taints while opening the door to your scariest nightmares, letting them wreak havoc on you until all sense of logic is replaced with utter fear.
