“Twenty-four hours,” she corrected smoothly, eyes fixed on the road.
“That’s what I said. A date that lasts twenty-four hours.” He tilted his head, studying her. “You always make impulse purchases like that, or am I just special?”
A flicker of something—Amusement? Irritation?—crossed her face.
“You’respecial,” she said after several seconds, but there was a blatant dollop of sarcasm included in the admission.
“Uh-huh. That’s what all my ex-girlfriends say.” He grinned.
That earned him a glance. “Do you always deflect with humor?” she asked.
“Maybe. Do you always kidnap men from charity bachelor auctions?”
“Oh, please. I did not kidnap you.”
“You absolutely did.”
“You agreed to the terms. Plus, I paid for you fair and square. Cash.”
“Whether cash or credit card, I’m pretty sure ‘mysterious stranger drives bachelor off to who-knows-where’ wasn’t in the fine print.”
Her lips twitched. “Don’t worry. You’ll understand everything very soon.”
Jack straightened slightly. That tone was familiar. He’d heard it before—from his siblings and his cousins when something alien and inconvenient was about to unfold.
Jack stared beyond the windows into the dense, darkened forest that lined the road. The morbid part of his brain warned,If this date goes south, they’ll never find my body.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “That’s exactly what I am worried about.”
Cyberpunk Chick did not comment further.
The car slowed.
They turned down a long, tree-lined drive that shouldn’t have existed this close to town. Spanish moss hung low from the branches, brushing the windshield like fingers. At the end of the drive sat a house—quiet, tucked away, the low lights glowing warm through the front windows.
Jack’s instincts sharpened. It looked like the kind of creepy place that came with a crazy lady in the attic. Or worse.
“All right,” he said, voice low. “Who am I meeting really?”
She pulled the car to a stop and put the gearshift into park. She killed the engine and turned in her seat to look squarely at him.
“Don’t worry. It’s someone you know.” That didn’t narrow it down. He knew lots of people.
Something in Jack’s chest tightened.
He didn’t like her answer. Didn’t like it at all.
He pushed his door open before she could say anything else. His boots hit the gravel with a crunch. The night air was thick, heavy with damp humidity and something else—something electric, like the air before a storm.
Now that he was out of the SUV, the house looked charming and foreboding all at the same time. A porch spanned the entire front of the two-story house, with stairs centered in front of the main entrance.
He walked up to the porch, each step slower than the last.
The screen door was closed but the door behind it was open. Of course it was. Because apparently tonight had to be as unsettling as possible.
Jack opened the screen door—he half expected the hinges to squeal eerily but they were silent—and stepped inside. The front room was dim, lit by a single lamp in the corner. Shadows stretched long across the floor. Everything felt like it was suspended. Waiting for him.
His jaw tightened.
