Page 246 of Stay Scared

This time I know exactly who is behind the mask.

I cut through the old midway and shoulder past a hanging canvas wall. Cade comes through it seconds later, closing the gap fast enough that his footsteps get heavier and louder.

I grin and push harder.

A dead game stall flashes beside me. The old mirrors beyond it catch the skull in pieces.

He is gaining.

I turn down the carnival corridor and immediately know I made the wrong choice. The path narrows ahead, and Cade knows it too. His laugh reaches me through the mask, low and mean.

I glance back. The skull is close enough that I almost miss the turn.

His hand catches the back of my coat, but I twist out before he gets a full grip. The fabric jerks hard across my shoulders before slipping free.

Cade swears behind the mask.

I laugh. “Too slow.”

That fucked me.

He catches my waist before I clear the next curtain. My feet leave the floor, and Cade drags me backward against him, momentum driving both of us into the wall hard enough to rattle the old plywood.

Heat flashes through me. His forearm locks across my middle while his other hand lands against the wall beside my head. I can feel him breathing through the skull.

“Say it again.”

“You’re slow.”

His grip tightens.

This is the Cade I missed.

I turn inside his arm. The skull fills my vision, his chest rising hard beneath the black shirt as I slide my hand around the back of his neck.

Cade takes the invitation immediately.

His mouth catches mine beneath the lifted edge of the mask, rough from the first touch. His hand closes around my hip and jerks me against him. I bite his lower lip.

Cade makes a sound that vibrates through both of us and pushes me harder into the wall.

I tug the skull back down over his face. His breathing changes.

“Keep it on.”

Cade lowers his head until the painted teeth brush my cheek. His hand slides under my skirt, finds only bare skin, and grips my thigh. I open for him.

His fingers move higher, brushing my clit, as my breath catches against the mask.

Cade notices.

His thumb digs into the inside of my thigh, fingers teasing me, while his mouth finds the skin below my jaw. “I thought about this every fucking day.”

I grab the front of his shirt. “You thought about catching me?”

“I thought about you coming back.” His hand tightens. “The rest got ugly.”

I drag him back to my mouth.