Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 55(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 55(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
“Ready to get this party started?” I grinned, and she bounced off the bed, her own grin making an appearance.
Chapter 2
Harra
It was sweet and pink. Melted in my mouth. Sugary liquid sliding down my throat.
“What’s with your brother?”
“Stepbrother,” I corrected Bethany and looked over at her. I popped another piece of cotton candy in my mouth, shrugging. “What do you mean?”
I knew what she was talking about. There were plenty of things wrong with Zareth. Things I’d never touched on with her, never divulged.
The way I knew he was into cutting, blood play, and other sexually deviant acts that I’d never even dreamed of. God help anyone who asked me how I found out about this stuff.
She shrugged and looked around, as if she were looking for the very person we spoke about. “I don’t know.” Her voice was soft. “When he first got here, he was just acting weird. Anxious almost.”
Now that she mentioned it, Zareth had seemed… excited. “Maybe something happened at the bonfire. Or he could be partying later and just excited to go. I know there’s a handful of Halloween parties happening later tonight.”
“He’s just… off, Harra. Like—” She looked back at me and ran her hands down her skirt. “sometimes, he cts like he’s insane.”
I knew what she meant. I was pretty sure he was certifiably crazy. I’d never utter that out loud, though.
This wasn’t about him getting into fights or beating the piss out of someone who crossed him. It went way beyond that.
It was the fact that he held a grudge like no other. He’d find these people who fucked with him, and even after he thoroughly kicked their ass, he’d continue pummeling them just to make sure they were nothing but a whimpering mess on the ground by the time he was done with them. And after all that, he still kept the torture going.
Stalking them. Fucking with them.
He’d do little things to make them think they were slowly losing their minds.
Items in their homes would be moved or go missing, only to be put back days later.
Lights would be on when the person knew they had turned them off.
Or their car would be parked down the street instead of in front of their garage doors.
It was those kinds of fucked-up things he did. Playing his cat-and-mouse games… until he finally let them know it was him who was doing it all.
He ran off plenty of people from town. The cops did nothing about it. Probably too terrified of Zareth’s retaliation. Instead, everyone gave him a wide berth, knowing it was safer that way.
I picked off another piece of cotton candy and let it melt on my tongue before swallowing.
“Let’s go to the funhouse. Or what about the bouncy castle?”
Bethany adjusted the fake stethoscope that went with her nurse’s outfit and pointed toward the castle-shaped bounce house.
I was about to follow her when a group of girls we went to high school with ran up to Bethany. Although I knew them, I wouldn’t consider them friends by any means. They were Bethany’s people. Giggly. Bubbly. Total girly-girls, even if I was wearing an outfit that made me fit right in with them.
They were all part of the cheerleading squad when we were in high school and part of the same sorority now that we were in college.
They all started talking, and I took another bite of cotton candy, looking around the carnival. It was one that happened every year in town right around Halloween. They dubbed it Fright Night Carnival, and its haunted house was always the biggest attraction.
I could see the giant bounce house in the distance and a few vomit-inducing rides spread out in the center of the chaos. The funhouse was right behind where we stood, which was another one of their most popular attractions at the carnival because of its indoor labyrinth.
“Let’s do the haunted house first,” one of Bethany’s friends squealed.
I finished my cotton candy and threw the plastic bag in the trash. When I glanced up, it was to see a group of guys coming through the front entrance and weaving their way past the crowd.
I couldn’t make out who they were since they all wore various types of Halloween costumes, but all of them wore masks, which made deciphering any of them impossible.
But it was the one in front—the assumed leader of the pack—who wore the skull mask that drew my attention. He was the biggest male I’d ever seen, with very clear muscular definition that was visible even beneath his layers of clothes.
The carnival was packed, so they were in and out of view a few times as they wove their way through the thick throngs of people. I turned, but instantly, the back of my neck tingled, so I faced toward them and looked at that masked stranger. He wore a pair of dark jeans and combat boots. A leather jacket and a dark hoodie were on top. The hood was up, concealing everything but that frightening skull visage.