I traced my thumb over her latest tattoo. A symbol for nurse with R on one side and N on the other. I wanted to tell her how proud I was, how much fulfilling her dreams of becoming a nurse made me want her even more than I once had. Now the world knew what I had known—that Dallas was brilliant as well as breathtakingly gorgeous.
“Let’s get the next house over with,” Natalie suggested, and I wanted to tell her to fuck off. I could have gladly sat on that bench rubbing Dallas’s shoulders all night. “I hate that stupid maze.”
Shane was already pulling Harper to her feet from where she was sitting on the other side of Dallas. When Harper turned to tug Dallas up, my girl let out a whine. “But… But… I was halfway to heaven,” she grumbled.
“A few more minutes and you would have been sleeping on the bench,” Linc told her as he tossed an arm causally over Natalie’s shoulders.
Muttering a curse, I fell in behind everyone else, keeping my eyes glued to Dallas’s back as we walked toward the next haunted house.
Jesse bumped his shoulder against mine. “When d’you got to get back to New York?”
I shrugged. “My plane leaves Tuesday, but I might leave sooner than that.” Like on the same plane as Dallas when she goes back Monday morning. Or later, if I could talk her into checking out my apartment in LA. Yeah, I liked that idea a lot better than having to get up piss-ass early the day after Shane’s wedding.
“I freaking hate that you and Drake are on the East Coast for Christmas. No one gets to travel this year.” He grimaced. “Layla says it is okay, but I know that she’s going to be upset Christmas morning.”
I didn’t have to spend Christmas in New York. Normally I spent it at Emmie and Nik’s house, sleeping over and opening presents with everyone else when the others arrived. Or if they all went to New York we all went to Drake and Lana’s apartment for Christmas dinner and presents. The first year I spent with them had been the first year I had really enjoyed Christmas in my entire life. Gods knew that I hadn’t enjoyed it as a kid. My parents hadn’t let me enjoy it like I was sure all the other kids got to enjoy the holiday. Waking up, excited to open presents…
I shook my head, dispelling the troubling memories of my parents. They didn’t cross my mind often, but lately they had been there more and more. Ever since they sent that fucking letter.
“It was cool of you to tell Drake you were going to stay in New York with him and Lana and the baby. Thanks, man.” Jesse lifted his hand and we bumped fists.
“We’re family, man.” They were all the family I had—all that I wanted. I was closer to the Demons than I was my own band. I loved Liam, Wroth, Zander, and Devlin. But I was the outcast with them. We had all grown up in roughly the same community, but I had been the preppy with the rich, butter-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth family while they had been middle class or lower. If their lead singer for their band hadn’t broken his leg in a water skiing accident, I never would have been a part of OtherWorld.
We stepped into the Front of Line Pass line and Shane turned to us. “If I throw up, don’t let Harper see.”
Jesse and I both snickered. “Yeah, man. We’ll cover your ass.”
We were halfway through the haunted house when I realized that Dallas wasn’t in front of me any longer. My heart lifted into my throat and I turned around, nearly knocking over the two college kids behind me. “Dallas?” I called her name, pushing against the next group.
“Dallas!” I couldn’t see her anywhere.
Someone in black jeans and a black T-shirt, who was hidden in a corner to make sure everyone didn’t cause trouble, came out and grabbed my arm. I shrugged the skinny man’s arm off. What the fuck was he going to do to me anyway? My left leg probably weighed more than him. “Sir, is there a problem?”
“My girlfriend. She was with our group but I can’t find her,” I told him over my shoulder as I kept walking, my eyes searching almost frantically for her. I didn’t know why, but I knew something was wrong. My stomach was in knots, my heart pounding. Strobe lights were flashing all around and actors were stepping out to scare whoever walked past.
Then I heard it and my heart actually stopped.
Dallas’s scream.
“Dallas!” I bellowed her name, and pushed some bulky-looking guy on the ground as I tried to get into the next room. The scream came again and I knew if I didn’t find her in the next few seconds I was going to throw up.
A clown holding a bloody hatchet popped out of a closet as I entered the room. Her scream cracked open my soul and I nearly fell to my knees in relief when I spotted her. But her face was a mask of fear. Her eyes were wide, with frightened tears streaming down her cheeks. No one was standing near her as she crouched down in the corner, her eyes darting between the closest clown to me that had just popped out of a box, to the dummy lying on the ground a few feet from her that was dressed up like a clown with guts spilling out of its abdomen, and then to the very real clown in the opposite corner with a funny-looking stuffed dog in one hand and a very bloody knife in the other.
“Dallas.” I breathed her name on a sigh of relief and crossed to her.
When her eyes finally landed on me she reached her arms out and clutched at me like a scared little girl. I pulled her to her feet and she buried her face in my chest, sobbing. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
I stroked my hands down her bare back, pressing her closer to me. “It’s not real, baby,” I whispered against her ear. “Nothing in this room is real but you and me.”
“Get me out of here, Ax. Please.” She sobbed harder. “I can’t deal with this… I can’t.”
Unable to handle the sound of her crying, I lifted her into my arms. The skinny guy was standing right behind me and we were alone in the room except for the freaking clowns. Apparently they had stopped the groups from entering for the moment. “Where’s the closest exit?” I demanded.
The skinny guy turned around and I followed him. Dallas wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my hair, hiding her eyes from the clowns. The next hall had an exit sign and I pushed through it with Dallas clinging to me and shaking. The slightly cool October night air greeted us and I sucked in a deep breath. “You’re safe now, baby.”
The sobs slowly faded, but she still clung to me as her body shuddered with little hiccups. As badly as I had wanted her to hold onto me, I never wanted it to be like this. I stroked her hair back from her face, brushing kisses over the top of her head, down her jaw and neck. Anything to distract her from the fear that was still making her tremble.