He whispered, “Sorry. That one got to me too.”
“It’s fine. All in good fun.” And it was. Some people handled these sorts of things better than others. I wasn’t one of them but this was for the company, and this haunted house boasted some of the best reviews.
When the door opened for the next room, I let everyone else walk in. I figured that way I’d know what was coming, seeing as I had to fend for myself. Brey would have been more understanding of my fear and hung back with me, I was sure, had she thought Steven wouldn’t be a great partner. As it turned out, he crossed his arms to shield himself from the rest of the frights and hurried through, leaving me behind.
I waved Jett forward. “I’ll go last.”
“Pix, the last one always gets scared from behind.”
My eyes widened.
“Go on. I’ll protect you.” He waggled his eyebrows and puffed up his chest, teasing me as if the haunted house was absurd.
In the next room, a man with a melted face handed us 3D glasses. The room’s graffiti suddenly popped out menacingly. The monsters lurking behind dark objects jumped out, snarling and grabbing at us. The 3D paint enhanced their disfigured faces and made them appear much closer than they were.
Our group dispersed, each man for himself. It felt like life and death. Run or be killed. Some of us rushed forward but I stumbled back and screamed as a green goblin whose head hung from his body lunged at me.
Jett steadied me again and whispered in my ear, “He matches your costume. You come with him or Stevie?”
I glared up at him. “You’re joking right now?”
“It’s just staging, Pix.”
A chainsaw revved in the distance. I cursed the stilettos I wore as I tried to back up further.
“No. Go forward. We have to get through the haunted house. Not go backward.”
“I probably shouldn’t keep going,” I mumbled as I looked for an exit. “Do you think they’ll let me out if I say I have a heart condition? My heart’s beating really, really fast.”
Jett laughed. It rolled out of him like he couldn’t contain it, and his smile stretched so wide that I wondered if the real Phantom of the Opera would have ever appeared as beautiful as he did. “Your heart is fine, Victory. Move your ass. I got you.”
He didn’t know if my heart was fine. I counted the days back to when I’d last taken my heart medicine. I tended to avoid it. The meds made me feel like I had a weakness, and I wanted to forget about it. Cancer lingered, and ignoring it felt better than dwelling on it.
Still, I moved forward, feeling a little more confident with Jett’s arm to hold on to. “We should probably try to catch up to our group.”
“The group that ran as fast as they could and left us for dead?”
“They didn’t leave us.”
“Stevie ran so fast, baby. And his face was whiter than my mask.”
I tried not to laugh. I really did. “In his defense, I’m just as scared.”
The next hallway pulled more screams from me as lights flashed and shined on a morbid-looking skeleton covered in cockroaches.
Jett retracted his arm from my death grip.
“Jett, fine. I’m scared! Please don’t …"
He wrapped his arm around me, tucking me in close to his chest like he was ready to fight off all the damn haunted house demons for me.
I squinted at him to see if I could read the expression he had under the mask. “Should I be reading into you staying behind to walk me through this?”
“No. It’s the best use of time for me to usher you through so we can get tonight over with as fast as possible.”
“Efficient.”
A man with a mask jumped out and revved a chainsaw right in my face. I yelped into Jett’s chest and he pulled me close before glaring at the man in front of us. “That was too close. Back the fuck away from her.”