AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Easier than real blood, probably.”
She laughs. “Yeah, probably. Let me run to my room real quick. I think I have something.”
As she wanders through the doorway in the living room, I take a few moments to look around. She has picture frames everywhere, and my eyes dance over them, not getting too close. I don’t want her to think I’m snooping. Her smiling face is in most of them, joined by an older couple, maybe parents, and an even older couple, probably grandparents. Some younger kids join her in others, two dogs, and girls her age. She’s clearly got a good amount of friends and family, and more than that, they all seem to like each other.
“I found this in my closet from last year,” she says, appearing behind me holding a knife.
“Oh.”
She slices it through the air. “Yeah, I was a female Chucky last Halloween.”
“Probably the best looking Chucky there’s ever been.”
Her lips curl into a smile. “It’s just a small plastic knife. Fake blood on it, but it completes your outfit.”
I take it and slip into my belt loop. “Thanks.”
She checks me out, her gaze flickering down my arms and across my chest and abs before she meets my eyes again. With a lift of her brow, she gives a little shrug, as if to say she’s not embarrassed to have been caught.
“Guess we should start our night,” she states, strutting to the kitchen once more. “But let’s take a shot first.” While she’s pouring us each a shot of tequila, I pick up the shirt and carefully pull it over my head. She hands me a glass and clinks hers against mine. “To monsters and ghosts, and the things that frighten us most.”
I smirk at her toast and swallow down the liquor, a trail of fire burning my throat.
Her apartment is a block away from Park Avenue, so we walk over and slip inside the first bar on the map. A literal map of a three-block radius that tells us which bars are participating. No wonder it starts so early.
Inside the Royal Lion, we meet up with a few of her friends and squeeze through the costumed people to get a drink.
Willow never leaves my side, making sure to introduce me to everyone and keep me in the conversation so I won’t feel left out. I think it’s because she’s trying to make sure I don’t decide to leave after this, but it could also just be because she’s a decent person.
I remember a couple of her friends’ names—Samantha and Cora, and a boyfriend of somebody’s, whose name is BJ. A couple other women whose names I’ve already forgotten hang around us as well, and two other guys who I think Willow said went to school with her, but I don’t recall their names either. Honestly, I’m bad at names, but good with faces.
Conversation flows, transitioning from their friend Emerson, who had a family emergency come up and had to leave, to a hot guy that works out at the only gym in town, to drama about an ex, and everything in between.
Willow leans over to fill me in as it goes.Friend from middle school. I don’t go to the gym, so I don’t know who they’re talking about. Cora’s ex cheated on her with a mutual friend.
It isn’t until we’re at the second bar that one of the guys in our group starts talking to me. I believe his name is Jason. Or maybe I made that up because he’s dressed as Jason.
“You didn’t grow up here, did you?”
“No. I’m guessing you did.”
He grins. “Yeah. It’s one of those places. You get stuck here. What made you choose this town?”
I shrug. “Seemed nice and quiet. Safe.”
He nods, taking a sip from his beer. “Yeah, it’s usually that. There’s a few things here and there.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, thinking about Kaspian and his victims. I wonder if he’s talking about missing women.
“Yeah. Anyway, so are you and Willow dating?” he says, moving on fast.
“No. We work together.”
He gives me a sly grin, like he doesn’t believe me. “I see.”
I shake my head. “It’s not like that.”
“Okay,” he says with a smile, and in a tone that lets me know he isn’t buying it.
