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His words invoke both reactions in me. Whoever hired this guy knew how to bring the sexual tension in supersized doses. I’m not the only one affected. Sitting with a hard thump, Rosemarie’s fanning herself, and this place isn’t warm. Beneath the long sleeves of my hoodie, chill bumps cover my arms.
Ava pushes to her feet. “I need to use your restroom.” Which means she’s nervous. As long as I’ve known her, she bolts for the bathroom any time there’s a test in class or a guy flirting with her in the bar.
Behind the desk, Theo says, “It isn’t safe to wander alone in the house.”
But this is Ava—whom no one tells no. She keeps going. “I’ll be right back, and I can sign then.”
The skin around his eyes pinches like he wants to force her to stay, but reconsiders when she doesn’t miss a step. “No cell phones are permitted inside the premises,” he calls.
She hesitates but puts her pretty bag on a table next to the doors, the brass buckle bouncing with a clink. In a cloud of expensive but classy perfume, she’s gone, and I swallow the instinctive need to call out for her to wait, to take a buddy, not to go off by herself. But it’s not as if we’ve begun the tour. They must have rules in place for not terrifying tourists in the toilet, right?
Theo watches the open double doors as if pausing to see if she screams. Or that’s my fear talking. After a moment, he says, “The rest of you will have to leave your bags as well.”
“Adding to the mystique?” Val asks, tugging random hardbacks on the shelves next to me as though she hopes one will open a secret passage. The bindings all match like the interior decorator ordered red books in bulk.
He shakes his head and his hair falls around his face in shampoo commercial perfection. “Proprietary interests of the Underworld must be guarded to guarantee everyone has an optimal experience.” Sexual tension so thick it clouds the room makes me want to chase after Ava. Not that it stops Val. She’s never met a challenger that she can’t outmaneuver in the innuendo games.
“Afraid we’ll give away your secrets before your big opening?” she asks, staring Theo up and down.
Rosemarie clears her throat, and I damn near hug her for breaking up this pheromone fest. Rubbing her crystals over her heart, in a gesture I hope comes from nerves and not picking up on whatever woo woo vibes I’m missing, she asks, “The waivers you mentioned?”
“Ah, yes.” He gives us an apologetic oops I got distracted by your uber sexy friend gaze and ducks his head a fraction as if chastened. I almost buy his act, except the tiny curve to his lips say he’s enjoying the flirtation.
Theo’s good, but I study everyday expressions and body language like I’m prepping a dissertation in game piece theory. Because the moment I carve a dreamy grin on a warlock out to destroy the world, that’ll be the end of my not-so-lucrative wargaming design career. I clutch my latest Mutter Udder Maniacs miniature in my pocket, a talisman to calm me as much as a reminder that I need to give up my hobby for a real job.
Sliding the tablet across the desk, Theo puts four glowsticks beside it. “To be worn at all times in the house. Your choice of body part.” This guy and his nonstop sex appeal can hit a great big pause button, as far as I’m concerned, but I need to get a closer look at the designs molded into the slim rods. Are those sigils like in my magic games? A spin on Nordic runes? I wish I could snap a photo before he takes away our phones.
Val sneers at the cheap plastic. “You strapping us in LoJack so we won’t steal more of your precious intel?” Not giving him a chance to answer, she snags the tablet and skims whatever’s on the screen. “Theo, I think you screwed up your waivers. This reads more like a kink club menu than a haunted house warning.”
My face flames red, and I scoot closer to Rosemarie in the hope that her constant calm will work on my nerves. Fear, arousal, and general anxiety make for a potent cocktail that I’m not ready to deal with. Wishing we could get the tour over with already, I tighten my grip on the miniature. I’ll name this one Lady Snarl and she can hack and slash anything that comes at me in this creepy mansion.
“I assure you it’s the correct contract,” Theo says smoothly.
“Nope to everything on the list, unless we pick sexy times over scary times.” Propping her hip on the desk, Val slashes her finger over the screen and scrolls. “The rest looks super standard.” If she says so, I trust her. She reads contracts daily for the million-dollar beauty industry she runs with her mother. “Besides, you should know, Theo,” she says his name like a taunting curse, “if the maim and mayhem clause comes into play, you’ll have more than Ava’s mom and her lawsuits to contend with.”
Oh yeah, Val’s mom has connected friends. If anything happens to us, heads rolling won’t be a cliché; it’ll be a bloody reality.
The eternal peacemaker, Rosemarie interrupts. “I’m sure that the company he works for is still tweaking the language.”
I say nothing. Contracts scare the hell out of me. Skipping to the end of the mile-long terms of agreement that my phone gives me with each upgrade? That’s my avoidance method.
As if reading my mind, Val nods at us. “Probably made this as part of the psychological game, to unsettle us before the tour.” She signs with a sweep and twist of her finger. “You two good to sign?”
Rosemarie and I agree, each trailing our fingertips over the lines above our typed names. I’ll say yes to whatever will get us out of here faster.
“There.” Val presents the tablet like she’s throwing down a challenge. “You got a lockbox for our stuff?”
I hadn’t even thought of that.
“Here.” Theo opens a compartment in the bookcase. What else is hidden in those shelves?
Val doesn’t gawk and hesitate like I do. She gathers our phones and Ava’s purse, drops everything inside, and then takes the key. “I’ll keep it close. Cool?” As if we would object. She hikes her foot onto the desk and straps her glowstick around her ankle—because of course she does—before tossing two others to us. Only Ava’s remains.
The sigils etched into the glowsticks don’t look like those from any game I’ve played, and I have played them all. These have the feel of runes, the cut of a famous dice game, and just enough weirdness to make me wish I could study them for the Maniacs design that I’m working on. I fumble with mine for a moment, and Rosemarie saves me by snapping it around my wrist with graceful fingers. While hers looks like just another bracelet, mine digs into my skin a little.
Theo comes toward me, easy grace despite the lethal edge to his swagger. “We’ll start with Meg.”
“Nuh uh.” Rosemarie grips my hand. “We go together.”
