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Her brow furrows with distrust. “I’m not your friend.”
“You can be.”
Her gaze flickers to the staircase. “I don’t know…”
I grab her hand and drag her toward the stairs. “Come on,” I say reassuringly, looking back to make sure she’s following.
She doesn’t want to.
She looks over her shoulder and around at all the people as if hoping one of them might save her from me.
They won’t.
I’m no Tin Man.
Tension tugs at me until she reluctantly puts her first foot on the step.
Then a sense of victory fills me.
She thinks we’re going to explore a room built for escaping, but I know there’ll be no escape for her.
Chapter Three
Sophie
He just wants to show me some cool, themed escape room set up for the party. That’s all.
That’s what I tell myself as Silvan hauls me up the stairs.
I hope and pray it’s true.
My instincts scream at me that it isn’t, that I’m a fool for even momentarily believing there might be an escape room, but then I think it’s a little conceited to imagine he’s doing all this work to lure me upstairs for some nefarious purpose when I’m sure he has his pick of girls at this party.
I have eyes, and I can see for myself that Silvan is incredibly attractive—especially in that costume—but I’ve also periodically glanced in his direction and noticed other girls in the room watchinghimthe way he was watchingme.
“If we’re not supposed to go to the escape room until later, won’t we get in trouble for going up there now?”
Silvan shakes his head. “It’s my escape room. I’ll go through it whenever I want to.”
Sohe’sthe host of this party.
I guess that makes sense.
I don’t know why it makes me even more nervous. I guess the notion that there’s someone here whose authority is above his made me feel safer, but now I know there isn’t.
It’shishouse,hisparty, and he’ll do whathewants.
When we reach the top of the stairs, a fresh rush of apprehension fills me.
“I’ve never done an escape room before,” I say, sure that the best thing I can do is turn around and go back downstairs. To flee this party like the Tin Man fled this guy’s presence, if for slightly different reasons.
I can’t shake the feeling thatImight be in danger, too.
“You’re in luck,” he tells me. “I have.”
His tone is light and playful, but I can’t shake the instinct that I’m walking into a trap.
“And it’ll just be the two of us? Isn’t there supposed to be someone outside who… I don’t know, operates the thing and lets us out?”
