Page 30 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Lowering his hand, Nate blew out a cloud of smoke before he dipped his head and looked up at me through his dark lashes. His face had been painted white to look like a skeleton, and when he brought the cigarette back to his lips and took another drag, the sharp contrast of the black lines on his lips shifted.

My mouth went dry as his eyes stayed locked on mine, intense, dark. Lewis slapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and Nate finally freed me from his prison as he tore his gaze away.

I stayed staring at him with the tip of my nose pressing up against the steamed glass, my nipples hardening inside my bra.

Evelyn approached me from behind, her delicate hand trailing up the small of my waist as she whispered in my ear, “He’s dangerous, Skyler.”

The aura of danger that clung to him like a swirling fog was part of the allure. It’s what drew me closer. Fear loved to play hide-and-seek with danger, and to lure it out from the shadows before sprinting down the deserted, trodden path in the woods, hoping to be chased.

That was me now, shivering beneath Evelyn’s ghosting touch while watching the devil himself hide beneath that skeleton mask. There was no reasoning. We were two broken monsters, dancing around each other to see who would crack first.

I walked away from Evelyn, reached for my bag by the bed, and placed it on the mattress before unzipping it and pulling out the gun hidden inside the storage pocket.

Evelyn dragged in a sharp breath to my left.

If Nate could threaten me with weapons, I sure as hell could do the same to him.

“Why did you bring a gun?” she whispered, her voice trembling with shock as I cocked it.

With a careless shrug, I bent over and tucked the weapon into the holster tied to my thigh.

Evelyn choked on air. Her eyes were wide, and she stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind. She’d be right. I could feel reality slipping from my fingers the longer I breathed in the musty, stifling air in this derelict house.

As I straightened back up, the black skirt fell back into place to kiss the skin of my upper thighs.

The red paint on her chin and throat looked hauntingly grotesque, and her fake fangs gleamed in the dim light when she watched me walk out.

“Skyler,” she called out, but I didn’t stop.

“Let’s party.”

The countless candles dotted around the room flickered as our only light. Lewis had failed to find a spare bulb, but Alice and Harper had brought enough candles to open a store. I didn’t question it. Not when I had a bottle of beer in one hand and a pill resting on my palm.

I stared at the wolf motif for an endlessly long moment before tossing it back and taking a large gulp of beer. The lukewarm alcohol slid down my throat, and I leaned back against the couch and let my eyes drift closed.

Harper sat on Lewis’s lap on the armchair across from me. Max lay on the floor, smoking a cigarette, with one leg pulled up and one arm resting behind his head.

Relaxed, he stared up at the roof, tapping his foot to the tinny beat of “The Death of Peace of Mind” by Bad Omens coming from his phone on the coffee table.

I sat squashed between Lily and Evelyn, slowly falling deeper into a blissful, drugged-up state.

Seated on Nate’s lap in the second armchair, Alice giggled softly. I tuned it out, humming along to the lyrics. Nothing could touch me now. Not when I was this high.

But then something occurred to me and I lifted my head, shaking it to clear the haze. “Where’s Dustin?”

Lewis broke away from Harper’s mouth, rolling his head against the back of the armchair.

Pink lipstick smeared his lips, and his ruffled hair stuck up in all directions, courtesy of Harper’s wandering hands. “He’s around.”

Max laughed on the floor, his chuckles growing in volume and taking on a crazed quality. No one else seemed to notice or care.

My eyes found Nate, who stared at me while Alice made out with him, smearing his face paint like she was on a mission to fuck him in front of us.

“The hell?” I croaked, looking between them all. “Does no one know where he is?”

“He said he was coming,” Lily answered, reaching forward to grab another beer from the coffee table.

“So he’s not here?”

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