Page 53 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Alice got to me first, cackling behind me.

A shot rang out, and I ducked to the floor. Nate jumped up to his feet, cracking his neck as he sauntered over to me with his gun aimed at my head. “What did I say about running?”

“Nate, please,” I pleaded, backing away from Harper and Alice. “Please, stop.”

Cocking the gun, he shouldered through them and pressed it to my forehead. “We can stop this any time you want. You just need to step out from the shadows. Stop hiding in here.” He dug the gun into my head. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Harper and Alice stepped up beside me, grabbed my arms, and steered me back to the table. Defeated, I dropped to my knees and peered at Lily, who refused to meet my gaze.

“Here…” Evelyn handed me the rolled-up piece of paper. “The drugs will make you feel better. We’re only trying to help you.”

The cold metal of Nate’s gun dug into the back of my head as he crouched down behind me and slid my hair from my shoulder, his warm lips brushing up against my ear. “The wolf is hunting you. Come out, come out, Skyler.”

Leaning over, I obediently snorted the line. My eyes watered, and the tears fell onto the table while I stayed hidden beneath a curtain of my hair.

“Good girl. It’ll all feel better soon.” Nate’s voice rumbled in the air. The music had fallen silent, and now we danced to the haunting beat of my defeated heart.

“Didn’t you say you would rather stay hidden in the shadows than face reality?” he asked, using the gun to part my long hair. His breath wafted over my skin, and the press of lips against the curve of my neck sent violent shivers tingling along each vertebra.

“Yes,” I admitted.

The drugs coursing through my veins turned my world into a hazy bliss.

“The wolf will find you sooner or later.”

“But not today.”

Nate palmed the back of my neck and applied pressure until my heated cheek met the perfect lines of cocaine on the table. I stayed silent while he trailed the gun down the curve of my ass.

“You can end this nightmare, Skyler. Stop hiding from the wolf.”

“I don’t want to.”

He flipped my skirt up, dragging the gun between my ass cheeks until it rested against my folds. “Is this what you want?”

Alice walked around me, climbed onto the coffee table, and lay down. Chin propped on her hands, she stared into my glassy eyes. “Who’s gonna be next?”

“What?” I whispered, then gasped when Nate inched the gun inside me, stretching me slowly, with his big hand on my lower back to hold me in place.

Alice blew on my lips, her eyes sparkling with amusement when I whimpered. “Who’s next?”

I didn’t know what she meant, so I closed my eyes.

Nate fucked me nice and slow and deep with the gun. It didn’t matter that they all watched me. That Harper stood beside me, scraping her sharp nails over my scalp, or that Alice blew on my lips with her minty breath laced with the distinctive scent of alcohol.

My breathing hitched as my pussy clenched around the gun. Nate kissed the side of my neck and jaw, whispering twisted praise.

As I came around the weapon and cried out, Alice cupped my jaw and leaned in for a kiss, sealing her own fate. Her soft tongue tangled with mine and stole the whimpers from my lips. She nibbled and tasted every lie I had ever told and every fear I had ever suppressed.

“Who’s next?” Nate whispered into my ear, his seductive voice coiling around my heart.

“Alice.”

His lips curved into a smile against my neck, and he replied, “Good choice,” as he slid the gun out from inside me.

I rolled my face and pressed my cheek to the cold wood.

Stepping around me, he ordered Alice to open her mouth.

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