Page 22 of Hot Ghoul Summer

“I know she’s a special project of yours.”

“I have to be there.”

“But what about your houseguest? I don’t think I should babysit for you again.” Sera jerks her chin toward the upstairs windows.

I agree. I don’t even know if I should let her dog-sit at this rate, either.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Toby—”

“I said, I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of everything, Sera. Thanks, love. You’d better go home. Tell your dad I said thanks for sparing you for the night.”

Sera leans forward and touches my forehead with her lips. “Please be okay.”

I smile up at her. “You’re one of the good ones, Ser.”

Chapter Seven: Seeing is Believing

“Molly? Molly, please wake up and drink something. Or eat? The fridge is absolutely stuffed with strawberries and chocolate hazelnut spread, so that must mean you like it because I’m a Jaffa Cakes man, m’self.”

I keep my eyes shut but speak, mumbling through dry lips. “This is what the sick ones do. They let you run, then they catch you. They almost kill you, then they try to coax you into trusting them. I’m not going to trust you.”

“Bloody hell. Fine, I’ll eat the hazelnut stuff.”

I crack open an eye and watch Toby eat, grimacing as he swallows. “That’s foul. Americans always putting nuts where they don’t belong. Peanut butter in chocolate! That’s an American thing, too. Orange goes in chocolate. Or a nice raspberry cream.”

Eyes shut, I shake my head. It’s... So sincere.

He’s really good at being bad.

That doesn’t excite me, but I think of Haley, my college roommate during junior year. She gobbled up dark romances with mafia hitmen and stalkers. She had more books than clothes in her minuscule closet. There was something thrilling to her about the idea of a dark, possessive guy who would throw caution to the wind and a woman over his shoulder or into his limo.

Well, Toby does have a beachfront mansion.

He’s also decidedly not human.

“Is this fun for you? Is that it? You catch humans to play with? What happens when you get bored? Do you find a new human to catch?”

There’s silence. “Molly, if you get up and eat something and take care of yourself, you can come with me when I leave the house today. I have to show you something, but you won’t like it.”

“It’s not Gary’s head on a stick or something, is it?” I rasp, the edge of a whimper in my voice.

It doesn’t make me feel better that he takes a long time to answer. “No.”

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