Page 27 of Dirty Tricks

Apart from me, Vonnie, and Jenna, there’s also a small crowd of his usual mates nearby, all wearing the same red masks. All identical.

One of them will be Todd.

I don’t want to go anywhere with him or my boyfriend.

Myex-boyfriend. Which he will be as soon as I find the guts to tell him.

The brief thought flashes that this isn’t my problem. I can head back inside the party, find a seat somewhere, and wait for Xander to finish his urgent business.

By the time he gets back, the party will be winding down. We might have the dance floor to ourselves. We could sway and dip and spin around in each other’s arms, not caring what anybody else thinks.

But Finn grabs my arm like he senses I’m plotting an escape. He drags me farther into the parking lot, the others trailing us, giving a yelp of pleasure when he sees a bus unattended.

“Get on board,” he says, giving me a smack on my rear. “I know a far better party than this suck-arse affair.”

Todd pushes his mask off his face, the reveal adding another layer of dread as he finger-combs his sandy hair back from his forehead. “Why didn’t you say earlier? This whole thing is lame.”

“I’m staying,” I say, backing towards the marquee entrance, the bouncer not paying the slightest attention to me, still glaring at Finn for whatever insults came his way before I joined them.

I skirt around the others, trying to work out a plan but Jenna takes my right hand, dragging me closer and Vonnie pushes me from behind, excited by the prospect of breaking the rules.

“You don’t have the keys to the bus,” I whisper, not wanting to defy Finn openly.

He taps the side of his nose. “Yeah, I do. There’s nothing that happens in this place that gets past me.”

My body freezes, interpreting every word as a threat.

Does he mean he knows what just happened between me and Xander?

Worse. Did he engineer the scenario? Is this entire dream night going to turn out to be a dirty trick? Has he somehow worked out I’ve been cheating on him in my dreams and is now set to take his revenge?

Tonight wasn’t in your dreams. You’ve still got the imprint of Xander’s cock between your legs.

And his cum.

My face flushes crimson with guilt.

Finn walks closer, his back to the others. “Want to see the part of my costume that took the longest to source?” he asks, his voice carefully pitched so it won’t carry.

I shake my head, but he isn’t really asking. He’s never really asking.

He opens his jacket and pulls a pistol from the inside pocket. My mouth goes dry.

It doesn’t feel like show and tell.

It feels like a threat.

I swallow sawdust in a throat made from sandpaper. Given the malevolent glint in Finn’s eyes, even without the weapon he’ll happily drag me on board, kicking and screaming, if I resist.

My head slumps in surrender as I fall into step behind my jostling friends and mount the bus steps. We spread across the front seats while more people spill through the door. Most of the boys wear the red masks. Our trio are the only girls.

“Everybody set?” Finn calls out to a responding roar. He turns and winks at Todd who’s in the seat behind Jenna. Then he winks at me.

I press a hand to my stomach and manufacture a smile. Whatever he has planned, it’ll soon be over.

It’s just a party. Hardly a reason for a panic attack.

Finn presses a combination into a keypad attached to the dashboard and the engine rumbles into life.

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