Page 35 of Unforgivable

Their theme?Hollywood Horror.After avoiding scary slasher films my entire life, I was apparently going to immerse myself in Chucky's dollhouse while Freddy clawed at my balls and Michael Myers ran me into an early grave. If I was lucky, and personal experience assured me I wasn't, I would get in and out with my pants unsoiled, my dignity intact, and be spared any unwanted Callum sightings. I didn't know for sure if the Lacrosse players were involved tonight, but I was pretty confident they'd be there.

I hadn't heard from Cal since our impromptu drink last Fridaynight, and I didn't have the desire to reach out to him. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Our talk had left me with more unanswered questions than it had answered and I couldn't stop thinking about him. My overactive brain replayed our conversation more times than a Nick At Nite marathon and I convinced myself I was slowly going insane worrying over a man who had shown me more than once that I meant nothing to him. No matter the distress he caused me, he was entrenched in my head. It was evidently a character flaw of mine for which there was no cure, but I refused to be the one to break our radio silence.

Fin appeared in my doorway and yanked me from my troublesome thoughts. “Hey! We're going to be late meeting my friends if we don't head out. You are not getting out of this, so don't even try it, Evans.” He shot me a satisfied smile and grabbed my hand to pull me from my room. I quickly lunged for my phone and let him drag me to our front door.

Micah was sitting in our living room watching something on TV with that blank expression that had been there for weeks now. He had been thrown for a loop after expressing his unrequited love for his best friend, and it had dang near sucked the life out of him. I felt like the world's shittiest friend for not trying to talk to him and help him in some way, especially seeing how badly it affected him. I had been too wrapped up in this mess with Cal and my own problems. But that ended right now.

“Can you give me a second? I'll be right there,” I whispered to Fin, nodding my head over to where Micah was so he got the hint. He nodded at me and called out a quick goodbye to Micah, who only acknowledged him with a small wave.

He didn't even look up at me as I approached him, and I might have snapped a little. “Okay, that's it. I can't take it anymore,” I barked out. Micah's head shot up and he gazed at me with wide, empty eyes. “You have gone so far over the edge of pathetic that I can't watch it anymore. I know Bash broke your heart. I am not saying that it doesn't suck because it does. Massively. However, you cannot stop living your life and shutting down just because you can't have the man you want.”

Micah just blinked at me and I saw just the faintest flash of hurt cross his face. It was the first sign of any emotion I'd seen in him in way too long, but I couldn't shut down the irritation building in me. It waslike all the fight I had in me that I couldn't direct at Callum was being unleashed on Micah and I couldn't stop myself.

“You still have him! Bash is still your best friend, and he even begged you to promise that this wouldn't change you guys! Yet all you've done for almost a month is float around like a freaking ghost, and it's not like you! This is notyou, Micah!” My voice was pleading and at that point, I didn't know if I was entirely talking to him or myself. Truth was, I was the one who felt like a ghost of myself since Cal had gotten to me. Everything I had told myself about being stronger and not letting anyone ever hurt me again had been demolished in the wake of his attention.

“I know…I'm really sorry I haven't been myself lately,” Micah said, interrupting the voice in my head. “I just need time to get back to normal and figure things out, you know?”

I didn't know if it was his flat voice feeding me an empty promise or the fact that I had also been lying to myself as he was doing now, but my temper ratcheted up another notch. “Oh, don't even give me that crap, Micah! I know you're just saying what I want to hear. I need you to FEEL something! Anything! Get angry, throw a tantrum, bawl your eyes out, scream until your voice gives out, anything!” I lashed out at him, my pleas echoing everything I had told myself I needed to do to process what was happening with Callum and move on. He only blinked at me, his walls firmly in place and unyielding. I took a deep breath as the adrenaline spike from the last minute crashed down on me.

“Just…feel something and come back to the world again. You can't keep living like this,” I said much calmer than before. I left him with some parting remarks about getting his butt back in gear, but I was barely aware of what I had said. My brain was too chaotic and I had to force myself to get through a literal horror show soon.

I walked out and Fin just shot me a sympathetic smile, apparently having overheard my unfortunate tirade. It took about fifteen minutes to walk over to where the haunted house was set up near the stadium. The crowd was nearly overwhelming for my introverted tendencies, but I had promised Fin I wouldn't chicken out.

Such a brilliant decision you made, you brain-dead boob. Why don't you go jump out of a plane without a parachute? It'd be quicker than putting yourself through this insanity.

Fin was rambling on the phone with one of his friends, trying tofind them in the endless line. Suddenly, a pink-haired girl hopped on Fin's back.

“Oh, fuck-a-doodle-doo!” he shrieked loudly. I let out a snort at his dramatics and he glared at me in a fruitless effort to be intimidating.

“Heya stranger!” the girl laughed, smacking a kiss on his cheek before hopping down. “'Bout damn time you got here! The boys and I suspected you ducked out in a moment of cowardice.”

“Oh please, I'm not the one you have to worry about. Rhysie here is the scaredy cat. I've got ten bucks that says he's the first to scream like a girl,” Fin winked at me, throwing his arm around the bubblegum intruder.

“Excuse me! I'm not the one who squealed like a vulgar rooster just now!” I complained, not really offended because he wasn't wrong. I was a giant baby when it came to being scared. Fin just stuck his tongue out at me and rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. Rhys, this is my bratty friend Aly. Aly, this is my fabulous new friend, Rhys,” Fin introduced me to the smiling girl.

“Nice to meet you! Fin's told me all about you, and I want to humbly apologize for all you've undoubtedly been subjected to. We've tried getting him help, but I fear there's nothing to be done,” Aly said, playfully frowning at me as Fin pinched her side. She dissolved into giggles and steered us to a group of three other guys in line. They were all Fin and Aly’s friends from the dance program, but they were pleasant enough with me to put me at ease.

As we grew closer to the front of the line, my ease dissipated and my nerves cranked into overdrive. I was fully aware of how stupid it was for me to be this worried about a college haunted house, but my mind could only conjure up gruesome scenarios of what I would encounter inside. As we entered, I was assaulted with the acrid, smoky smell from the heavy fog being pumped into the narrow space. The strobe lights were disorienting and I fought to control my breathing as I anticipated the first inevitable jump scare.

I shuffled along with the group at the back, having read somewhere that the actors were told to go for the ones in the middle since that's where the weakest in the herd usually huddled. Right as we turned the first corner, Aly and Fin let out an ear-splitting scream together as a guy in a Jigsaw mask lunged for them. I couldn't even enjoy the satisfaction of them losing the bet before a leering Pinhead popped out of the dark at me as we stumbled further into the next room.

I did my best to block out the shouts, screeches, and yells that echoed throughout the halls as we were frantically moved from room to room by the hordes of bloody and masked actors leaping out of every nook and cranny. My voice was getting hoarse from my own screams and I was internally cursing up a storm at Fin for getting me into this. It felt like we'd been in there forever even though it was realistically only a couple of minutes. Our group had crossed into a room filled with balloons, spiderwebs and a cackling Pennywise who was dancing around Fin and Aly as they crumpled to the floor in a spineless, shrieking heap.

Before I could process anything else, a hand clamped over my mouth and an arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me backwards from the room. My heart dropped into my stomach as my panicked cries were muffled and drowned out in the enveloping noise of the haunted house. I couldn't see anything beyond the flashing lights and foggy cloud hanging in the air. My kidnapper hadn't made a sound and I fought to keep my footing as he forced me through the maze of halls.

My back met a hard wall that was shrouded in darkness, the barest of light and sound reaching us in our secluded area. My eyes locked onto a Jason Voorhees mask while the guy's hand stayed painfully clamped over my mouth. The pounding in my chest was so violent that I was sure he could feel it, and I struggled to take a full breath through my nose. I clawed at his hand, arm, chest, anything I could reach, but it did nothing to deter him. He grasped one of my wrists and pinned it to the wall, the move eerily familiar.

No sooner had I thought that before my masked tormentor removed his hand from my mouth and seized my throat in a firm grip. Instant awareness flooded my system and my heart hammered for a whole new reason. I couldn't see his eyes in the dark behind the battered hockey mask, but I knew without a doubt that if I could I would find one green and one blue.

My terror had ebbed slightly now that I knew I wasn't at risk of being murdered, but my anxiety had yet to come down as I stood immobilized by his hands and daunting presence. Cal slowly released my wrist he had pressed to the wall and slid his hand down my side, teasing every inch until he stopped at the waistband of my jeans.

My breathing was short and choppy as he cupped my length aggressively, drawing out a deep moan from me. His palm moved upand down hardening my erection, and my head grew hazy from all the blood rushing south.

“Cal, wait…” I choked out past the almost tight grip he had on my throat. His movements stilled and we stood frozen for several seconds, tension building between us. I could almost taste the lust in the air between us, thick and potent. It seemed like a lifetime before he grabbed my shoulder roughly and shoved me down, forcing me to my knees. Dark memories tried to pull me under, but they were quickly subdued by the confusing lust clouding my head.

I stared up at him through that hideous mask, stupidly wishing I could see his gorgeous features instead. Blowing Jason Voorhees was not a kink I wanted unlocked, but I couldn't help the sick excitement strumming through me at the thought of tasting Cal.

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