Page 78 of Hunt for You

“I didn’t say she didn’t enjoy it. I said she didn’theal.Now the next time she wants that because it felt good, she doesn’t have any way to process the fact that it’s also connected to the memory that fucks her up. This isn’t facing fears, it’s twisting trauma. In the long run—”

“Get out,” he snarled, turning away to start towards the stairs. “I’ve got another show in an hour and I need to eat.”

I launched myself out of the seat and down the opposite aisle, rushing so I’d be ahead of him.

“Coward,” he muttered, just as I reached the entrance to the hallway that would take me out of that place.

I stopped dead, pissed with myself for flinching at the barb, but I turned and frowned at him.

“I’mthe coward?” I challenged, aware that I was slowly inching back along that hallway, every instinct screaming at me to get away from this guy.

“You heard me.”

“You’reliterallyplaying on people’s fear to make them admire you.”

His expression went dark and he started towards me. “You’re an idiot if you think I didn’t help those bitches break through fear. You saw—”

“I saw you push them past their boundaries—”

“Which they agreed to!”

“—but do absolutelynothingto help them beat the reason they were afraid in the first place.”

“I’m not a fucking therapist.”

“No. You aren’t.”

Neither was I. But I was regurgitating things Gerald had confronted me about in my own behavior. He would have been proud of me, I thought.

“Goodbye, Bridget,” he growled, stopping at the edge of the hallway, scowling.

“Goodbye, Sid.”

“Don’t try to come back, I’m adding your name to the banned list.”

“Now who’s the coward?” I snapped, then turned on my heel. It took everything in my body not toflee.To make myself stay at a walking pace. Ears perked, heightened senses, everything aware, listening, waiting for movement behind me, or the rush of air, or pounding footsteps… until I reached the very normal looking door and clasped the cool metal of the handle, pushed it down and stepped out into the blood red lounge ofVigorí.

My heart wasslammingin my chest.

But no one came after me as I darted through the space and towards the exit.

I’d had enough thrill for tonight.

27. Into the Night

~ BRIDGET ~

I hurried through the lounge, ignored by most—people wearing cloaks and moving quickly wasn’t really noteworthy in this place. Plus, with Ronald’s den having just emptied and some of the other shows finishing at similar times, there were a lot of people milling around trying to figure out what they were going to do next. I knew it was sometime between seven and eight—there were no clocks here and I didn’t want to stop to dig my phone out to be sure. But Ronald had another show at eight, so it was earlier than that.

Valerie had told me in the past that this was when the night started to pick up. But it wouldn’t be until the ten and eleven o’clock shows that the crowds would arrive. Those were the most popular, any day of the week.

I was just grateful that there were a lot more bodies around now, and that none of them cared enough to stop me or enquire why I wasfleeinga den.

Mainly because I wouldn’t have known what to say.

Nothing had gone wrong. I hadn’t been threatened—frankly, I would have enjoyed it more if Ronald had come at me. But he didn’t.

So I didn’t know why I was feelingsoexposed andsouncomfortable. I’d been looking forward to coming here, and even though Ronald’s “show” hadn’t been what I expected, it also wasn’t traumatic.

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