Page 41 of The Facade

“Oh, okay. Thank you,” Elyse said. And from the somewhat surprised expression on her face, I realized this was probably one of the first times Mack had referred to his dad as her dad, too.

Mack went to stand by Hunter and Nash who were at the back of the group behind Carter and Ava.

And seeing that everyone was here now, Ben suggested that the family between our two groups of friends move ahead of us so that we could all be together in one big group.

The line slowly inched forward as small groups of haunted-house goers handed their tickets over and went through the front door. Soon we were on the large front porch, getting ready to go inside.

“Wanna be my buddy?” Ben offered when it was our turn. “That way we can keep each other from getting kidnapped by Mr. Richardson’s ghost.”

“S-sure,” I stuttered, caught off guard by his offer. “That would be great.”

12

Mack

“Doyou think we should be worried about Cambrielle?” I asked Carter and Ava. We were sitting at a picnic table behind the Richardson mansion and had been waiting for her and Ben to show.

“Just give her another minute, and if they don’t show we’ll send out the search party,” Carter said, not nearly as concerned about his sister’s well-being as I thought he should be.

Wasn’t he the one who was usually bent out of shape anytime a guy so much as hinted at taking his sister out?

But then again, he and Ava were currently cuddled up together on the bench beside me, so of course he wasn’t worried about anything.

I looked back at the mansion’s back door where we’d exited about ten minutes ago.

Had they gotten lost in there? It was a big house with about fifteen different rooms.

I’d kept a close eye on Cambrielle and Ben for most of our walk through, since her brothers had been too busy flirting with Ava and Elyse to notice the way Ben had slipped his arm around her waist and was getting much too friendly with her for my liking.

They’d only just talked for the first time this week. Was it too much to ask that Ben hold off on the PDA for a while?

I mean, sure, his arm had only been around her waist, but her waist was very close to her butt. With the booty jeans she was wearing tonight, I knew all too well how tempting it would be for him to just casually slip his hand into her back pocket.

I pushed the image away. I didn’t need to imagine Ben getting all touchy-feely with the girl whom I’d considered my honorary sister for over a decade.

I scanned the windows on the second floor, wondering which room I’d last seen them in. I’d been with them when we walked into the room with the volunteers dressed up as Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, but then Frankenstein’s Bride had jumped out of a closet with a chainsaw and the whole room had turned into chaos.

I’d assumed we were close to the end and that we’d all just catch up when we got outside, but what if something had happened to them?

Ben wouldn’t take advantage of Cambrielle, would he?

He didn’t necessarily seem like a creep or anything, but you never knew. Serial killers were usually able to commit multiple crimes because of how friendly and charming they came off.

Cambrielle was tiny compared to Ben. If he did have dark motives, she’d be no match for his strength and size.

My leg bounced as I looked at the time on my watch. I was pretty sure we’d come out just before nine and it was already nine-thirteen.

Had Frankenstein’s Bride offed them with the chainsaw?

I was just about to call Cambrielle’s phone when she suddenly appeared at the exit. But instead of walking to where our group was waiting for her, she bolted to the side of the house and started running down the hill.

What the heck?

I jumped up from my seat and chased after her. “Cambrielle!” I called, jogging down the path that led down the side of the house. “Cambrielle, wait!”

Either she didn’t hear me or she was ignoring me, but she didn’t stop. She just kept running down the grass lawn toward the road.

Had she gotten scared by something in the house and was just trying to put distance between herself and whatever monsters she’d come across?

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