Page 77 of Haunted Prey

“Why don’t you be a good girl and bend over that table for me?”

His voice was rough, hungry. It made me shiver while also making me burn hotter. I raised my brows, shocked at his bluntness. My eyes drifted to the table near the mirror before turning back to him. “What if I don’t want to be good?”

“That’s okay,” he said, low and grating. “I can work with that too. Either way, you’re getting put on that table. And that couch,and the bed, maybe the floor too, we’ll figure out the order as we go.”

I bit my lip trying to hide the little smile growing on my face. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

His laughter made my heart leap to my throat. It was so wicked as was the smile he gave me. “Oh, Evee, baby, we both know that won’t be an issue.”

He took a step toward me, and I slid to the other side of the window. “You’ve waited for this.”

“More than anything,” he said. “I’ve prayed for this every night. And now I might actually believe in a god.”

I inched across the wall, “I think I at least deserve a head start,” I said.

He laughed again. “Sure. Go ahead and hide. I know you’re really good at that. But I will find you quicker this time. I think a thirty-second head start is enough, don’t you?”

I nodded, then gave him a devious little smile of my own. “You want this…” I shrugged off the jacket, letting it fall to the ground. I curled my fingers under the skirt of my dress and lifted it up, revealing nothing else underneath. “You’ll have to find me.”

His expression changed into something I could hardly describe, but it left me breathless and terrified at its intensity.

“When I find you, I’m going to tear that dress in half and make you scream for me, Evee.”

It sounded like a promise.

He turned away, putting his back to me. “Thirty seconds.”

I dropped my skirt and unlatched from the wall, watching him while I snuck around the couch. There was another door leading out to the hallway next to the bed. I didn’t think he locked that one yet, but I couldn’t be sure.

I didn’t let my eyes off him as I made for the door and tried the knob. The door opened as I turned it and, with one last glance at him, I slipped out into the hallway.

Standing there, I realized there were few places to hide. Not unless I wanted to go back downstairs. Before I decided on that, I tried another door beside the one I’d exited.

Just a closet.

I went for the stairs. As I grabbed the splintered door, I stopped and noticed behind it was another door hiding at the other end of the passage. Thinking quickly, I pulled the broken door aside and tried the new one.

In the faint light, I spotted another set of stairs leading upward. Without hesitation, I propped the splintered door back in place to conceal the staircase. Slipping through, I climbed the first step and carefully closed the door behind me.

There was no lock, but I knew that wouldn’t keep Emery out anyway. It didn’t matter. I hurried up the stairs, flight after flight, until I reached a room at the very top.

It was a narrow attic, with a row of slender, arched windows lining the left side.

Someone was standing by one of these windows.

I almost screamed. I slapped a hand across my mouth to stifle what little did come out, gulping the rest down.

The figure didn’t move. I stared at them, waiting to see them move. Only when I looked closer did I see the wings at their back and the stone-like skin.

I sighed with relief.

A statue, just a statue.

I looked down the stairs, my pulse pounding in my ears. Shit, how long had it been already? I might only have seconds left.

I beelined into the room and searched around. There were several things I could hide behind up here. Crates, old furniture, bookshelves.

I heard a creak downstairs and nearly jumped out of my skin.

---