Page 65 of One Life to Loathe

“I don’t know.” I squeezed her hand tightly. “I’m not sure I can stay away from you, though.”

“I know.” She sounded resigned. “I just don’t want to end up hurt.”

“I don’t want you hurt. You have no idea how much I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But?” she prodded.

“But my hormones seem to be waging a war … and you’re the prize.”

“Do you want to win?”

“So much, you have no idea.”

“Yeah.” She made a growling sound in her throat. “I don’t know what to do here, Leo. I feel as if whatever decision we make is going to end up hurting somebody down the line.”

“Aren’t we already hurting?” I was genuinely curious. “I know I am. I feel as if I’m caught in a horror movie.”

“Have you ever done a horror movie?” It wasn’t the smoothest attempt to redirect the conversation, but I gave her credit for it. She was trying to figure things out. I had to give her time to do that.

“No, but it’s on my bucket list. What about you?”

“I would totally do a horror movie.” She let loose a little giggle. “I sometimes practice my scream when nobody is around.”

“Let me hear it.”

“No way.” Sam’s eyes went wide as she glanced around. “There are houses all around us. Do you want the cops to come? They’ll think you’re killing me. I’m just that believable.”

I chuckled and shook my head as we emerged on Essex Street. “What franchise would you want to be in?”

“Oh, good question.” She leaned in closer to me and I inhaled her body spray. Did she have to smell so good? I was like Pavlov’s dog and reacted to her scent whenever I got a whiff of it now. “If I’m being truthful,Friday the 13this my all-time favorite franchise.”

“Really?” I wasn’t expecting that. “I thought you were going to sayScream.”

“Oh, I would totally be in the first or secondScream.That one in New York was good too until everybody started getting stabbed seven times and walking around two minutes later.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, that was ridiculous.”

“I like the idea of the lake and the cabins, though,” she explained. “I like some of theHalloweenmovies, but the atmosphere is just better in theFriday the 13thmovies.”

I could see that. “You would make a good scream queen.” We turned down the street that led to the hotel, and my heart began to pound.

“Thank you. I think I would too.” Her eyes moved to me. “Which franchise would you want to be in?”

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“Would you want to be Leatherface?”

I shook my head. “I would want to be one of the crazy relatives.”

“That makes you creepy. I hope you know that.”

I kept hold of her hand. I had no intention of dropping it. If she dropped mine, then I would have to deal with it. I wanted to see what she would do, though.

She held tight as we walked through the door and headed straight to the elevator. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as the doors slid open and we stepped inside.

There were people in the lobby, but I didn’t look at them. I had no idea if anybody we knew was sitting on the couch and chairs. Frankly, I didn’t care. In this moment, it was just the two of us.

She pressed the button for our floor, and we made the ride to the sixth floor in silence.

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