Page 28 of Still Beating

“Almost got it.”

Click.

The lock slips loose and Dean shoots me a victorious wink. “You were saying?”

I crinkle my nose and shuffle past him. Brandon guides me forward with his hand on the small of my back.

“This is wicked,” Brandon declares, shining the flashlight on his phone into the darkened entryway. He leans down and kisses the space between my neck and shoulder. “Scared, baby?”

I shiver.

From the kiss—not from the mental image of fifty-thousand spiders scattering into hiding, waiting for us to fall asleep so they can crawl into our eardrums and build villages.

“I’m not scared. Just cold,” I lie.

I suck at lying, so Brandon spins me around and pulls me in for a quick kiss. “It’s okay to be scared. That’s why it’s fun.”

Dean sneaks up beside us, waggling his stupid eyebrows. “Yeah, it’s fun, Corabelle. You’ve read about fun in your books, right?”

“Wait. You know what books are?”

Mandy swats me on the arm, swaying her bleached blonde hair from side to side. “I was worried about the demonic spirits living in the walls taking us out, but I’m pretty sure you and Dean will end up killing each other first.”

I shrug.

She’s probably right.

Something tickles the back of my neck, and I’m pretty sure it’s a wolf spider or that demon fromParanormal Activitybreathing on me.

I swat at my neck, then swing my head back and forth as goosebumps cover me from head to toe. Yuck. When I glance down to finish unrolling my sleeping bag, I see three huge, hairy spiders pop out of the cotton material, ready to suck my soul.

I scream.

Loud.

Then I feel another tickle on my neck and I jump to my feet, stomping my legs, shaking my arms, my hair, my clothes. I kick the sleeping bag with a shaky foot and back away, ramming right into a hard body. I scream again.

Familiar laughter assaults my ears.

I fly around and spot the feather in his hand, then immediately begin pummeling his chest with furious fists. “You asshole!” I shout, my heart spazzing out beneath my hoodie. “I hate you!”

Dean grabs my wrists, putting a quick end to my attack. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hate you more.”

My chest is still heaving as I narrow my eyes at him. “No, you don’t. There’s no possible way you could hate me more than I hate you.” I yank my arms free.

He doesn’t respond to that. He knows I’m right.

Dean’s smile is broad and devilish. “You didn’t like the spiders?”

I twist my head around to look at the hideous fiends, only to realize they are, indeed, fake.

Jerk, jerk, jerk.

I turn back to glare at him, and he throws his hands up. “You make it too easy for me, Corabelle.”

I don’t spare him another glance as I storm away to join Brandon in exploring the second floor. I’ll get him back later.

That’s a promise.

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