Page 198 of The Invite
“August,” Nessa utters in confusion when I stop before the coatrack. An astonished gasp slips from her when I press a tiny button on the side, filling the space with a whirring noise. The entire shelf opens backward, presenting the hidden staircase behind it. I take a step, which triggers the motion detector, and in a split second, light bathes the entire area.
“Wow… I can’t believe this,” she mumbles in awe.
It turns into dread when I tug her to follow me. I glance back to find her eyeing the dozens of steps with alarm. “You can do this,” I encourage.
After several breaths, she tightens her grip on my hand and confidently enters the doorway. A noticeable tremor rocks her entire body the deeper we go.
“Which subject would you teach if you could decide?” I ask to distract her.
Peeking at me, she replies, “Math or physics.”
I should’ve guessed. She did say she skipped two grades. It piques my interest. “Why did you pick teaching?”
The job feels beneath her, considering her intelligence.
“It was the only job available here.”
The more we talk, the less tense she becomes. So, I keep talking as we near the bottom step. “Why did you move to Fallthorne?”
“I wanted the opposite of where I grew up,” she murmurs. “I wanted peace.”
Yet she found anything but that.
I vow to change it.
At the landing, we halt in front of a set of double doors. I thrust it open before Nessa’s nerves can spike. As we traipse inside, my attention is on her as she studies the cavernous room with wide and curious eyes.
Not a shadow of fear in their depths.
I smile that she’s not thinking of running as she steps farther after dropping my hand. Probably because this room doesn’t indicate it’s a basement. She’s one of the handful of people who knows of its existence in my house.
I shouldn’t brought her straight here. Now that I know her story, I’ll be extra careful of the potential things that can trigger her.
“Is this where you…”
“Record my videos? Yes,” I finish her sentence as she trails off. “Told you, you had nothing to be afraid of, little prey.”
CHAPTER – 50
Nessa
Augustus didn’t lie.
This is nothing like the seedy basement or dungeon I was picturing. I won’t lie, I was a ball of nerves as we came down the ancient circular staircase. Augustus’s solid presence gave me the strength to push past my bubbling anxiety.
One glance and I know this studio-slash-man-cave belongs to Augustus.
This is just as swanky and lavish as his bedroom. In fact, this space fits his personality more than the room upstairs.
There’s no room for bad memories to enter my mind as I become mesmerized by my surroundings.
A thrill courses through my veins as I stare at the various high-tech equipment in one corner. The expensive desktop and cameras sitting on a desk with a gamer chair in front of it. Tothe side, there are two ring lights attached to a tripod, meant to capture scenes from different angles.
What steals my breath away is the wide array of masks attached to the hooks on one wall. Scary, sexy, and gritty. A flashback comes of the first night Augustus broke into my house wearing the red skull mask and how hard I came staring right at it.
Beside it is the ski mask from the second night. It stirs a wicked throb between my legs, which I pointedly ignore.
Walking farther, I twirl on the spot as I take in the dark gray walls. The pool table and a set of comfy beanbags sitting in another corner.
