Page 40 of Bitten By Desire
I nodded.
“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see. We still have to have our first official date.” He leaned down and kissed me again.
I looped my hands behind his neck. “Surely this ended up counting. I mean…we did Ferris wheel stuff.”
He laughed. “Yeah, it counted. But I’m excited for it to be just us next time. Are we still good for lunch on Monday?”
“When do you want me to stop by?”
“Noon?”
“That’ll be perfect.” I smiled up at him.
“And you swear you won’t go anywhere near Theo Gold or Callum or whoever he is again unless you’re with me?”
It was the second time he’d brought this up. I’d already said okay. But the way his eyes darted to my neck made me nervous. “You don’t actually think Callum would hurt me?”
“Like I said, I didn’t like the way he looked at you. And that maze was a crime scene. The only other person you ran into in there was him.”
“Are you implying that Callum ripped someone’s hand off in the middle of a maze?” Just saying it out loud made my heart race. I really should have mentioned seeing someone else in there to Officer Davis. And Callum had seemed different. Angry. Violent. I reached up and touched the side of my neck, remembering ten years ago when he’d left me with the biggest hickey ever.
“I’m just saying that he’s dangerous, Emma.”
At first, Bennett had acted like he didn’t know Callum. But now it kind of seemed like he did. I was just about to ask him about it when the front door opened.
“Um…you guys?” Zoey said. Her face was ghostly pale. “Officer Davis just called. He found the hand. And…that wasn’t all.”
Chapter 12
Sunday
I woke up gasping for air. I grabbed the side of my neck, expecting my hand to be wet with blood.
Zoey sat up with a start.
We’d fallen asleep on the couch watching the local news and the coverage about the maze.
She stared at me wide-eyed. “Are you okay?” she asked.
I shook my head. I knew it was just a nightmare, but it had felt so real. I pulled my hand away from my neck. It was perfectly dry.
“What happened?”
“Nothing, it was just a dream.” I tried to steady my breath. But it felt so real. And I had this sick feeling in my stomach that something really terrible would have happened to me last night if Bennett hadn’t found me in the maze.
“You look terrified. What were you dreaming of?”
“Callum.”
“Callum doing what exactly?”
“That he cornered me in the maze. And that he looked…off. Kind of crazed.” That part had actually happened. It was the rest that was a disturbing dream. “And that he leaned down and bit my neck. Draining me of blood and leaving me for dead.”
“What the fuck?” She looked as shaken as me. “You mean…like a vampire?”
“Yeah. Exactly like that.” My breathing was still uneven and I couldn’t calm down. “I’m sure it was just because we were watching the news last night as we fell asleep. And all those people were dressed up in costumes at the Fall Festival. I know I saw a kid dressed as a vampire. That must have caused it.”
“You saw a child dressed as a vampire so you had a nightmare that Callum sucked your blood?” She stared at me. “What else happened in that maze, Emma?”
