Page 2 of Mask & Strap
“Your disguises have you sorted into your roles. Now, listen closely for the rules of this wicked endeavor.”
My heart jumped into my throat. This wasn’t just an average, somewhat illegal, Halloween party. This was… this was…
“One: Everyone keeps their masks on at all times. No exceptions.
Two: If you’re caught, you’re got.
Three: No one speaks a word of this night to anyone — ever.
Now… prepare to run to the finish as fast as you can.”
The crowd stirred, people separating, and drifting into the shadows. What once was a mass unit of bodies now dispersed, clearing the area as folks ducked behind rides and fought to conceal their whereabouts.
“Ready?” the announcer asked, and my chest constricted. Suddenly I felt exposed — too exposed. “Set… GO!”
A gunshot rang out, and the maniacal melody of cackling laughter peppered the surrounding fog. I imagined this is what a hare felt surrounded by a pack of hungry hyenas. Two figures leapt from behind a run-down game stand. One tall person in a red hockey mask, another shorter and sporting a scarecrow mask. My shoulders tensed, and I felt my knees buckle in fear as I held onto the side of the bench. The hockey masked figure let out a muffled laugh before pointing to my high-heeled feet. “Easy,” they muttered to their friend.
“She’s just asking for it, isn’t she?” The smaller one replied as they stalked forward.
A girl screamed in the distance.
Then another.
My mouth dried as I fought with my brain, begging my body to move.
With a quick glance over my shoulder at the fun house, I pushed off the bench, breaking into an unsteady run towards the open clown mouth. My pursuants chuckled in my wake as the sounds of their footfalls haunted the click-clack of my pumps. Bounding into the mouth of the faded clown, I stopped short at arow of wavy mirrors. My distorted frame gawked back at me, my cat ear mask clinging against the upper half of my face in sweat, my skirt feeling way too short, my boobs almost hanging out of my tank top. I made a sharp left as the echo of laughter sounded behind me.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” someone called, chilling my bones. What would happen if they caught me? I didn’t want to wait around and find out. I needed to hide. If I could hide somewhere, I could wait this thing out… whatever this thing was.
Someone shouted, “Split up! You go left and I’ll go right.”
My body trembled as every tap of my heels sounded too loud, my panting breath giving me away as I tripped forward, frantic in my escape efforts. Suddenly, as I rounded a corner, a hand wrapped around my mouth and yanked me backwards into darkness.
A scream muffled from my throat as my back landed against someone’s hard chest.
“Shh…” their grip tighter around my mouth. “It’s me or them. Which would you like, Little Birdie?”
Footsteps approached, and long figures appeared in the distorted funhouse mirrors. “Come out, come out, stray kitten. We just want to pet you.”
My body recoiled and pressed harder into my captor on instinct. A dark chuckle answered in my ear. “Good girl.”
Maybe it was the warmth of their hard body against mine or the heat of my breath against their palm, but thatgood girlsent all the fire in my body straight to my center.
“You’re trembling.” Soft lips brushed against my earlobe. “What can I do to calm you down, little bird?” The stranger’s free hand pressed against my ribs, and it’s then that I felt their breasts against my shoulder blades. In a moment of courage, I turned my head, and to my surprise, keeping their palm over my mouth — they let me.
A familiar green glowing purge mask greeted me, as I realized I was now face to face with the woman from the fun house roof from earlier. Those broad shoulders, those thick arms, and that muscled torso now pressed into me from behind. The awareness had me breathing faster — and not from fear.
“What’s your name?” I whispered in a breathy mumble against her palm.
Her hand skimmed down my belly, stopping at the waistband of my skirt. “My name is Jax. Now tell me, Birdie, do you like where this is going?”
Without thinking, without even questioning how Jax knew my name, I nodded against their strong hold.
My assailants called out again, making catpspspsnoises, however, their voices were farther away now.
Jax’s touch dropped between my legs, pushing the fabric of my skirt against my panties. I held onto her wrist, not to pull her hand away from my mouth, but to hold on to her, onto something for balance. My knees grew weak as her fingers cupped between the apex of my thighs, rippling her touch in a rhythmic motion.
“You like that?” She growled into my ear. “Those two idiots wouldn’t have been so gentle… and neither will I after this moment… so don’t think this is how the rest of the game is going to go.”
