Page 4 of Masked
“Taylor, you can’t speak to Rickon like this,” Johnny says, hushed, whispering, as if I’m not close enough to hear. “He’s?—”
“About to leave.” Man, I love cutting him off. I also have a decent sense of self-preservation, and if I don’t get out of here soon, this stunning little thing’s gonna cave my skull in. “We’ve got a deal. Don’t disappoint me again. Next time, I won’t go so easy on you.”
I start walking.
It doesn’t take long for them to stir behind me. The girl helping her father out the chair and him whispering promises of everything being okay. But that’s when I hear it. A shift in his voice that pricks up my ears.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. You’ve been excited about this party for months.” Johnny, if you weren’t a piece of trash, I could kiss you right now. “Don’t let my problems get in the way of your fun.”
“What? No, I’ll stay home?—”
“Out of the question. You’ve been waiting for this all year,” he speaks with hisdadvoice. It’s a ploy to get Taylor out of the house. Give him and Mrs. Gilford some space to figure out how they’re gonna pay me back. “I want you to go. Have fun. You’re only young once.”
I remember those days.
Young, horny and dumb.
I’m about to turn forty though so it’s a good thing I’m still one of those two, or I might’ve been smart enough to leave this alone.
That’s why I get in my car, and instead of driving home and watching a movie, I start the engine, lie back in my seat and watch. Taylor drags her father out of the restaurant, his arm over her shoulder. They disappear behind a door leading to the stairwell up to their apartment.
My wait begins.
Because I’ll see you soon, Taylor.
Whether you know I’m watching, or not.
2
TAYLOR
Partying while my dad’s left in a puddle of blood . . . Not exactly what I’d call my ideal Saturday night.
And it’s all his fault. That tall, brooding, brute of a man . . . no, he’s not a man. He’s a beast. Savage and feral. Doing as he pleases, hurting who he wants, all in some self-serving ego stroke.
He left more than a lasting impression on me. An hour and a half away from the scene, and I still can’t get him out of my head. Has to be from the creepy way he stared at me.Studiedme. Like I was the next victim on his chopping block.
I shudder at the thought of it.
Shudder, drink and dance. Expelling energy is the best way to clear my head. Moving and getting lost in the groove as the deafening music courses through my veins. Living like these shiny, happy people who don’t have a care in the world.
“There’s gotta be a hole in my glass,” Kim Granger says, waving her empty drink in the air to show me. “Keeps emptying itself.”
“There’s a hole, alright,” her twin sister, Mary teases. “The loud one on your face.”
“We’re gonna grab a round. Want to join us?” Kim shouts over the music at me. Barely audible.
To avoid anymore yelling, I shake my head. The night’s still young and my throat’s already raw. Besides, taking a break won’t do me any good. It’ll give me more time in my head, and God knows I’m trying to get as far away from that as possible.
“Your loss,” she hooks arms with her sister and the pair stumble through the dancers to the bar.
Alone. In my element. Strobe lights and neon lasers illuminating the crowd. But as it drifts from one end of the dance floor to the other, someone catches my eye. Tall, big and brutish, a masked figure stands still among the partiers. I jump at the sight. I don’t even need to look long to know it’s him. The man who beat my dad to a pulp.
I step back, bumping into someone behind me. The sound of his drink smashing on the floor cuts through the music. Electric fear jolts through every muscle in my body and I turn away from the monster in the crowd.
That momentary distraction is all it takes for him to vanish. Like a phantom, haunting and stalking me. And though I try to find him again, there’s no use. He’s gone, almost as if he was never here at all.
The first sign of doubt sets in. After what I went through tonight, I can’t rule out my mind playing tricks on me. Seeing faces in the shadows to compensate for the state I left my dad in.
