Page 56 of Voracious

We should stop – everyone else is going back to dancing, and some people are looking at us.

Before I can tell him to, he snatches himself away, grabs his mask from the floor and pulls it back on. He backs away as I try to gather myself, my chest rising and falling. I frown in confusion as he keeps putting more distance between us, and then he turns and pushes through the dance floor.

I’m frozen, my heart hammering in my chest, pressing my fingers to my tingling lips. I take a step in his direction.Where are you going? Come back. But Lu is in front of me before I can chase him through the crowd.

I’m still touching my lips as Lu asks, “Who was that?”

I pull my mask back into place and walk past her, needing to follow him. She shouts something, but I’m aiming for the door he just slipped through.

My nerve endings are on fire, and my heart is beating so hard, I’m shocked it’s not visible through my blood-smeared chest.

As I push through the crowd, I pull my phone from the side of my corset.

Me:Where are you?

The pulse in my neck spikes, my heart hammering in my ears as it shows he’s read it, but he doesn’t type back.

I chew my lip, my feet already carrying me away from the party and into the main entrance, where the grand stairway sits. If I go left, I can go to his wing and look for him, or I can take the grand staircase and check the second and third floor.

My phone dings in my hand.

Kade:You looking for me, Freckles?

Me:You can see me?

There’s no one around.

Kade:From every wonderful angle.

I glance up at the security camera, the little red light blinking. There are another three surrounding me at each corner. Kade’s watching me through them.

Me:Where are you? I want to see you.

Kade:And I want to see you run.

Clenching my thighs, I look up at the cameras again, my eyes flickering between them all, before my phone vibrates again.

Kade:Run and hide. Unless you want everyone to witness me fucking you? Having an audience won’t stop me – I’ll take you in front of the entire party.

My lips part as I reread the message multiple times, and I must be insane, because warmth gathers at my core at the thought of Kade chasing me, catching me and then fucking me. I’m even considering not running, just standing here until he comes for me.

But then where’s the fun in that?

19

STACEY

Igrip my phone, glance at the cameras again, knowing he’s watching me, and head for the grand staircase. I take two steps at a time to the west wing, looking behind me as I break into a run, and throw myself into the first spare room.

My chest heaving in both anticipation and from running in heels, I sit on the mattress, dropping my bloody wooden bat on the floor next to the bed. It feels like an eternity since I properly saw him. Yeah, he came for me at the party Chris forced me to go to, but I have no recollection of anything he said, only the feel of his arms around me while he held me on the bathroom floor.

My lips tingle, and I touch them under my mask, needing him to kiss me again.

I can’t stop smiling – I haven’t felt this… excited in so long. Although I’m being reckless, I blame the alcohol. I should be sitting him down and figuring out what we’re doing, telling him the truth, anything.

And I will.

There’s a walk-in wardrobe opposite the door, so I hide inside and wait.

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