Page 19 of Too Cursed To Kiss

---

He laughed. Not a chuckle. A full-on, double-barreled laugh. Oh fuck, it must be shock. I knew it. He was dying.

Maybe the house had a phone. He wasn’t gushing blood, and he was upright. I could keep him alive long enough to get to help.

I didn’t want to touch him because then his injury would be real, but I had to make sure he was okay. I reached for his jacket, but he batted my hand away.

“I’m fine,” he growled.

“You are not. I shot you.” I wasn’t taking chances. “Come on.”

I hooked my arm through his, half dragging him toward the farmhouse. The back door was shattered. I didn’t care. I had one job. Find help.

We stepped inside the dimly lit house.

The smell hit first

Fresh meat.

Broken furniture and shadowy pillows… Oh, my God—not pillows.

Body parts.

I turned toward Wald, slipped, and landed in a pool of something gooey and slick. The stench of blood hit my throat. I gagged. Wald hauled me up.

Retching, I stumbled outside, dropped to the grass, and heaved into the bushes.

There were people inside.

Dead people.

Someone had killed them.

Wald wasn’t dead.

I inhaled lungfuls of night air and wiped sweat from my face.

Footsteps approached. Grass rustled. Wald.

The sound stopped, and I turned, my heart choking me. “What kind of monster are you?”

“I’m not a monster,” he said with the grin I’d decided I hated.

“What else could do—that?” I shouted, backing into a crouch. Jail sounded preferable.

I dashed across the lawn to the driveway. The SUV was parked behind the black sedan. I yanked the SUV door open. The cabin reeked of clove cigarettes and black coffee.

I jumped in and hit the start button.

Nothing.

I searched the visor, the console, the glove box.

Nothing.

I slammed my fists on the wheel and screamed. The SUV was parked too close. I couldn’t get the sedan out. Maybe I could push the SUV.

I shifted it into neutral and opened the door.

Wald appeared around the corner, walking like he had all the time in the world. Concern blended with horror. I’d shot him, but he’d done things I didn’t want to picture.

---