Page 18 of The Player
I had to admit, receiving a text from him made my stomach flip and my mind whirl with possibilities.
What had he got planned for this evening?
Why did he want to meet me down there?
The last time I’d seen him by the duck pond, he threw me into the filthy thing.
Was he planning some grand gesture to make up for that?
Or was he about to give me another reason to call him a clueless asshole?
Whatever it was, I couldn’t resist the temptation. I always did like surprises, and when it came to Will, I could never second guess what he was going to do next.
So, I started to tap out my response with a wicked grin plastered on my face as I thought about the words I was typing.
Fine. I’ll be there. And just so you know, I typed this out with my middle finger.
I pressed send, then downed my drink and placed my empty glass on the bar. I pulled my jacket on, then surged forward, pushing through the crowds.
I headed for the back door, a nervous energy humming through my system, making me hyper aware. From the corner of my eye, I saw Shelley watching me from across the room, her eyebrow cocked as she subliminally questioned where I was going. So, I winked back at her and gave her a wave to show her I was okay. I was off on a little adventure. Then I turned and let the crowds take me away.
The thump from the music mirrored my heartbeat as I pushed my way further into the throng of people. The swell of the crowd moved like the waves of the sea, and I started to wonder if it was a metaphor for what came next. The dark, murky depths that Will was calling me into like a siren. Depths that I could very easily drown in.
Why did I always follow him?
He made me question my own sanity half of the time.
When I finally got to the back of the room, I found two security guards standing by the back door. They weren’t expecting anyone to go out from the look of things, but when they saw me, they stood aside.
“Will asked me to meet him outside,” I said, as if I needed to justify my being there, but they just nodded, letting me push my way through the rear exit and out into the darkness at the back of The Sanctuary.
Standing in the cold night air, I glanced around, but no one was out here. All I could hear was the hum of the party behind me and the people enjoying themselves inside. All I could see was a dark blanket of nothingness stretched out before me, lit only by the moon and stars in the sky. Whatever Will had planned, he didn’t want an audience.
I waited to see if he’d appear in front of me, or maybe walk around the side of the building to join me, but no. I was alone. He’d told me to meet him at the pond, and there was a reason for that. He obviously wanted me to make my own way there, in the dark, in heels that really weren’t made for walking over soft grass. It was classic Will. He didn’t always think about stuff like that. Everything was a game to him.
I took a few steps forward, moving onto the grass that led down to the pond. I picked my way carefully over its dewy wetness and tried to stop my heels from sinking into the mud. The further I walked away from the main building, the deeper into the darkness I descended. My eyes slowly adjusted to the night as my ears listened intently for any unusual sounds.
I reached the bottom of the field and bore left, and as I did, I noticed floodlights shining down towards the ground, lighting up the grass hedges of a garden maze situated right next to the pond. I didn’t know the soldiers had this set up out here, but I was intrigued. I loved mazes, and I’d never been through one in the middle of the night before. I lived for new experiences, and something told me this one would be an adventure I’d never forget.
I stood still for a moment, taking it all in, and then I noticed Will emerging from behind a hedge. He stood waiting for me at the entrance to the maze. He was still wearing his Michael Myers mask and blue boiler suit, and when he saw me, he pointed at me, then curled his finger to beckon me forward to join him.
How could I refuse an invitation like that?
I loved horror movies, and this felt like it was tailor-made for me. An experience with a hint of horror and maybe a little something more sexy. Macabre madness with a hint of debauchery thrown in. With a guy like Will, you never knew what you were going to get, and even though I was still fully engaged in our game of cat and mouse, playing hard to get, I wasn’t averse to pushing the boundaries a little tonight. Maybe I could take my own advice, like Shelley had said, and live a little.
I picked my way over the grass until I was standing right in front of him.
“This looks… exciting,” I said breathlessly, peering up at his latex mask and giving him a sexy smile.
I expected a cocky response, but when he lifted his finger to his lips and shushed me, I had to laugh.
“Oh, so now you want to give me the full Michael Myers experience. You, silent? This should be interesting.”
He nodded without saying a word and used his left arm to gesture for me to go ahead first and walk into the maze.
“If you say age before beauty, I will kick your ass,” I joked, twisting my head to look back at him as I tiptoed forward. But he didn’t reply, he just fell in step beside me.
The pathways were narrow, the hedges towering over us like dark demons in the night, but the floodlights helped us to find our way around, casting long, eerie shadows ahead of us. We walked in silence for a minute or two, the maze well and truly swallowing us into its dark and murky belly the further we ventured. Feeling a strange unease in the quietness, I turned to look at Will’s masked profile.
