Page 30 of Possessed By the Mountain Man
Not officially.
Not out loud.
Not yet.
But I know it in my bones, and one day soon she will, too.
So help me—I’ll make sure she never feels alone again.
Not on Halloween.
Not on any day.
Not ever.
And God help anything that tries to take her joy again.
Chapter 7
Aspen
Live.
We’re live.
The red dot on my phone screen pulses like a threat as comments flood the bottom of the livestream.
@hauntqueen87:OMG ARE THEY TOGETHER??
@lumberjacked69:that dude is gonna eat her alive
@marrymeaspen:say the word and I’ll bury his body
I should be used to chaos—hell, I invite it—but something about this disaster is hitting different tonight.
Maybe it’s the fact that Thorne Maddox is standing beside me, all hard muscle and lethal boredom, glaring into the camera like it murdered his family.
Maybe it’s the fact that I showed up in black lace and thigh-high boots.
Or maybe it’s what he wrote across his bare chest in thick black marker:
EMOTIONALLY UNAVAILABLE.
He did it just to piss me off. And it worked spectacularly.
“I still can’t believe you refused to dress up,” I say sweetly to the four hundred people currently watching us argue from insideDevil’s Peak Lodge. “This is a costume contest, Thorne. The ‘contest’ part implies effort.”
He folds his tattooed arms across his chest—over those hateful words. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“For the first time since indoor plumbing was invented,” I announce cheerfully, waving my arm with fake excitement. “Thorne Maddox has entered society!”
He doesn’t smile. Doesn’t even blink. Just mutters, “Regretting it already.”
The comments go insane.
@spookyhoexoxo:SIR WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM
@aspensisfire:KILL HIM WITH EYELINER
