Page 23 of Welcome to Carnage

However, another fucking idiot will target her tonight, and once I’ve done what needs to be done, it will tie everything up in a nice little bow.

I don’t care how much blood I have to spill to get it through to this town and the fucking state of Utah that the only man allowed near her is me.

AVINA

“There you are!” Luna says, her voice snapping me out of a mindless daze I’d fallen into.

“Hey,” I say, turning around to force a smile.

“How did you find the haunted house?” Luna asks, her brow furrowing when she realizes I’m not far from the exit. “You were a long time. Did you only get out?”

“A little while ago. I got lost in there,” I lie.

Her brow furrows. “I know you’re shit with directions, but I don’t know how you managed to get lost in there with all the arrows.” She shakes her head. “We haven’t been on the tilt and whirl yet.” She drags me toward it, and I let her.

I can’t focus on anything other than Nyx right now. He’s burrowed so far into my brain and deep beneath my skin that he’s becoming a part of me. I’ve harbored darkness in my soul for a long time. Darkness, I don’t understand. And it feels like Nyx understands it. It feels like he sees and accepts that part of me.

The question is, can I do the same for him?

“You seem distracted,” Luna says as we climb onto the ride.

I shrug. “Still shaken up, I guess, after what happened to James,” I lie.

I wonder if the police will piece it together if Nyx and I go public. Surely, they’d expect him to be the next victim, but when nothing happens to him, it might point the blame in Nyx’s direction. After all, he’s the kind of guy the cops love to hound. Six foot four, plastered in tattoos, rides a motorcycle. The cliche of a fucking bad boy who they think belongs in prison, and on this occasion, they’d be right.

The ride starts, and I try desperately to claw my mind away from anything but my masked man. The one I’ve fantasized about for two years has been under my nose.

As the ride spins faster, my thoughts whirl with it. Nyx’s touch, his scent, how he made my body react, it’s all imprinted in my mind. I feel a strange mix of fear and anticipation.

Luna’s squealing interrupts my train of thought. She’s holding on for dear life, eyes squeezed shut.

“C’mon, live a little!” she yells over the blare of the music. “You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost!”

I force laughter, hoping it sounds convincing. “You know me, always overthinking everything.”

Little does she know that the ghost I’ve seen is all too real and far more enticing than any specter should be. The ride ends, and we stumble off, Luna still laughing.

“I love Halloween,” she says, smirking. “We haven’t even done apple bobbing yet, but—” She looks at her watch. “Shit. We don’t have time. It’s almost ten o’clock.”

My brow furrows. “Surely not?”

I turn to the clock in the center, counting the minutes until the masked chase. There’s only five minutes to go.

“Yep, we best get to the spectator area before we get caught up like last time.”

I shake my head. “I’m going to participate.”

Her eyes widen. “Willingly?”

I nod in response.

“It’s your funeral! I got too freaked out last time.” She shudders. “Masked men creep me out.”

I wish I could say the same.

Masked men have always turned me on. The thrill of having no idea who was behind the mask, and even though I knew Nyx was behind his mask today, watching him go down on me with it still halfway on his face was hot. Perhaps if I weren’t so fucked up, I wouldn’t be so drawn to a fucking serial killer. “I’ll try and find you after,” I say, despite knowing deep down that Nyx won’t be letting me go tonight. Something tells me I’m in for a long, shocking evening of psychotic proportions, and my nipples tighten at that thought.

“Be careful,” she says, serious concern on her face. “Remember, there’s some kind of psycho obsessed with you out there.”

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