Page 40 of Haunt the Mall
Despite a great movie, plenty of food, and an orgasm, I was incredibly uneasy. My leg jiggled as the lights came back up. Why weren’t the minions coming in to sweep up? Were they setting up something? Victor could pull a string as we left and dump fake blood or spider plushies on me in an ode to that famous prom scene in Carrie.
I knew it was unlikely. Yet my heart kept thumping.
He kissed the side of my head, then gathered our trash.
“I can help.” I reached for the pretzel case.
He snatched the wadded napkin from the lid, wrapped another napkin around it, and slipped it into his pocket.
Stunned, I blinked. “Did you…do you have a cum kink or something?”
His eyes widened, and he jerked back as if electrocuted. “No, I just didn’t want to dispose of this at work.”
“Okay.” But he was fine having sex here. Something was up, and I couldn’t tell if any of this was red-flag territory. Black flag, maybe, because he’d gotten some booty.
I shook my head at myself. It was time to go home. There were too many hormones and mysteries to be objective about this evening.
I stretched until my spine popped, then strolled up the stairs to check each aisle, half expecting beady little eyes to peer back at me.
Victor stood and frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for the other spider, Bitsy.”
He chuckled and sauntered toward the side divide with his arms full of trash. “She’s a very evasive lady.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ll stop looking.” I squinted at the high window the projector normally shone through. I could’ve sworn a shadow shifted behind the reflective glass. Was someone—or something up there, watching?
The crew couldn’t have seen us in the dark, but maybe…
Victor’s voice floated over the divider. “Kat, you coming?”
I had, already.
“Yeah,” I called. Did he want to end our date? Or did they need the theater for another showing?
I galloped down the stairs, tracing the top of the divider for balance. “Is Bits—eeee!”
The rest of my sentence trailed off in a shriek as something fuzzy danced over the railings and across my fingers. It was fucking fur. He got me.
“I can’t believe… Where was she hiding?” I laughed, holding a hand to my chest so my heart didn’t launch into his arms along with the spider.
Victor grinned up at me and wiggled the plushie’s limbs. “Would you like to guess?”
Where could she have been? The door hadn’t creaked open, so he hadn’t left to get her. I leaned on my forearms and frowned. “You didn’t hide her in the garbage, did you?”
“I would never.” He cradled the spider and stroked her bulbous body with the care of a villain in need of a contradiction. “She had a nice dark corner by the entrance.”
“You mean I walked right by her?”
He shrugged, his face aglow from the hall lights. “You were too busy looking at me.”
Well, fuck. He had it all figured out, didn’t he?
“I-I was excited about the movie.” I marched to him to squeeze Bitsy’s paw-arm-leg-thing. “Sometimes, I do love a mystery. But tonight, I wish I could’ve gotten to know this one better.”
“Maybe next time.” He blinked slowly and offered me a crooked smile.
“Next time?” My heart pounded harder despite the soft fur at my fingertips. Was he asking me out again? And would it be a date or a hookup session?