Page 60 of Haunt the Mall
“Yeah, that was a good one.” I laughed and hugged him. “Can’t believe they got me already.”
Surprise flashed across his face. He hugged me tight and placed a kiss to my temple. “You did great.”
My pulse skipped with glee. “Let’s keep going.” The haunted house was a scream.
We dodged swiping zombies and ghoulish fiends, my shrieks and laughter coloring our whispered commentary. But Victor hadn’t yelled once. He’d barely even flinched, though he did squeeze my hand or chuckle on occasion. Where was his big reaction?
I gestured for him to enter the freezer room, which only had space for us to go in one-by-one. “Let them scare you for once.”
“As you wish.” He bowed and blinked slowly.
I loved when he did that. His dry charm wove snakes through my rib cage, their tails and tongues rattling with adoration.
He surveyed the area, a strobing blue light giving me the perfect cutout of his silhouette. Dry ice or some kind of fog machine spilled out around him. He brokered a path and I followed, spinning my cross in abject fascination as goosebumps pricked my skin.
He was a hero straight out of a horror movie—cinematic caution and confidence. A final guy…or a final boyfriend. I clutched part of his vest to reassure him I had his back the same way he had mine.
Fake corpses swung from hooks, but they had nothing on my man. The creaking metal and hiss of freezing air punctuated the eerie music.
A chainsaw roared to life ahead of us. “Fresh meat,” a butcher bellowed, stepping in front of the light to block our path ahead.
Fuck, that was fabulous, even if I half-expected it.
Victor spread his arms and backed into me.
I yanked his vest to the right, toward another light and path. But when I turned, I realized we weren’t alone with the butcher. A wild ghoul’s frosty breath hit the side of my face. She grinned and twisted a rusty knife. “I call the legs.”
Without thinking, I batted a corpse at her for self-defense.
“Kat.” Victor grabbed me and booked it down another path.
“Look for the light,” I panted.
My heartbeat slammed against my ears as we scurried through the freezer, shoving meat aside in breathless exhilaration to find the exit. The roar of the chainsaw nipped at our heels.
“I love playing with my food,” a ghoul screeched above the din.
Those lines were so perfectly twisted. Victor and I laughed. His eyes were bright with humor and exercise. This was good for him. For both of us, really.
Even if he wasn’t scared, the experience was well worth the price of admission.
We burst into the next room, which was thankfully more mechs and webs than chase scenes. Fake webbed pods wiggled. Flies buzzed. The room glowed purple. We walked around hand-in-hand amid the intricate backdrops and skeletons. In a weird way, this was romantic. Quiet. A dark chasm opened up above us. I walked to the edge and smiled, knowing what would come next. Victor wrapped his arms around me from behind as we gazed into the abyss. He was warm, for once. Not sweaty. Just nice.
A huge fake spider limb dangled from the rafters, four red eyes glowing and pincers snapping. She loomed, curious and magnificent.
“Wow. She’s beautiful,” I whispered, caressing his fingers and forearm.
“She is.” He brushed my hair aside and kissed the back of my neck.
A shiver shot down my spine. I closed my eyes and leaned into him. This was perfect. Heaven, even if they marketed it as hell.
He saw it too, didn’t he? He felt it.
He kissed my ear, cheek, then lips. We couldn’t stay, but for a second, I was tempted to ignore the fact they had cameras in here and lay with him amid the webs.
“My Spider-Man,” I murmured, pulling him in for another over-the-shoulder kiss.
The slap of running shoes yanked my attention to the door in front of us. Did they send someone to stop our moment before it got heated? This was very PG.