Page 79 of Haunt the Mall

But that look would be all wrong for Squirrel—er, Sam.

I gestured behind me, my finger stinging. “Why don’t you look around? We have a whole wall of stuff that might be a good fit. I’d help more, but…” I gestured to the line.

“Thanks, yeah.” He backed up with an awkward wave. “I’ll see you later, Kat.”

“You probably will.” The monster inside me stretched and purred at the reminder I’d get to see Victor on the regular.

We’d only had two official dates, but this was already the best relationship I’d ever been in. We were so in sync. And horny. We just had to work on communicating outside of banter and bedroom opportunities.

Sam vaguely nodded at Bree. “See you around too, probably.”

“Bye.” She shot him a weird look and crossed her arms. Not exactly customer-friendly, but on brand for Hot Contra, maybe.

Sam tried on a vampire cape. The shiny black material tangled around his feet and his amateur knot choked him out. He quickly abandoned it in favor of creepy masks. Ugh, who could stand the smell of latex?

Bree rested her elbows on the counter. “You know, I ran into your theater guy the other night.”

“My…you did?” I furrowed my brow. How did she know which one was him?

“Mmhmm.” She smiled and stretched to grab her coffee cup. “He was real nice. Real smooth. Gave me free popcorn too. I can see why you’d be interested.”

My stomach rolled. He gave her free food? Was she interested in him too?

I accidentally grazed my stab wound and winced. I thought he only gave popcorn to VIPs like me.

Bree slurped her drink. The noise reverberated in my skull.

“You can’t have that on the floor,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m almost done with it.”

“That’s not what I said.”

Her nostrils flared. “Fine. I’ll drink it elsewhere.” She stormed off, either to the office or the break room, leaving me alone with our swarm of customers.

My lungs convulsed on the toxic fumes of her perfume. I hated this. I was supposed to be able to trust the people I worked with, and they could trust me to enforce most of the rules.

This whole thing made me want to scream. But there was only one man who could make me howl, and he was currently at the movies.

34

Things We Do in the Dark

By the time my break rolled around, I desperately needed to sit in the dark for a while. I texted my man.

< Me: Break time. I’m gonna catch the first half of Demons in the Attic and order some chicken nuggets. >

< Victor: Have a hell of a time. >

I snickered and shook my head. He was so bad.

No one was at the concession stand when I came in, so I waved at the widow animatronic.

“Hey, babe,” I said. Maybe the ghosts were in a better mood today.

She twitched but didn’t descend. Weird. Normally, she had a whole rotation of movements.

I slipped into my theater seat. It was the middle of the day, and this movie had been out for three weeks, so I was all alone. This would be the perfect time to hang with Victor. I flipped up the armrest just in case.