Love Me (WITSEC #3)(56)

It was Halloween. It made everything about today spooky.

I continued to stare down the hall, straining my ears.

Fear was taking hold of me because I knew I’d heard what I’d heard. I backed away from the doorway, further into my room. Without looking away from the hall, I set my toiletries on my bag, then reached for my nightstand drawer. I pulled it open and grabbed the 9mm I had stashed there.

I clicked the safety off and held it out in front of me. Pushing on even though I was shaking and my heart was starting to pound, I walked into the hallway. Not two steps into the hall, the wood floor creaked underfoot.

My hands began shaking badly. I’d heard this. I knew I had.

Someone was in my house.

I checked the hall bathroom first.

Clear.

I checked the hall’s linen closet.

Clear.

I jiggled the handle to my panic room. It was locked. I doubted anyone could be in there, but I still entered the code on the lock and looked inside.

Clear.

Back in the hall, I made sure the panic room shut behind me and the lock clicked into place. Then I moved down the hall toward the spare bedroom. The door was halfway open, as I had left it this morning after returning the pillows and blanket I’d taken.

I slowly pushed the door open until it hit the wall. Nothing inside seemed amiss. Trying to keep my breathing normal and failing, I entered the room and walked over to the closet. I slid open the closet door and peeked inside.

Clear.

I returned to the hallway and made my way to the living room. Though I did my best to keep my steps quiet as I entered the dining room, the floor creaked again, making me grimace.

I was going to rip out these darn wood floors. I swore I was.

I searched the kitchen.

Clear.

I lowered my gun and rubbed my forehead. The house was empty.

As I was heading back to my bedroom, the front door unlocked and both Keelan and Knox walked in. I froze.

Keelan spotted me first and smiled. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said back.

I watched as both of their gazes dropped to my hand hanging at my side. Or more specifically, the gun I was holding.

“Did something happen?” Knox asked, stepping ahead of his brother as if intending to come to me. Then he caught himself and stopped walking. Yup. Things were awkward between us.

“I—” I glanced down at my gun. “I think I might be going crazy.”





I finished the last of my makeup by coloring in the two red lines I had going from my forehead down over my eyes to the corners of my mouth. I had made my face a little paler than I was, but not as pale as Pennywise’s face. My nose and lips were blood red. I had put on false lashes and my eye makeup was black and highlighted in red. My gray eyes stood out significantly, which I liked. It was a terrifying yet sort of alluring look that went perfectly with my low red pigtails and solid white costume that had three golf-ball-sized red pom-poms lined up from my sternum down.

My costume was a short dress with cap sleeves and a poofy tutu skirt. There would be no bending over allowed or I’d flash everyone the white lacy underwear I had underneath. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and bared a lot of cleavage. Around my neck was a ruffled collar that I had splattered with blood-red dye to make it more horrific. My legs were covered by white thigh-high tights that were visibly being held up by white satin garters with a little white bow on top of each clip.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I was proud of the final result. There had been a quick moment of panic where I’d had to remind myself that the illusion of blood on my collar wasn’t real, no matter how realistic I’d made it look. Blood was a trigger and so far, I was still in control. I was in the moment.

My black Mary Jane pumps with a single strap each clacked on the tile floor in the bathroom as I went to leave. As soon as I had the door open, my ears filled with the sound of loud gunfire from Keelan and Knox’s video game they were playing.

Their eyes flicked in my direction when I entered Knox’s room, where they were planning on locking themselves in all night. They were sitting in front of the large TV on Knox’s dresser, Keelan on the foot of the bed and Knox in a leather desk chair, both with controllers in their hands.

Keelan’s brows rose and Knox paused their game, as if needing full focus to take me in.

I stopped walking a few feet from them and did a turn. “What do you think?”

“Amazing,” Keelan said and looked to his brother. “Would it be weird to develop a clown fetish?” Then he gestured to me with his hand. “Because I’m into this.”

I snorted.

“You just have a Shiloh fetish,” Knox said. “If she came out dressed like a nun, you’d be into that, too.”

Keelan appeared to ponder that. “Are we talking about a naughty nun or a full-fledged nun?”

“Would it matter?” Knox asked, his gaze never leaving me. The way his eyes drank me in made me think it wouldn’t have mattered to him.

“I suppose it wouldn’t.” Keelan gave me a naughty grin. “I’d be going to hell either way, because I don’t think I could let her leave this room until I had her praying to God. Loudly.”

Knox rolled his eyes and I had to fight not to squeeze my thighs together. I shouldn’t egg him on because I really didn’t want to start the party with wet panties and I was wearing the only lacy white pair I’d brought, but the words left my mouth before I could stop them. “Is my clown costume not tempting enough to make me pray? Or is it the idea of corruption that snaps your control?”