Haunted(30)

“Beth! What the f*ck?”

“I’m not crazy.” She let out a soft laugh. “I’m not crazy!” She grabbed me and kissed me. Her mood went from depressed to exhilarated. I was actually more confused. I held her still, pressing her arms to her side. I was worried about restraining her, but she kept smiling.





“What are you talking about, Beth?”

“See, while you were on tour, I thought I was going crazy. I would see dolls with blue hair sitting around the house,” she said it as though it was no big deal. “I saw this written on the mirror, and uh, someone was banging on my door in the middle of the night. And today, I saw one of those latex masks that Jason used to wear.”

My heart dropped. “Where did you see it?”

“In my Amazon box on top of the DVDs.”

“Fuck!”

“Why are you mad?” She looked confused.

“Seriously, Beth! Why didn’t you call me after you saw your first doll?”


“I didn’t have your f*cking phone number,” she said defensively.

“Why didn’t you tell Phoebe or Eve?”

“Because I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was becoming a schizophrenic!” she yelled at me. “You usually don’t share that kind of shit!”

“Shit!” I was furious and she could tell.

“Fuck you! I told Phoebe you wouldn’t understand.” She turned and opened the door, but I slammed it shut. Shit! We had to get out of there fast and act casually about it.

I grabbed Beth and pushed her against the door and then I pressed my lips against her ear and whispered the words that I knew were going to freak her the f*ck out.

“Beth, you weren’t going crazy. Someone has to be in the house.”

She looked at me and paled.

“Jason?” she whispered.

“Baby, Jason is dead. I killed him, remember?” I whispered. “He can’t ever hurt you again.” My hand stroked her hair to soothe her.

She nodded.

“We need to put on clothes. And we need to get out of here. We can do this, Beth. Remember, baby, you and I can do anything as long as we are together. Just play along, okay?”

She nodded.



Chapter 22 – Roman



I opened the door, holding Beth’s arm in a vise grip. My eyes scanned the area. Nobody was going to f*cking touch her. Whomever it was hadn’t touched her so far when he had plenty of opportunity. We had to act like we don’t know.

“Beth, I’m sick of your shit!”

I could tell she was shocked, but my Beth was a smart cookie. She caught on fast. She walked straight to our bedroom and started pulling on her shorts and she picked up mine and threw them at me.

“Well, then f*ck you! I am going to go to Phoebe’s house. When I get back, I want your shit gone.”

Damn, this felt a little too real. I didn’t like it. I put on my shorts and grabbed a shirt from the floor. I didn’t want to open any closets in fear of who might come out. I grabbed my wallet, my cell phone, and hers off the dresser.

“Fuck you, Beth.” I walked toward the door, hoping like hell she was following. Then she threw something at my back.

Yep…she is behind me.

“You aren’t taking my CRV, you cocksucker.”

Really? Cocksucker? Is that the only thing she can think of to call me?

She grabbed her purse from the table beside the door. Three more steps and we were out of the house. I opened the door and partially turned to look toward her. She was following, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow move in the master bedroom, like someone had walked in front of the window.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

I had out the car key. I couldn’t handle the thought of her being closer to whoever was in the house. I reached and grabbed her hand and ran. We ran down the porch and to the vehicle. As we were running, I felt it in my bones that our charade was over.

“Beth, around front, passenger seat!”

She ran around to the passenger seat, and I jumped into the driver’s side. I started the CRV and pressed the gas. I pulled out of the drive and turned left. I looked at the house, f*cking scared out of my mind, and I saw someone in the shadow of the house, looking at the vehicle and then he shut the door.



Chapter 23 – Beth



“Why the f*ck didn’t you tell me?” he screamed at me.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”

“Me? Me? Beth, you have been in danger this whole f*cking time! Whoever the f*ck is in there, he could have hurt you! Do you not see that? He has been there ever since you got home from the hospital. I wasn’t there to protect you.” He slammed his hand against the dash. “Beth, he could have f*cking killed you. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

He picked up his phone and dialed 911.

“This is Roman Reed. My wife and I have an intruder in our house. We live at 382 Dandelion Drive,” he said, giving the operator the Zip Code. He handed me the phone and I put it on speaker.

The operator spoke, “Okay, Mr. Reed, we are sending units to the address. Are you and your wife safe?”

I answered for him, “We are. We are in a moving vehicle.”