He waits for me to finish and when I don’t, he asks, “What?”
“Disarm me.”
CHAPTER 7
BILLY
Something knocks inside my chest, because of how she said it. Haven’s costume is freaking incredible. That’s real silk, real velvet. The cat on her shoulder seems to be looking at you no matter where you’re standing. And those red contacts Haven’s wearing are terrifying.
I’m all in.
Effort wins huge points with me.
It’s what’s made me who I am.
But now!
After all this spooky presentation, she looks at me all vulnerable like she is doing right at this very heated moment, to say I disarmed her?!
Something so real at a party where masks are king.
She just dropped me to the ground.
My voice deepens to ask, “How’d they come up with the name Haven?”
She blinks like she barely heard me, and her gaze hooks with mine. “My father said my mother’s love had given him a haven from the storms of life. So they named me it, since their love created me.”
“Wow. That’s…beautiful.”
Her tone hardens. “He’s not like that anymore.”
I offer a sincere, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She laughs it off, glancing around the splashing lights and pounding dancers. “I’m over it.”
No, you’re not.
But I won’t tell you that.
At least, not tonight.
“You want to dance?”
Haven blinks at me, those red contacts making the dueling impact with their intoxicating mixture of diabolical vulnerability—like I just stunned a demon into growing a heart.
I watch her glance to the dance floor and back to me before she carefully says, “No. I don’t like to dance.”
My head swings back on my neck. “You don’t like to dance?”
“No.”
“That’s so wrong!”
Her jaw lifts defiantly. “Yeah, well, I don’t like dancing.”
Sucking on my lips I nod even though I don’t agree with this stance. Who the fuck doesn’t like to dance? “Okay, cool. Well, I’m going to see how my bartenders are doing.”
“Okay.”
“Great. Nice to meet you, Haven.”
She waves her fingers.
Turning into the crowd I mutter to myself, “Fuck this,” and spin around, walking right up to her, so close I can feel the breath from her parted lips. I kiss her without warning. She leans into me, kisses me back, opening up to me.
A blood curdling scream interrupts the kiss.
Haven and I stare at each other for a second, stunned by how good that kiss felt, before we both look around to see who screamed.
In the northwest corner comes a man’s yell, “He’s dead! Really dead! Billy! Billy, where are you?!”
I grab Haven’s hand and we push through the crowd. I have to shout who I am so they’ll let us through.
Wyatt and Nate shove their way through to get to us, the former asking, “You have any idea about what’s going on?”
“No clue.” As we get closer, the crowd gets denser, everyone craning to see who died. “Billy Cooper coming through. This is my party. Let me through!”
The four of us finally get to the center. One of my bartenders tells me he’s the one who yelled for me as he points to a blonde kid on the floor, his lips grey, eyes shut. I drop down and test his pulse.
Everyone is staring.
Silent.
Waiting.
Worried.
The pressure is on.
Locking eyes with Wyatt, my face is grim. “Oh shit.”
“Billy, you messing with us?”
“I swear on my childhood home. He’s dead.”
Nathan rubs his face, smearing the meerkat makeup. “No way!”
Girls scream. One faints into her date’s arms, their matching turtle costumes blending. Murmurs spread fast. The party went from fun to fucked in under a minute.
Haven points to the dead man’s neck. “Are those bites real? The blood looks like it’s still dripping.”
My assistant pushes her way through the crowd. “Billy! Billy! There you are! I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t!”
“Tried to stop what?”
“The bats! They flew outside through the zombie cave! We won’t get our deposit back! You’re going to have to pay for them.” She freezes at the sight of the body I’m kneeling next to. “Oh my God, is he okay?!”
I blink at her. “What are you talking about, Gabs?! Those bats weren’t real!”
Everyone is staring now, her worst nightmare. And I mean everyone. Like she might cry, my assistant asks, “You wanted me to get fake ones? I didn’t know that.”
“You’re telling me we had real bats here?”
Terrified of the eyes trained on her, she nods and squeaks, “You said get the best. I got the best.”
CHAPTER 8
BILLY
“What?!” I shout, dropping to the dead guy’s side. “Oh no! Can you die from a bat bite?! It went for his neck!”
People start freaking out. There are flying killers on the loose, and they don’t believe all of the blood-thirsty bats escaped. What if the murdering one is still hanging around? Guys and girls are clamoring to get out before they’re next on the floor.
Wyatt and Nathan try to wrangle them, both shouting, “Alright, slowly! Exit slowly! Calm down and you’ll all get out okay!”
Haven touches my back as Lexi, Samantha, and Zoe push toward us through the frantic crowd.
Zoe asks her brothers, “What’s going on?”
“Guy got bit by a bat and died,” Wyatt tells her.
She gasps, “Oh no!”
Lexi stifles a laugh. Samantha’s eyes twinkle. Wyatt and Nathan react, glancing to me.
Everyone looks at the corpse. It grins, eyes shooting open. “Gotcha!”
Haven screams. Wyatt and Nathan jump. I crack up and yell in my loudest voice to the frantic crowd, “He’s not dead! Come back! It was a joke! You all fell for it!”
Heads turn as people stop in their tracks.
Our dead guy, Marcus, waves from the floor.
A hesitating domino-effect spreads the news all the way outside. I’m sure we lost some because even from here the sound of screeching tires can be heard with the music stopped.
Everyone’s considering if I should be punched.
Shocked costumes stare at Marcus as he rises up with arms out mummy-style, then dances with glee.
I grin and shout, “Let the party begin!!!”
Cheers erupt. Haven shakes her head and holds her racing heart.
Wyatt and Nathan are cracking
