Page 88 of All of You

“What the?!” I leap into Langdon’s lap with a squeal.

Literally.

The prisoner drags the chainsaw across the floor of the rickety trailer we’re sitting on and I’m glad my legs aren’t touching the floor.

“There’s no blade on it,” Langdon whispers in my ear. His breath is warm against my skin.

“Seriously?” I ask.

The man jumps down and disappears into the trees again and I’m momentarily relieved. Witches—three of them— glide out of the woods and climb up on the trailer with us. They talk of curses and spells and they look terrifying. When they touch my hair as they pass by, I bury my face in Langdon’s chest with a shudder. This is far scarier than I anticipated. What are these parents doing here with small children? We go on like this with various characters leaping out at us for a while before the tractor stops and the driver, looking smug as shit, tells us to hop off and enjoy some donut holes and steaming apple cider.

Langdon sets me on my feet. I feel woozy and disoriented. We’re still in the middle of the woods. One of the three witches from before is stirring a cauldron and ladling cider into small plastic cups while the other two hand out donuts.

Langdon takes my hand and leads us to them. Surprisingly, both treats are delicious. I lick the sugar from the donut holes from my lips. Langdon stares at me in the firelight, eyes blazing. I grin at him while taking his cup to toss. Lingering just long enough that if he wants to kiss me, he can.

He doesn’t. He literally just smolders at me so intensely I think he might explode into flames. I throw away our trash feeling weirdly defeated and he helps me back on the wagon.

“Is this the halfway point?” I ask.

Langdon shakes his head. “No, it’s more like the three-quarter mark I think.”

He snuggles up to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders. We amble on. More horrific and grotesque people leap out at us. I can see the glow of the parking lights, so I know we’re almost done. A giant bumble bee sprints from the trees directly at us. It walks along the trailer as we go, casually making conversation. I can’t help but laugh.

“Wow. You’re cute,” he says to me and sticks his hand out. Blushing I take his hand but he’s not trying to shake it. He’s handing me something. I take it.

“Dude,” Langdon grunts.

The bee shrugs and makes his way around the trailer to everyone before disappearing and then we’re pulling back into the field through a cloud of man made fog.

“What did he give you?” I unfurl the paper the bee handed me and start laughing. “What is it?” he asks.

“His number,” I eke out between laughs.

“That dude has some serious balls. I had my arm aroundyou,” Langdon cries, which makes me laugh even harder.

I mean, he’s not wrong, but still, it’s hilarious. A bee man. Just using a haunted hayride as his pickup line. Epic. I can barely catch my breath I’m laughing so hard, and Langdon is just staring at me pouting.

“Oh, come on. That is hilarious. I mean, he wasn’t even dressed up scary. Just a big fat bumble bee costume. You gotta hand it to him.”

When the trailer stops, Langdon helps me down and laces his fingers through mine as we walk to the car.

“You’re not really mad, are you?” I ask.

“Not at you,” he says.

I smack his chest with my free hand. “Langdon, come on. It was harmless and honestly, really funny.”

I stop walking and tug on his hand for him to stop too. When he looks at me with those eyes, my stomach whooshes and I imagine, with a tinge of dread, our first kiss, or rather ourofficialfirst kiss. A first date first kiss. Will it live up to the party or my bedroom or at school or any of them? Were those flukes? Just unrequited lust making it magical?

Kiss me, dammit.Kiss me.

Our hands are still joined. I tug him closer to me. He never takes his eyes from mine. It’s so intense that a lightning rod shoots down my spine. I lift my free hand and place it on his neck. He lets out a little groan of pleasure at the contact and then I wait.

Do it, Langdon, make the move.

His head inches toward mine so slowly that at first, I’m not sure he’s moving at all. I tilt my chin up to prepare. When I wet my lips, his pupils dilate. The lines of his throat tighten with each swallow. He slowly brings his lips to mine and softly, captures my mouth.

A groan slips between my lips and into Langdon’s mouth. His hands walk up my torso, from my hips until his fingers are tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck. His lips are hungry, ferocious. Taking and taking and bruising like he’s been starved for this kiss for a long time.