Page 69 of Love Me

Colt took my hand in his. I smiled up at him, but found him staring at his friends that Creed and Ethan were talking to inside.

“If you want to go talk to them, I’ll be all right,” I said.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a paper boat, and held it out to me. “I’m good here.”

I laughed as I took it. “Now I kind of wish I had sucked it up and watched the movie.”

“You will watch it one day.”

I nodded.

“How are you feeling right now?”

“I feel good. A little nervous, but mostly, I’m looking forward to having fun,” I explained in a low voice. “The best way to differentiate scary movies and this party is that the movies depict fear and death a little too well and it’s harder to ignore. There shouldn’t be any killing at this party.”

He huffed a laugh. “Let’s hope not.”

Tonight, I expected dancing and drinking and fun, with a little bit of spookiness woven in. Scary movies weren’t going anywhere. But these experiences would pass me by if I let them. If I came across a trigger…well, I’d get to test out some of the exercises Dr. Bolton had taught me.

Ethan and Creed returned with one of Ethan’s football buddies and his date. He was dressed like Freddy Krueger, without the burned-face mask. He had on the striped sweater and the glove that had the finger blades attached to it. The moment my eyes landed on his date, I stiffened. She was dressed like a zombie with bite marks on her arms and cheek. The costume makeup was very realistic, especially how she made her throat look ripped out with all her blood spilling down her chest.

I couldn’t look away as memories of Shayla’s blood rolling down her neck and chest tried to overwhelm me. I squeezed Colt’s and Creed’s hands and I worked to calm myself down. I focused on the sound of my breathing as I made myself inhale deeply and exhale slowly through my nose.

“Babe?” Colt said at the same time Creed said, “Shi?”

Suddenly, a hand went over my eyes, and I was picked up.

“Where are you guys going?” I heard Isabelle say.

“Guys?” I said as they carried me somewhere that was dark and a little bit quieter.

When I was set down, my eyes were uncovered, and I realized we were in the hall leading to Knox’s room.

“You okay?” Colt asked. Both him and Creed stared at me, worry etched around their eyes.

I nodded. “Yeah. I had it under control, but you whisking me away was…effective. I was caught off guard a little. I was expecting costumes, but I hadn’t been expectingthat.”

“She might not be the only one who shows up like that,” Creed said.

“Now that I know to expect that, I should be all right,” I said.

They looked like they weren’t so sure.

I grabbed their hands. “If it becomes too much for me, I’ll go hang out with Knox and Keelan for the rest of the night.”

“Okay, babe.” Colt said and the three of us headed back to the party.

I noticed some of the caution tape had been ripped down as we left it. Rushing to get me somewhere else, they must have yanked it out of the way. Creed bent to pick up the pieces of caution tape off the ground and proceeded to put them back up.

Isabelle was waiting in the kitchen with two mixed drinks in each of her hands. She held one out to me. Her gaze traveled over us. “Everything okay?”

I took the drink. “Yes.”

I can do this.

17

As the night continued on,more and more people showed up, and some of them were just as creative with their costume makeup as the girl with the ripped-out throat.