Page 20 of The Curse of Redwood

That’s all it took to distract Rich. He was crazy about the girl he’d met at Taylor’s party. It had only been like five days, but he was already pretty smitten.

The rest of the work day passed slowly. Each time I was left alone, my mind wandered to Redwood. Z had said I had a curious nature, and he was spot on. I was even more curious now than before.

Why had so many people died there?

If itwascursed, how did the curse start?

It was still light outside by the time I got home. Daylight was fading quickly, though. As I watched the sun sink lower in the sky, I wondered if Z was watching the same sunset, tucked away in his cold, dark mansion. He’d told me not to go back to Redwood, but now that I knew he was there, it was hard to stay away.

What had happened to him? If hewasEzekiel, why wasn’t there any other record of him?

So many questions and very few answers.

“Forget about it,” I told myself.

I wanted to go see Ben, but I doubted my presence would do him any good. The guy was close to a damn mental breakdown. I texted to check up on him.

Me:How’s it going??

His response came a minute later.

Ben:I’m ok. Sorry if I worried you earlier. I’m better now. That was just a lot to take in.

Me:I’m here if you ever need to talk, k?

Ben:I know. Same goes to you. My head might be a little all over the place right now, but you can always come to me.

I smiled.

Me:Look at us being all sweet and shit. Next thing I know you’ll be buying me flowers and chocolate.

Ben:You wish.

I laughed and put my phone aside. For the rest of the night, I played on my Xbox. Rich and Taylor were on headset with me as we gamed together, so it helped me escape for a while. They talked crap to each other, then Taylor and I teased Rich about Danielle.

“Girl has you whipped,” Taylor said, after Rich told us he was taking her to the nail salon the following day.

“No, she doesn’t,” Rich denied. “She wants me to get a pedicure with her. Never had one before and it sounded nice.”

“Hey, I’m all for it,” I said, tapping the trigger on the controller to shoot aliens in the game that had just landed and were attacking the troops. “Men can get pampered too. It’s about time we cut the toxic masculinity bullshit.”

“True dat,” Taylor responded. “My feet are too ticklish for that shit, though.”

“Mine too,” I said.

Around midnight, I told them goodnight and went to bed. I fell asleep not long after my head hit the pillow. For the first time since I’d visited the mansion, I dreamed of Z.

He stood by the black gates under a bright moon and beckoned me inside. “Come closer.”

“Z? I thought you didn’t want me here.”

“Shh.” He put a finger to his lips and reached out his other hand to me. “Come with me.”

Once I stepped onto the property and grabbed his hand, the scene changed. Instead of standing in front of the house, I was in the backyard near the stables. It was day instead of night.

The sun hid itself behind a cloud, though I was plenty warm as Ezekiel nuzzled my neck.

“Say you’re mine,” I whispered.