Page 13 of The Invite (The Massacre Ball #1)

The screen is splintered at the bottom left corner but miraculously, the touch sensor is still working. Buying a second-hand replacement was a total waste. I could’ve used the money to purchase new locks. I wonder if I can return it and get my money back.

Another reason to hate Augustus’s guts.

He will return tomorrow with God knows what sort of torture planned for me. I’m not one to curse but I so badly want to hurl insults at him.

He’d probably find it amusing.

Stop thinking about him, Nessa.

Without wondering, I click on the Trilltok app and immediately wish I hadn’t, because men in masks fill my vision.

I’ve never believed in the theory that phones and devices have ears and listen to our conversation or thoughts until now as my nightmare stares back at me.

I scroll through my feed and sigh.

Yes, I’ve too succumbed to my obsession with masked men and bikers on social media late at night while lying alone in my bed. They’re everywhere. But I never thought I’d come across one in real life and have it turn my life upside down.

Now I can’t help but ponder if they’re all psychopaths and predators.

Are they hiding darker proclivities?

Do they all have black souls?

Is chasing and seducing not just for the cameras?

I feel ashamed for finding them attractive at all. For even imagining for a second how it would feel to be on the receiving end of their attention. Nonetheless, I can’t stop scrolling and hating the rapidly rising pulse between my thighs.

I come across a random guy dressed as Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley from Call of Duty who bursts into one fake abandoned house as a Goth girl hides in the room while he looks around for her. The dark and seductive music with drums in the background melts with the thrilling acting of the pair.

Every emotion the girl is experiencing I feel tenfold.

The fear.

The rush.

The breathlessness.

The video ends just as he pulls at the door she’s hiding behind and my gasp mirrors hers. I swallow and stare at the ceiling because as powerful as watching this was, it was minuscule compared to the dark and controlling euphoria Augustus evoked inside me.

I’ve never hated myself more for the treacherous and small part of me that loved it.

It justifies his wrong and immoral actions, which shouldn’t be the case.

If I stand the chance of winning against Augustus, I know I have to make my willpower strong and resist him.

As my thoughts drift back to him, I focus on my phone. Since my location is turned on, the videos are around from town. I stop when I stumble on a clip of The Massacre Ball held in Fallthorne from last year.

It’s dark and blurry with smoke but the tall, masked men strolling around and scaring the girls are unmistakable. The crowd does nothing while the girls laugh and record videos. There’s a castle at the end of the street adding to the spookiness.

Every year it’s larger and more haunted than the last.

The organizers have hidden their identities but they have to be as wealthy as the Graysons and Sinclairs.

As I mindlessly scroll, an itch rises at the back of my mind.

A wicked urge.

If what Augustus told me is right, that he and Maverick were there that night to role-play with a willing girl, it must mean they have their own page too where they post videos.

Worrying my lip, I contemplate whether or not to give in to my curiosity.

Perhaps I could use this as a piece of evidence.

Yeah, I have to do this as a precaution, not because I secretly want to learn more about the man who is intent on tormenting me. But it’ll be like searching for a needle in a haystack. I have to try, though.

I begin with his close friend, who will be easy to recognize since I’ve seen him half naked. Besides, how many masked men drag a chain around?

In the search bar, I type Maverick and masked men. Several usernames show up and I check out a couple of profiles, but none of them are him. What could his username be?

Think. Think. Think .

Then it hits me.

Along with the other two tags, I add two more: shirtless and chain. I click on the first profile and zoom in on the face. It’s someone else with plain black eyes. I pull up the second one with the username @nightcrawler and bingo.

It’s him.

Maverick.

I press on the first pinned video with over a million views. He’s stalking a petite girl in a simple white dress, holding that damn chain in his hand. Down a corridor with flickering bulbs on the ceiling.

Wait… is this the school?

My mouth drops when I realize it really is. He must have a security guard in his pocket to get in after-school hours. No wonder he’s conceited as hell.

If I didn’t know the true depths of his and Augustus’s depravity, I would be impressed with how Maverick commands attention in the video.

Whoever is recording on the other end of the camera has perfectly captured his animalistic aura.

The danger of getting caught by him will be disastrous in the best way possible.

The girl’s long blonde hair flies behind her as she runs, but shedoesn’t get far before he yanks her to him with the chain around her waist. Slamming her against the nearest wall, he bends and just as their mouths touch, the video ends.

I become lost in checking the rest of his videos and become disappointed when not a single clip has Augustus, or another partner for that matter.

Even so, Maverick must follow his friend.

Scrolling up to the top of his profile for his follower list, hope flares when I see he’s only following a single person, and my heart skips a beat knowing it’s Augustus.

I eagerly click on it.

The username reads @thedeviluworship .

My stomach does a flip.

How fitting and smug and so him .

Once again, I hesitate whether or not to check out his profile. My thumb hovers above his name. What if he finds out I’m nosing around?

Let sleeping dogs lie, Nessa .

This will be nothing but poking the beast. Sighing in frustration, I throw my phone to the side and shut off the bedside lamp I left on before sliding under the covers. Closing my eyes, I try to catch some much-needed sleep.

One second.

Two.

Three.

“Ugh,” I grumble and snatch my phone. With quick fingers, I find Maverick again and without losing courage, click on Augustus’s username.

I’m too far gone to stop or have any self-preservation.

His page pops up and what I see has me sitting up against the headboard and swallowing a shot of lust.

He’s your student!

The pulse between my legs doesn’t seem to care about my brain’s warning because I’m riveted by Augustus’s perfectly sculpted body straddling a powerful sports bike. His face is shielded in a helmet as herides up a hill.

My stomach hollows out whenever his body and bike dip sideways on a narrow turn. Though there is no fear visible in his bones.

Scrolling to the next, he’s doing a scary stunt in an underground tunnel. When he raises his hands in the air while standing and only balancing the lethal bike with his feet, I’m awestruck.

Danger shouldn’t be so alluring.

I swipe upward and frown when there is no other clips. Despite this, he has over a million followers.

Is he that popular? How and why?

Opening his profile picture, he’s in the ski mask of that awful night. My thighs press together when those sinister and cocky eyes peer into mine.

Anybody may not recognize him by his eyes but I always will.

After all, it was the first feature I noticed about him and the same one I used to uncover his identity. Not that he made it difficult.

In his bio, there’s a link. There’s no hesitation as I click on it, but I’m weirdly disappointed and highly intrigued when it leads to a locked website. A passcode is required to open it.

In order to receive it, I have to sign up with my email.

No fucking way I’m doing that.

Closing the tab, I return to his page and watch his videos again. On repeat. Like a damn fool. Or a silly little girl with a crush.

Since apparently I’ve become stupid, I accidentally save his video.

“No!” I gasp out loud. I quickly unsave it and close my phone.

It vibrates a second later.

Don’t pick it up. Don’t. Don’t.

I pick my phone and there’s a DM from him.

@thedeviluworship: Missing me already, little prey?

Shit. Fuck!

Why didn’t I change my username to a fake name? Grave mistake to make.

@thedeviluworship: Should I come to your place?

@thedeviluworship: Just say the word.

I read his texts on my notifications instead of opening the chat. But I’m fooling no one. He knows I’m reading all of them. Several minutes tick by and I relax thinking he’s forgotten about me.

Only for my phone to buzz again, and almost drop my phone after I read his next message.

@thedeviluworship: Reply, little prey, or I’m coming .