CHAPTER TWELVE
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AT LEAST EVERYTHING quieted down in front of the screen. Whoever kept tossing around apples seemed to have found something better to do. Though Raj kept a watch from the sides and locked up what remained of the caramel apples.
He’d thought he was helping. He did buy a bushel of the damn things after all. May as well sell a few to recoup the losses.
How could Adam think that he’d ever want that to happen? Maybe Adam planned it all to garner sympathy for…
Raj shook his head. That was traipsing too far into insane conspiracy for his taste.
He’d looked genuinely spooked up there. No way he was in on it.
Betrayal and anger boiled in his veins from Adam’s accusation, but also for the man.
All he did was announce a movie. No one deserved what happened to him.
A shadow stretched across the doorway to the outer hallway. Raj kept peering over at it, waiting for it to vanish into the night. But there he lingered, just out of sight, watching. For what?
For who?
“What are you doing?” Logan asked. “Sit down and watch the movie.”
“Right. Sure.” Raj folded up his legs and plummeted to the floor.
“I meant the chair.” Logan jerked his chin to the two loungers they pulled in from outside. There’d been plans for a VIP section near Burt, maybe for those who donated generously. But that was for later. Since Mr. Soup wasn’t a puppet with a removable head, the kids didn’t care.
Nervous, Raj stood again, right into the line of the projector.
The audience groaned and shouted, “Down in front!” as Raj’s head took up half the screen.
“Sorry, sorry.” He bent half over, and his back screamed at him. Too many years hunched in a chair had turned his spine into a toppling Jenga tower. Hunched, he groaned to Logan, “I’m gonna check for stragglers out front.”
“Okay?” his partner said, peering from the side of Burt. “Get back in time for the feature, though.”
“I will.” He wouldn’t miss his opportunity to introduce Burt and maybe relive those early days on sets.
Whimpering, Raj pressed a hand to his lumbar and tried to crack it.
It was less a fast snap, more someone walking over bubble wrap, but he was able to stand and found himself facing the entrance haunted by a ghost.
Adam stared him up and down. His silver eyes were in shadow, only the gaunt tip of his nose and chin visible below the darkness. A single quick gasp erupted from him, then he turned and wandered off, not saying a word.
So much for Raj explaining his innocence. That man was the type to carry a grudge to the grave. Was that to be his life here? Forever at odds with the dapper twink until they were toothless and gray? Maybe they’d take swings at each other with their canes while walking down the sidewalk.
Raj started to chuckle at the idea, before it hit him that he was picturing a future with Adam Stein. One of chaos and feuds, sure, but he’d never wondered what a man would look like with no hair and a paunch before.
“I am losing it,” Raj muttered, clinging to the sides of his head.
“What’s that?”
Raj jerked, fearing his confusing nemesis crush would appear out of thin air. “Oh, Carl.” He breathed a sigh of relief as it was only their maintenance man. “How are we looking?”
“Those kettle corn drums blew a fuse. I’m replacing ‘em before the next intermission. But one of the customers, uh…that one.” He jabbed a finger into the theater to a rather svelte person in a scarecrow costume sitting at the back. “Said they heard a dripping sound coming from the cellar.”
Raj closed his eyes tightly. They were always worried about the damn dripping. “I’ll check on it,” he said. To at least allay their fears that there was nothing to worry about. The sump pump could handle it.
“Thanks. If you need help…”
“I’ll call you.” Raj jerked his phone at him, then he tucked it into his pocket and took off down the hallway. The cellar was a strange one. While there was a maintenance basement under the hotel proper, for some reason, it also had a root cellar off to the side, which required him to head outside.
As Raj slipped through the exit door, a blast of cold air chilled him to the bone.
The winds pushed dreary clouds across the moon, hiding his only source of light.
Trying to not take that as an ominous warning, Raj undid the latch on the cellar doors.
He heaved one open and listened. A slow drip, then plop, echoed from deep inside the brick and mud cellar.
Great. What am I doing in my best suit?
Why, I’m waltzing through mud and investigating a thousand-dollar piece of equipment that only seems to work once every week. Thanks for asking.
Leaving the door open, Raj descended the rickety stairs. He kept one hand on the bricks while fishing for the light switch. All the while, the slow drip, drip, drip, beckoned him into the darkness.
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Adam preferred to think of himself as determined and unflappable.
Some people, however—parents, boyfriends, dentists, grocery store clerks—called him stubborn.
That streak of iron had led to him walking into a prom that’d all but banned him, where he pretended to have fun for four hours just to see the look on their faces.
Of course, in retrospect, he’d have enjoyed himself more staying home and watching movies with a few friends instead, but then they’d have won. And Adam could never let that happen.
Not then.
Not now.
He clenched his hand, steeling his nerves to walk back in there, greet Burt Soup, and introduce not only him but the movie. I can do this. I’ve faced far worse from far better and come out ahead.
Adam smiled at the image of his bullies’ faces melting as he shrugged off their attacks like he was bulletproof. Shoring up the last of his hard-won confidence, he took a step into the ballroom.
What about New York?
That unbidden thought fluttered in his mind like a raven through an open window. He jerked, his foot hovering above the polished floor. Rather than fly back out, the thought perched above his door, peering into his soul and daring him to challenge it.
His foot spun him around, and he damn near ran out, his back on fire. As he hit the cool air of the hall, he glanced up at the spider rigged to drop on anyone who triggered the sensor. Cute. A bit passé perhaps, but that nostalgia hit made it all the more precious.
He hadn’t seen Mr. Choudhary since he bounded past on some mission. Maybe he was planning a huge show for the audience. Pull out all the stops, every animatronic at his disposal, even scare actors. Ooh, dancing zombies—that’d get the town to love him.
Pain stung the back of Adam’s eyes as he stared into the room. Kids were oohing and ahhing over the movie, their parents either watching along or busy on their phones. No one defended him, no one wanted him. And he was going to walk right back in and act like nothing happened.
Shit. I should pee first.
Who knew what else the little shits had planned. He refused to go in there unprepared. Gazing up for a bathroom sign, Adam trucked down the hallway, ran into a dead end, and turned around. “Where the hell is the damn…?”
A straw hat bounded in the distance. Adam took off, waving to the only soul he’d seen.
“Excuse me.” He skidded to a halt as they turned their bony, straw-stuffed shoulders.
Adam’s jaw dropped at the intricate details of the costume.
It wasn’t just the aging on the burlap, the mud stains up the jeans, or the straw poking through seams. A smell of fields, corn stalks, and even bird shit wafted in the air.
“Amazing work,” he admitted before shaking his head. “Do you know the way to the bathroom?”
The scarecrow answered by raising a gloved finger and pointing down the hall to a door. As Adam looked up, a red sign glowed ‘ bathroom’ above it. “Thanks,” he said. A great gasp broke from the ballroom, telling Adam they were nearing the end of the movie. He didn’t have a lot of time.
Taking off, he only glanced back once at the mysterious scarecrow walking away. They didn’t make a sound other than the swish of straw bouncing inside the burlap.
Who is that? Skinny as hell and tall didn’t leave a lot of options in the town. Either way, that was a problem to solve later. Adam hit the plain, metal door, shoved on the latch, and stumbled into cold air.
He blinked, fully confused. Instead of tile and urinals, he’d wandered into old grass and a barely tended path leading toward the barn store. The hotel lights didn’t even reach back here. Only the moon could guide him.
Another joke at his expense. Hilarious. Adam spun around and reached for the door handle, only for it to stick. He tried once more, but it wouldn’t give.
“Great. I’m trapped outside. And I can either walk all the way around the damn building in the dark to get in, or…”
Go home. Forget Burt, forget the one damn thing he loved about this season more than anything else. Forget showing Raj that he knew something about movies and magic, too.
Adam had never felt more tempted to quit in his life. He checked his phone to find it was only eight-thirty. Would it really be that sad if he sat on his couch watching the same movie in his pajamas instead of this getup? At least he had good beer in his…
A light poured through the bushes. Curiosity ensnared him, and Adam poked about the thick foliage.
A mysterious cellar door that’s wide open. Not spooky at all.
He reached for the door to get his bearings when a great grunting broke from inside, followed by a rabid splashing. Anyone with sense would have noped out of there. The problem with being obsessed with the macabre was that the worst scenarios only intrigued Adam more.
Taking care with the stairs, Adam eased his way down into the mysterious cellar. He used the door for leverage until he moved too far from its reach. It slammed into place. The grunting stopped. Then the splashing increased.
A flicker of light cascaded across a silver floor. Adam thought it beautiful until he realized that it wasn’t metal—the place was flooded.
“Who closed the…?” A lantern swung from the extended hand, the other clutching a wrench. Adam gulped, but instead of a machete-wielding-psychopath, he gazed at a far worse outcome—his greatest enemy.
“What are you doing here?” Adam and Raj said together.
Raj rebounded first. “What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to fix a leak.”
“A leak?” Adam eased for the lower stair before the rest sank under the waves. He wasn’t about to risk his shoes and remained standing above Raj. “You’re better off building a boat and getting two of every animal.”
He got the slow glare of a man incapable of realizing the humor of the situation. “Why the hell are you here?”
“I was looking for the bathroom,” he said.
“And you were going to piss in my basement?” Raj gasped as if Adam were some feral animal.
“No. I was trying to find one, and someone pointed me in this direction. Do you get a perverse joy out of putting a bathroom sign above the exit?”
Raj blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“Right there.” Adam gestured back as if they could see through two walls. “It says ‘bathroom’ in glowing red letters.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I saw it with my own two eyes.”
“And I’m supposed to believe them over my sign invoices?
” he snapped. Raj was a mess. While Adam would normally take delight in this, a foreign prickle of concern rose up his back.
Raj had undone his tie in a haphazard fashion, tossed his jacket over a piece of pipe, and his poor pants were drenched up to his knees.
His thick, wavy hair was all tossed to the side like a bird nested in it.
Or he just woke after a night of hanging onto the headboard for dear life.
Adam coughed, trying to shake that thought from his mind. Then he noticed Raj had rolled up his sleeves again. “I’m sorry. I am not having a good night.”
“Join the club,” Raj said.
“I’ll just be leaving.” Adam slunk up the stairs backward, his eyes darting around Raj while unable to take in his face.
The man was swinging around a wrench as he sweated through his white shirt.
All he needed was to undo the top buttons to let his unruly black chest hair out, and Adam would be a pile on the floor.
“If you see Logan, send him my way,” Raj said, throwing the fetid cold water on Adam’s libido.
Gritting his teeth, he gave a terse, “Fine,” then pushed on the door.
It bounded on its hinges, but wouldn’t open.
“Um…” Adam tried again. He scraped his palms over the latch to find a button or lever. “Is there a trick to this?”
“Let me see,” Raj moaned. He splashed through the water before rising up the stairs. There was nowhere for Adam to go, and they didn’t exactly design cellar staircases to fit two men comfortably.
Not that having his back nearly pressed against Raj’s chest was uncomfortable. He just feared his heart might pound so hard it’d crack a rib.
Raj pawed at the latch, finding the same thing Adam did—nothing.
“Here.” He shoved the lantern into Adam’s hands, then forced his way up to the top.
Adam turned, the light swaying in his hands as Raj balled up his fists and started punching at the door.
When that didn’t work, he took to slamming his shoulder into the wood.
“This. This isn’t funny.”
“Am I laughing?” Adam said.
“Hello!” Raj knocked on the door before shouting, “Is anyone out there!” When no one answered, his knocking became frantic. Fists flying, he started running up at the thing. The door bucked in its hinges but wouldn’t let go.
“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re claustrophobic.”
“You don’t understand.” Raj hit the door again. “This place is already ankle deep.” Another smack. “And the water’s still pouring in.”
Adam’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“If we don’t get out of here, we could drown by morning.”
No longer caring about personal space, Adam leaped up beside Raj. Both of them pounded on the door screaming, “Help!”
Only the lone caw of a passing crow answered.