6. June
Chapter 6
June
I frowned, my head swimming.
Why did he care who I slept with? That was eleven years ago.
Gunshots exploded from beyond the bedroom door, jolting my entire body in his iron grip. “What the hell was that?”
Carter’s head snapped toward the door, his focus broken for a split second—just enough. I twisted my wrists, breaking free from his grasp.
His eyes whipped back to mine.
With a fierce cry, I shoved him hard in the chest, every ounce of strength behind it. He stumbled back, crashing toward the floor, nausea whirring in my gut.
Carter hit the floor with a grunt as I spun around on the bed, scrambling across the sheets. My fingers fumbled for the doorknob, yanking it open. I bolted down the hallway, my heart pounding in my ears. I glanced over my shoulder as I reached the top of the staircase leading down into a main room.
He burst through it and came to a screeching halt as he spotted me, his mask in hand. “Where do you think you’re going, dollface?”
I stiffened as my childhood nickname fell from the lips he wiped with the back of his hand.
Out of here.
Away from you, and this...
I looked around before taking the steps two at a time, the silks hanging from the ceiling a mesmerizing site.
Rushing through the crowd, my shoulder knocked into a man wearing a warthog mask with a woman in tow. I reeled around, reaching out in a reticent apology, then sprinted toward the sky-high windows.
Where is the door?
How do I get out of here?
My heart pounded like a wild drum against my ribs, and each beat sending a sharp, throbbing pain to my temples, making the world tilt and sway around me. The air was thick, too heavy, pressing down on me as I stumbled, my feet unsteady beneath me. I spun around, eyes darting through the sea of masked faces, all blurred and distorted like a fever dream.
Where the hell is he?
A wave of nausea clawed up my throat, acidic and bitter, as my gaze locked onto the grotesque spectacle above. Bodies swaying gently from the rafters, their skin a sickly shade of mauve, lips turned an unnatural shade of blue. Their eyes, lifeless and glassy, followed me, accusing, condemning. My stomach churned, the bile threatening to spill over as the stench of decay invaded my senses, thick and suffocating. I couldn’t look away, though every instinct screamed at me to run.
The dead hung there like grotesque ornaments draped in the blinding light, their lifeless eyes staring into the abyss.
Who would do such a thing?
“No, no, stop.” The door slammed shut with a bone-jarring finality, snuffing out the man’s cries like a candle extinguished by a sudden gust of wind.
A rush of shivers raced down my spine as a cold wave of dread washed over me—the walls closing in.
Men and women glided through the room, their laughter a thin veneer over the underlying tension, champagne flutes held high like trophies of a celebration that was anything but joyous. A mask obscured each face, a grotesque menagerie of animals in all shapes and sizes—some regal, others nightmarish.
A woman in a striking red cocktail dress, adorned with a feathered cardinal mask, loomed over a cowering woman sprawled on the floor. The black-haired woman trembled, her long locks cascading like a dark waterfall while ropes bound her ankles, leaving her helpless against the encroaching menace.
The woman in red gripped a large, serrated knife in her right hand, the blade glinting. She seized the black-haired woman with her free hand, yanking her upward and exposing the delicate curve of her neck.
No.
My stomach dropped.
“Miranda, stop this, please.” The young woman grabbed the woman in red’s wrist, pulling at her hair.
“I told you that you would be sorry. Didn’t I?”
“I didn’t know. I swear it.” The woman wailed, her entire body trembling.
The masked woman cackled as she placed the knife at the woman’s throat and dragged the blade, splitting her flesh wide open.
My mouth gaped with a silent scream, and my stomach lurched, churning with vitriol.
The woman clawed at her neck, her fingers slick with crimson, blood pooling in dark, glistening puddles. The rope yanked her legs into the air, suspending her above a circle of ornate goblets that collected her lifeblood. Her body convulsed, a visceral dance of agony.
Applause erupted.
“It’s all so erotic, isn’t it?” Carter murmured near my ear as he wrapped his arms around my torso and pressed his hips into my ass. “Vengeance being placed solely in your hands.”
“You’re insane.” I gasped. “You’re all insane. ”
His free hand slid to my waist. “I’m perfectly sane,” he murmured, “but tonight, I’ve granted myself the luxury of indulging in what I truly desire.”
My stomach flip-flopped as I shook my head, my face burning as my eyes remained on the twisted scene in front of me.
I swallowed hard.
How was a society of freaks able to operate outside of the law ?
Were the police in on this?
Why didn’t they care?
I glanced to the right.
A stunned, teary-eyed blonde woman trembled next to a man in a pig mask, her gaze fixed on the woman hanging from the ceiling. The hanging woman’s hands hung limp, her fingertips just a hair’s width away from the filled goblet beneath her.
Was she trapped like me with no way out?
How did sweet Carter get involved in something so horrid?
Carter moved his hand to my lower stomach, making my insides burn. My heart pounded as I sucked in a deep breath, my cheeks heating with the fire inside of me. “Let me go.”
He chuckled. “Still that smitten teenage girl, I wonder?” His hand moved lower, pulling up my negligee in front of the dozens of people roaming about.
I was just a thirteen-year-old girl when I first developed a crush on him, blossoming each year until the age of eighteen when we shared our first kiss. The next day, he promised it would never happen again.
He’d disappeared from existence ever since—keeping his word .
Why so hot and cold?
How—
The soft material pressed against my clit, making my stomach twist.
No, no, no.
Not like this.
Not now.
Not after everything...
Carter dipped his fingers down the front of my panties and grazed my clit between the folds, his arm crushing my breasts.
“S-Stop.” I jerked against him.
My stomach roiled as I twisted my legs and squirmed, pinching his hand between my thighs.
“I’m going to take everything from you. Just like you did for Amber.”
My heartbeat raced, pounding against my ribs as if it might break free. Nausea clawed up my throat, the acrid taste of my last meal with Ethan threatening to make a reappearance on the floor.
Oh God.
Ethan.
A venomous bloom spread through my veins, clenching my fist at my side and my other digging nails into his arm. I threw my elbow back, slamming it into his stomach.
He groaned and coughed, and I turned in his faulty grasp, striking him in the throat below his mask.
No wonder I couldn’t find him .
He stumbled to the side, sputtering, and I ran.
Darting to the left, I sucked in a deep breath, pushing my way through the throng of people, my bare feet slapping against the floors. My gaze snapped left and right, the front door looming just ahead.
Would they stop me?
On a shaky exhale, I bolted, bursting through the front door, the forest air slapping me in the face. I ran down the stone pathway, hitting the driveway without looking back.
I’m not dying tonight.