Chapter 5
“He’s seriously fucking here this time,” Ella gasped, her eyes twinkling.
“Fuck, I think I might puke,” I muttered as the nerves made my stomach clench with excitement.
“Pull it together, Róis,” Sinéad ordered me as she eyed Ella. “Where’s Sara?”
I gasped as I heard her shout from the door, “Róisín said come in; she’ll be five minutes.”
NO. She was fucking bringing him in! Ella collapsed into laughter while Sinéad bit back her smile and planted her half-drunk cup of tea in front of me.
“Okay, so we’re meeting Professor Ride this evening,” she managed to get out before giggles started from her too. I heard a deep voice at the door and zeroed in on Ella.
“You fucking bitches, I’ll get you back for this.” She ignored me as she whipped around to see Sara’s evil grin and the hulking, delectable, entirely edible form of Ronan standing behind her. He cocked one eyebrow at me over the girls’ heads, letting me know he was on to their little act.
“Here, sit down and have a cup of tea, Ronan,” Sara fake-simpered at him while Ella tried nudging him towards the kitchen table.
“No,” I jumped out of my seat, and they all stared at my rude outburst. “I mean, no need. I’m ready to go now, if you are, like?” I finished lamely.
Ronan smiled at me and then slowly looked me up and down, taking in my tight ripped jeans and clingy crop top.
“Yeah, I’m ready to go,” he said before turning to Ella. “Thanks though,” he smiled lazily at her and her cheeks flushed.
I grinned, delighted her smart-ass game got turned on her and led the way out the front door, shouting a hurried goodbye to the girls. I finally looked at Ronan head on after we both slid into the car.
“Okay mystery man, where are you taking me?” I asked. He gave me a smile that made the dimple pop out on his left cheek and his green eyes dance.
“Well Róisín, you seem pretty fearless to me, like you might enjoy a little adrenaline rush.” I waited as he trailed off, no idea where he could possibly mean that fit that description.
“So, we’re going to test how brave you can really be,” he finished, and it dawned on me: he was taking me to the fucking nightmare realm.
I forced a laugh out. “Halloween isn’t till the weekend, and don’t you think that’s a bit juvenile anyway?” I tried to tease.
I detested those haunted houses; they were way, way too realistic and I got barred from the one in Cork after I punched the actor in the nose when he wouldn’t stop following me the whole way through the twelve rooms. I’d nearly started crying in terror.
Now I was going to have to endure the whole thing with Ronan watching me?
“It’s fun to be a little juvenile sometimes, don’t you think?” he asked, eyes shining with mirth. I leaned over to change the radio station to hide my trepidation, and the rest of the drive passed in companionable chit-chat.
When we finally parked and reached the entrance my stomach was a knot of anxiety, but I plastered a smile on my face so he wouldn’t see how nervous I was. By the knowing look he gave me and his twinkling eyes, it was obvious he saw through me.
We got our instructions from the fella working the entrance and entered the creepy-as-fuck two-story house.
I lifted my chin and barrelled straight into the first room before Ronan, faking my courage.
The room was pitch black with tiny red lights blinking to show our way to the exit at the other end.
I felt something brush against my cheek and as I gasped and stepped back into Ronan’s chest, I let out a shriek when something grabbed my ankle.
He chuckled softly in my ear, “Come on, Róisín, show me how brave you are.”
I stopped backing into him, but he grabbed my hand, which made me feel a modicum better as he started to pull me through the room. I could feel hands brushing my hair now and the creepiest voice hissed into my ear, “Well, aren’t you a pretty one?”
I screamed again and clutched Ronan’s arm, desperate to get through the room. By the time we passed the fifth one, which depicted a graveyard with a little girl in a white nightdress singing softly, painted ghostly pale and following me everywhere while trying to hold my hand, I’d had enough.
I knew they targeted the person that was the most freaked out, and I tried to laugh through the first three rooms, but by now I was leaving nail marks in Ronan’s hand as I grasped him in a vice grip, and I didn’t think my heart could take any more. My nerves were shot.
As we exited into the hallway to make our way to the next room and another bastard in a chainsaw mask made a beeline for me, I spun on Ronan.
“I’ve had enough. Seriously, I want to get out now. I’m not doing it anymore,” my voice was shaking as I clutched his hand.
He frowned at me as he looked into my eyes, taking in how terrified I was. “Róisín, you’re nearly halfway, come on. I’ll hold your hand the whole way,” he pulled me toward him.
“NO,” I half shouted. “I can’t do the rest. I want to get out.” I planted my feet as he tried to gently tug me toward him. The creepy mask dickhead sidled into a hidden door without breaking character, and a few seconds later the fella from the front came into the hall.
“Are you alright, love?” he asked me gently.
“No; you need to let me out now.” I snapped, and he turned to Ronan.
“If she wants to leave, we’ll go and forget the rest,” Ronan said calmly as he started rubbing soothing circles over my knuckles where he still held my hand. The front desk worker turned back to me.
“Look, I can let you out now if you want, but the rest honestly isn’t that bad. You’ve made it this far; you can surely get through the next few rooms. It’ll be over before you know it, and you’ll be happy you finished it,” he smiled at me encouragingly and I could feel Ronan watching me.
Now that I’d had a bit of a reprieve from the house of ultimate nightmares, I was starting to feel pretty stupid.
Kids went through this all the time, and I was throwing a fit halfway.
I paused as I debated with myself and they both waited, before I gave a stiff nod and saw Ronan beam at me out of the corner of my eye.
The front desk worker opened the next door to guide us on and gave my shoulder a squeeze. The second half was terrifying but not as intense; I had a feeling your man told them to ease up on me a bit because the actors weren’t draping themselves over me or pulling at my clothes anymore. Thank God.
I started to feel the exhilaration pumping through me as we entered the last room; just this one and I’d have made it all the way through one of these nightmares for the first time ever.
The last room was a depiction of The Conjuring, which I’d never watched in full, and the parts I had seen were from under a blanket with my hands plugging my ears.
As we edged around the creepy-as-fuck actor playing the possessed girl, I started to speed up to get through the door behind the bed, when the bitch launched out of the bed at me.
The way they had this girl done up was going to give me nightmares for months.
I screamed and pulled free of Ronan as I sprinted for the door with her scuttling after me like a spider.
I burst through the door still screaming and felt the world turn upside down as I found myself staring up at the ceiling.
I blinked in confusion as I caught my breath before Ronan’s face appeared above me with a barely suppressed grin on his upside-down head.
“Graceful as ever, Róisín.”
I pushed myself from my back onto my knees to see the railing I’d toppled myself upside down over before Ronan started breaking his hole laughing.
“It’s not funny, you dickhead, I could have broken my neck.” I peered into the doorway to find the actor breaking character completely as she clutched her sides laughing at me.
“Or hers,” I spat out, before a smile cracked my face and I started laughing uncontrollably too.
As first dates went, that was probably up there as one of the most embarrassing things that could have happened.
Ronan helped me up before pulling me into his chest and tipping my chin up to look at him, that half-smile that made his dimple pop back on his face.
“Well, are you glad you kept going?” he teased.
“Aside from my display of acrobats at the end you mean?” I grinned up at him. “Yeah, I feel pretty invincible right now actually.”
“Well, why don’t we get a drink and you can relive all your heroics to me?”
“A drink sounds unreal right about now,” I nodded as he shifted to keep one arm slung over my shoulder and we walked down the street to the nearest pub.
A couple of drinks later, we pulled up outside mine. I was feeling slightly tipsy from how quickly I floored my beers with all the adrenaline rushing through me. That had thankfully subsided now, and I was feeling happy and a little reckless.
Ronan killed the engine and leaned towards me, cupping my cheek in his big hand.
“Did I already tell you how beautiful you look tonight?” he asked huskily.
My heart pounded as I stared into those mesmerising eyes with thick brown lashes fanning across his chiselled cheeks as he looked down at me. Those kind of lashes were unjust on a man when any woman would kill for them.
“No, it must have slipped your mind,” I answered in a hushed voice, totally trapped in his gaze.
Should I ask him in? If I did, there was no way it wouldn’t lead to riding, and as much as I desperately wanted this man on top of me, I was too nervous it might fracture whatever was happening here too.
“It didn’t slip my mind because I’ve been thinking it on repeat since I picked you up, but that mostly runs on repeat in my head every time I see you.”
I felt my cheeks heat with a blush as I tried to brush off the compliment with a self-deprecating remark.
“Oh yeah sure, I’m always at my best with unbrushed hair and half my makeup down my face on a Wednesday morning…”
He started shaking his head before I finished my sentence.