3. Roman
3
ROMAN
I didn’t want to come to the haunted corn maze. I only agreed to make Chloe happy. Truth is, I’ve seen enough real-life horrors to last me a lifetime, so a bunch of locals in Halloween costumes jumping out from behind stalks of corn is more irritating than scary. But my daughter wants me here. Doing shit you don’t want to do is just part of being a dad, no matter how old your kid gets.
“This is so spooky!” Chloe exclaims as we wind our way through the dark maze. She stays close to Trace, clinging to him tightly and practically jumping into his arms when a screaming witch rushes toward us.
“YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE THE MAZE!” she croaks, cackling wildly.
It’s clearly Bonnie, the owner of the most popular bar in town, wearing a fake nose and some green face paint. But Chloe doesn’t seem to notice. She squeals, grabbing Trace’s hand and pulling him along, looking back over her shoulder to make sure I’m following.
Goddammit, I’m too old for this shit.
I trail behind my daughter and her husband, forcing myself to look impressed every time Chloe catches my eye.
“It’s awesome, isn’t it, Dad?” she says, grinning at me.
“Sure is.”
It’s a fun little Halloween attraction, just not for old grumps like me. I’m starting to wonder how much longer it’s going to take to reach the exit when, out of nowhere, a zombie steps out of the shadows, blocking our path. He stares at us, the light of a nearby lantern illuminating spatters of blood on his white shirt. His eyes gleam, and something about him sends my mind reeling back months, years…
Flashing blue lights, the blare of sirens as I step on the gas, chasing the car in front. It’s moving fast—too fast. I watch the car as it starts to swerve, the deafening crash as it smashes into the barrier, flipping over. My partner and I pull up and race toward the wreck. The perp is dead, his white shirt stained with blood, the smell of gasoline hanging thick in the air.
I stumble backward, my head reeling as I take a turn at random, hurrying blindly away from the zombie. Once I’ve put enough distance between us, I stop running, and a familiar sense of shame creeps over me.
“Fucking idiot,” I mutter to myself, grinding my teeth. “It’s a costume. A Halloween costume.”
My throat burns. I hate how out of control the flashbacks make me feel, and knowing a guy in a zombie costume was enough to trigger one makes me think I’m a damn coward. A few more people jump out at me, but I ignore them, striding past without a second glance. Chloe and Trace must have taken a different turn, and my daughter will be disappointed when she realizes I’m not with them, but I can’t let her see how much that stupid zombie affected me. Her dad…her hero…losing his nerve because of some fake blood.
No. She doesn’t need to see that.
I wander aimlessly, snaking through the maze, looking for the exit. My frustration is growing with every step, and I turn another corner, walking straight into somebody. I see the figure stumble backward and land on the ground with a gasp of breath.
“Shit,” I say, crouching down to help. The lanterns don’t offer much brightness, but as I lean down, my heart somersaults inside my chest. A beautiful young woman is blinking up at me, her pretty brown eyes glinting in the darkness. Her sweet rosebud lips are open in surprise, and her curvy body is sprawled out beneath me in a way that makes my pulse race.
Fuck.
I reach down to help the girl up, my hands tingling as I make contact. She’s at least a foot shorter than me, and I have to bend my neck to meet her gaze, concern washing over me as I try to gauge her expression for signs of pain.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, breathing hard. “Didn’t see you there. You okay? Not hurt?”
Now that she’s standing up, I can see her body more clearly, and my mouth goes dry as I take in her plump thighs and thick waist. She’s wearing jeans and a sweater, but the simple outfit looks fucking incredible, hugging her soft curves. My gaze lingers on her necklace—it’s an odd shape, but it’s too dark to make it out.
“I…I’m okay!” the girl says eventually, her sweet voice making my chest ache. “Sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I didn’t see you either. I got lost…there was a clown…” She’s talking so fast that I can barely keep up, her eyes darting all over the place. She takes a step away from me and stumbles a little, almost falling back into the corn. I step forward, ready to help her, but she rights herself with a laugh.
“I’m okay.”
She looks nervous as hell, and it suddenly occurs to me that she’s probably afraid. I’m a big guy—tall and broad—and we’re all alone in a shadowy corner of this corn maze. I want to make her feel safe. The instinct hits me like a tidal wave, and I rack my brain, trying to think of something I can say that will put her at ease. But a second later, a voice calls out from somewhere nearby.
“Freya!”
The girl instantly turns around.
“That’s my friend,” she says. “I should go…sorry again for running into you like that…”
“You don’t need to be sorry.”
I feel a tug of desperation in my gut. I don’t want her to leave. There’s something about her…her laugh, her smile, her sweet little voice…I’m drawn to her in a way that I can’t explain. My cock swells as she looks up at me, blood rushing downward until I’m aching for her. She’s so fucking beautiful. I can’t stop staring. Those chocolate-brown eyes look almost golden in the dim light of the lantern, and my hands clench as I resist the urge to reach out and touch her.
“FREYA!”
The voice from before rings out again, closer this time. It jolts me back to reality, my head spinning as the girl turns from me.
“I…um…see you!” she says, hurrying away before I can say a word in reply. My mind is racing, and I stand there for several minutes, staring at the place where she vanished.
Freya.
It’s a pretty name. Beautiful, like the girl it belongs to. Her face is imprinted on my mind: doe eyes, plump lips, purple hair—so dark it looked almost black. And those curves…every inch of her was soft and thick and so fucking gorgeous.
I’ve never had any interest in women or dating before. I always put my career first, dedicating myself to being the best cop I could be. Then when I adopted Chloe, being her dad moved to the top of my priority list. That’s how things have been for as long as I can remember. But Freya has ignited a spark. She’s stirred up something inside me, something I’ve never felt before. It’s nuts. I don’t even know this girl, but I can’t shake the thought of her.
I want her.
So fucking badly.
But you’ll probably never see her again, I think to myself bitterly.
Cherry Hollow is a small town, but I keep to the forest most of the time, alone. Hell, even if I saw Freya every day, it wouldn’t change anything. She looks about the same age as my daughter, goddammit—far too young for a middle-aged man like me.
I try to calm the storm that’s raging inside me, resolving to find Chloe and Trace and finally get out of this damn maze. I take a step forward, about to follow the same path Freya took a few minutes ago, when a dark shape catches my eye. Something is dangling from a nearby cornstalk, just visible beneath the pale glow of a lantern. I lean in closer and recognize it immediately as the necklace Freya was wearing. It must have been ripped off her neck when she stumbled against the corn.
Gently, I pull it free and examine it, squinting against the darkness. It’s a wooden pendant, roughly carved into the shape of half a love heart, and my stomach sinks unpleasantly as I look at it. It’s obviously one of two halves. No doubt her boyfriend wears the other half.
The son of a bitch. He has no idea how fucking lucky he is.
Knowing Freya belongs to someone else makes me feel a lot worse than it should. She’s a stranger, that’s all. A girl I bumped into in a corn maze. But despite all that, there was a connection—something deep inside that I can’t explain, an intense need I’ve never felt before.
I pocket the necklace, looking out for Freya as I continue through the maze. I’m determined to return it to her, even if I hate thinking of some guy wearing the other half.
After a few more twists and turns, I run into Chloe and Trace.
“Dad!” she says. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Sorry, Coco. Took a wrong turn.”
“We found the exit,” Trace says. “There’s a food truck out front selling pumpkin pie.”
Chloe shivers as a masked man races past us, then reaches out to take my arm. “Come on, Dad, I’m officially spooked out. Let’s go eat some pie.”
I don’t argue. My hand closes around the necklace in my pocket, my other arm linking with Chloe’s. Once we finally reach the exit, I pay for three slices of pumpkin pie and some cocoa, and we sit on a bench to eat. Chloe and Trace chat animatedly about the maze, snuggling up close, but all I can think about is Freya. Is she still in the maze? Did she go home already? Where is home for her?
An idea strikes me, and I set down my pie, leaning toward my daughter. “Hey, can I borrow your phone for a second? Need to check the weather for tomorrow.”
“Sure.”
She hands it over with a smile, and I feel a twinge of guilt for lying to her. As soon as she turns back to Trace, I open the Facebook app and start a search.
Surely there can’t be too many Freyas in a small town like Cherry Hollow?
My heart stutters when I find her. The sight of her pretty face smiling up at me from the screen is enough to steal the breath from my lungs, and I hurriedly click on her profile.
Freya Marston
Lives in Cherry Hollow
Works at Mountain Brew
Her page is mostly empty and hasn’t been updated for a while, but the words ‘Mountain Brew’ are all I need. It’s a coffee shop in town, just a short drive from my cabin. Part of me wants to stalk every inch of her profile, but I don’t want Chloe to get suspicious of how long I’m taking, so I hurriedly delete the search and close the app, handing the phone back to her. Anticipation is already thrumming through me, filling my chest like a helium balloon. Tomorrow, I’ll head to Mountain Brew first thing and give Freya her necklace back. I’ll get to see that curvy angel again, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Fuck, I’m definitely losing my mind.
It’s pathetic the effect this girl is having on me, but I don’t give a damn. For the first time in a long time, I feel alive. Awake. Focused on something other than the past.
After I part ways with Chloe and Trace, I go straight home and collapse into bed. As usual, I can’t sleep, but tonight it’s for a different reason…
Tonight it’s because of the curvy beauty from the corn maze.