Chapter 14
Kayla
Ares asked me if I could work a shift at his bar this week, and I agreed because it just so happened to fall on my night off.
Honestly, I would rather work than sit at home doing nothing.
Everyone is in costume, while loud screams and laughter fill the air.
I know exactly what a lot of them are doing, and I want to join in.
Nixie stops by the bar early in the night to check in, something Ares says she does most nights. It allows her to sit and take a break from being on her feet. I love watching her stroll through crowds and demand their attention. I want to be her when I grow up.
Vero bounces in and drapes himself over the bar.
“Why do you have to work?” he whines. “I would much rather be chasing you.”
“Because Ares needed an extra pair of hands.”
Vero steals the cherry off a drink I just made, laughing as I slap his hand away and put my own over the top.
“You can’t touch other people’s drinks,” I playfully scold.
He pokes his tongue out, and the stem of the cherry is tied in a knot. “I wanted to show you a trick. Now please come and play—I am so bored. ARES! Where are you? Please let Kayla come play with me.”
I snort. “Ares will be back shortly, and you need to go back to work. I’m sure there are plenty of people to scare, and you are good at it.”
His face gets swallowed by his huge smile. “I am good at it, and I don’t even have to try. Why do you like me if I’m scary?”
I lean across the bar and take his face in my hand as I smile back at him. “You don’t scare me, Vero, but it’s your job to scare people.”
He sighs and leans in, pressing a kiss to my lips. “Fine. I will go scare people since it’s my job, but tell Ares he owes me nuggets.”
“Okay.”
Vero jumps from his stool and screams as he looks up to see Cave walking into the bar.
Ares has mentioned that he normally doesn’t leave the cornfield unless it’s to eat.
Cave looks around, and I wave him over. He is hesitant at first, but then he cautiously moves through the bar and sits on a stool in the corner.
Vero skirts along the far side of the bar to get away from him.
I really love how scared he is of Cave. Although he is spooky as fuck, I think the Scarecrow is just misunderstood.
“Hi, Cave, is everything okay? Ares will be back in a minute.” He doesn’t say anything, though his eyes meet mine in recognition. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“I wear the shape of everything but have no shape of my own. I follow without being invited and leave without being asked. I am closest to you when your back is turned, and I vanish the moment you face me. I have been here longer than you know.”
The blood drains from my face as I open my mouth and snap it shut. The answer is a shadow, but why would he be giving me that riddle? Cave doesn’t wait for me to respond; instead, he gets up, turns, and leaves the bar.
I try to ignore what Cave said and get back to work; maybe a shadow isn’t the answer.
I need to think about it again when I’m not distracted.
Ares is taking a hell of a lot longer to get back than I expected.
All he told me was that Clay needed his help with something and he would return as quickly as he could.
Once the crowd dies down a little, I start cleaning so I don’t have a list as long as my arm when it’s time to close.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I look up, finding the alley is full of people and nothing out of the ordinary.
Everything looks normal, and I go back to wiping down the bar.
It’s nothing, Kayla. You are just rattled by Cave. That’s all.
Everything is fine for the next half an hour until I feel it again, but this time my skin crawls.
After years of going through what I did, I have learned to listen to my instincts when they scream that something isn’t right.
I stand in the doorway and look out into the alley, peering at the people still going in and out of the gift shop.
Two men in costumes are standing outside the bar, and someone is leaving the alley, but I can only see their back.
I watch as he disappears around the corner.
“What are you looking at?”
The sound that comes out of me is embarrassing. I spin and my elbow connects with something solid. The glass in my hand tips, and cold liquid runs down my wrist and drips to the floor between us. Ares looks at the puddle and then up at me.
“Fucking shit! Do not sneak up on a girl like that.”
Ares just smiles. “I stand by my statement. What were you looking at?”
“Just someone walking out of the alley,” I say. “Cave came in earlier.”
“That’s weird. He normally never comes in once the chases start. He refuses to let his cornfield be empty.”
“He gave me a riddle.”
Ares is quiet for a second. “He’s a weird one, but generally harmless when he is out of the cornfield.”
“He spooked me a little. Why would he leave to deliver me a riddle? It makes no sense.”
“I wouldn’t try to understand him. Sometimes when he comes in, he will talk in riddles, but not all of them make sense.”
We move back into the bar and fall into a rhythm, finally finishing up and then closing down.
“Storage room,” Ares says, throwing me the keys. “An order came in today and I need to log it in before morning or Nixie might have both our heads.”
“That seems a little dramatic since I don’t even work here. She can have your head, though.”
Ares laughs. “Don’t underestimate Nixie before coffee. You have been here a few times now, enough to be considered part of the furniture.”
“Guess I better go get that box then.”
I duck out the back and unlock the storage room, pushing the door open with my shoulder, then feeling around for the light switch. The room is small and has a weird smell, probably from a cleaner they use. I find the delivery on the shelf, and hear Ares come in, the door slamming shut behind him.
“I found the box,” I say, but he doesn’t answer. When I turn around, he is standing right behind me, leaning against the adjacent shelving. “Are you okay?”
He nods as he pushes off the shelving and moves in front of me, his hand gripping my waist. “Fuck it,” he whispers, and walks me backward until my back hits the door.
I look up at him. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably,” he agrees, and his mouth finds my jaw as I tip my head back against the wood. His hands slide up my sides as he kisses down my neck.
“Ares,” I groan.
He pulls back to look at me, and I hold his gaze because I need to say this before we go any further.
“Since I know more about you now, before we start, I need you to understand that if you use this to get something from me, I will walk away and won’t come back. That is a rule you cannot break.”
Ares goes completely still. I know he likes rules, Vero shared as much on one of his verbal diarrhea days.
“No manipulation,” he says.
His mouth comes back to my jaw, and his hands squeeze my hips. Fuck, he feels so good pressed up against me. He drags his mouth down my neck again, and it’s torture.
My grip on his shirt tightens as I pull his body closer to mine. “You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Doing what?” he asks, and I swear I can feel his lips smirk against my skin.
“Going slow, it’s torture.”
He pulls back, and for the first time, I really see him without his walls up. “Yeah, I am.”
I let go of his shirt and slide my hands up the back of his neck, dragging him down to my mouth. He makes a sound against my lips as he pulls my body flush against his.
“Kayla,” he whispers.
“Don’t stop.”
Ares’s hands tug at my jeans, and mine go to his belt. His mouth finds my throat again, and I drag my nails down his back, causing him to inhale a sharp breath. When he finally gets my jeans down, I make a sound that would have embarrassed me if I had the capacity right now.
“Good?” he asks against my neck as I toe off my shoes.
“If you stop to ask me that again, I will lose my fucking mind.”
He chuckles while I shimmy my pants the rest of the way off, and I almost stop to stare in surprise. This side of Ares is one I’d like to witness, but then his hands move, and I forget what I was going to do.
Ares lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his hips as he slams my back against the door.
He isn’t gentle, but I don’t want that right now.
Even so, his movements are controlled, which is infuriating and so fucking attractive at the same time.
As he yanks my panties out of the way and thrusts inside me, I tip my head back and grab a nearby shelf.
Something falls off, but neither of us stop.
“Fuck,” I say as he stretches me as much as I can take.
He moves, fucking me against the door, and I am unable to think about anything else. I match him thrust for thrust. He wants people to need him, and I’m not sure if he realizes just how much I need him right now.
When I come apart, I bite down on his neck.
His arm is wrapped tight around me, pulling me in close as I ride out the waves until he joins me, whispering my name against my skin.
We catch our breath for a few moments, then I drop my legs from around his waist, and he holds me steady while I find my balance.
As I retrieve my jeans from the floor beside me and pull them up, he reaches past me and picks up whatever dropped on the floor, placing it back on the shelf.
“Do we need to finish the inventory?” I ask him.
“I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
With a nod, I open the storage room door, and he follows me out.
As we walk out of the bar and lock up, I get the weird feeling again, almost as if we are being watched, but when I look, there is no one around.
Ares appears unbothered and leads me to where his motorbike is parked, then hands me a helmet.
The sound of his bike starting cuts through the silence, so I climb on, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my face against his back.
The ride back to my loft doesn’t take as long at this time of night. When he pulls up to the curb, I want to ask him to come in, but I won’t. I worked so hard to gain my independence, and it was bad enough that I called Clay to check out my apartment.
“Make sure you lock your door and windows.”
I snort. “Yes, Dad.”
“Do you need me to come upstairs and put you over my knee?”
I lick my lips, the “yes” on the tip of my tongue. “Maybe next time.”
Handing him back the helmet, I see the corners of his eyes crinkle behind the visor—the asshole must be smiling.
He waits for me to go inside before I hear him ride away. I lock the door behind me and walk to the window, making sure it’s also locked, just as he asked. That motherfucker is good, and I bet he knows it as well.
When I move away from the window, I pause.
The unsettled feeling is stronger this time, but as I look around, there is nothing out of place. Fuck, why can’t I shake this sensation?
I sit on the edge of my bed and look around the room, trying to rationalize this with myself. Cave spooked me tonight, and my nervous system is a wreck this time of year as it brings up my trauma from Aaron.
I grab my phone and open my messages app, finding the last one I sent to Clay. Surprisingly, he doesn’t make me feel stupid for the way I feel, even though it’s probably nothing.
I know it’s late, but the feeling is back. I just wanted someone to know.
Putting my phone down, I gather my stuff and head into the bathroom to shower.
Turning on the water, I let the stall fill with steam before I strip down and get in.
It’s one of those nights where I have an everything shower.
They used to be further apart, but since I am now getting laid on a regular basis, it calls for a lot more maintenance, which is a pain in the ass.
I wonder when it became the norm to shave every bit of hair from your body.
Isn’t hair there for a reason? I ponder this for way too long before I just get the job done.
There is nothing better than getting into a clean bed after an everything shower, and that must be the reason we do it.
When I step back into the main room of my loft, I scream and slap my hand over my mouth. “Fuck, Clay, how the hell did you get in?”
Clay smirks from his seat at my dining table. “I have my ways.”
“That is not comforting, especially when I feel like someone is watching me.”
“Thank you for coming to my rescue, Clay. You are so handsome and the best,” he says in a mocking tone.
I snort. “Yeah, that isn’t happening. Are you going to sit there all night or get into bed?”
He stands and pulls his shirt over his head, then folds it and places it down on the chair. Next are his boots and pants; within a minute he is naked and walking toward me.
I bite my lip as I watch him get closer.
Fuck, you whore! You just fucked Ares and now you are imagining Clay’s head between your legs? What is wrong with you?!
As I climb into bed, I focus on anything but his naked body until he gets in beside me. “Clay . . .”
“Go to sleep, Kayla.”
I consider arguing but decide against it. “Thank you,” I say instead.
He doesn’t answer, so I pull the covers up and close my eyes.