Chapter 19
Cara
I find my friends in the same spot I’d left them.
Carter is still playing the dart game, and from the look of the booth, he only needs to pop one more balloon to win the big prize—a massive stuffed rhino that honestly looks freaking adorable.
Reagan fell in love with it the second she spotted it, and it’s the entire reason he’s spent so much money on this game so far.
They’re so engrossed in the game, they don’t notice that I’m smiling like a total fool. I’m glad for it, because I don’t think I could come up with a good enough excuse. Haunted houses don’t exactly get my rocks off.
Maybe it’s a sugar high?
When I woke up this morning, I honestly thought I’d have to break things off with Lucian, and it hit me far harder than it should have.
He’s only a guy, after all. A forbidden guy I shouldn’t have been messing with to begin with because if what we’ve done gets out, we’re fucked.
I don’t even want to consider what my mom would do to me, or what the university would do to him.
A little of my happiness fades away, but I shake it off and remind myself that, despite the fun Lucian and I just had in the haunted house, I won’t let that stop us from having a real, much-needed conversation.
I look down at the small stuffed animal I won for Cooper and smile. Lucian will have to accept me and my big lovable dog. Otherwise, whatever this is that’s growing between us just won’t work. Uncontrollable pull be damned.
Carter pops the final balloon, winning the grand prize, and my friends burst into shouts of joy. The carnival attendant hands the rhino to him; he passes it to Reagan, and I can only watch as they shoot each other love-filled gazes.
“Hey,” someone says, startling me.
My hand rushes to my chest, where my heart pounds. “Jesus. You scared me.” I laugh, realizing it’s just a guy with a friendly smile.
“Sorry.” He holds his hands up. His nostrils flair in this unflattering way that reminds me of a horse. “I’m Ted. As soon as I saw such a pretty woman, I had to come see if you wanted to join me in the house of mirrors.”
“Oh, uh,” I start, but Reagan and Carter have come out of their trance.
“Who’s this?” Reagan asks, eyeing the guy.
“Ted,” he replies, nostrils expanding again before he clears his throat and brings his gaze back to mine. “I was hoping to steal your pretty friend away.”
“I’m flattered, truly, but I’m actually—”
“She’d love to,” Reagan says, cutting me off.
I give her a look, because hell no, I most certainly would not love to, but then Reagan pulls me in for a hug and whispers, “You need to get laid, harlot. Like desperately.”
“I’m not going to fuck a stranger in the house of mirrors,” I whisper back, trying to keep my voice low so Carter and Ted don’t hear. If it were Lucian, I’d be all over him, but this guy? I don’t know this guy from a hole in the wall.
Besides, Lucian is currently taking up every ounce of my mind, and surprisingly, my heart. Between him and Cooper, there’s no room for this guy—or any other guy for that matter.
“Fine, then don’t. But at least see if he’s interesting. If he’s not, you can come back and we’ll tell him to pound sand. Brad taught you a valuable lesson, but don’t let him scare you away from men forever. He’s not worth it. Deal?”
I huff but give in just to keep up appearances. The more I resist, the more questions Reagan will have that I simply don’t want to answer. Not yet. So I turn to Ted and give him a nod. “Only one trip through it, though, then I want to get back to my friends.”
“Only one trip,” he echoes, and I relax a little.
A thought niggles at the back of my mind, but I tamp it down.
This won’t be like with Brad. We’re at a busy carnival with loads of people, and I have no intention of leaving the fairgrounds with him.
Like Reagan said, we’ll do the funhouse, and then I’ll be back with my friends in no time, and they’ll be none the wiser about my secret potential relationship with a professor.
Oh, the things we do for love.
I nearly stop in my tracks at the thought. Love? No, I can’t love Lucian. It’s too soon. Too complicated. But my denial causes a sharp pang in my chest, making it glaringly obvious how wrong I am.
What a place to realize I’m in love with my professor.
Thankfully, Ted doesn’t say too much while we walk to the house of mirrors.
There’s no line when we show up. Ted doesn’t have any tickets, which is honestly gross—who asks a girl to go on a ride at the carnival but doesn’t have his own tickets?
I consider changing my mind, but this entire thing is awkward, so I hand the last of my tickets to the attendant, and we waltz inside.
I’ve never been in a house of mirrors before, but I’ve watched videos of people trying to run through them only to smack their faces instead, and I definitely gave myself way too much credit. That’s twice now that I’ve almost walked into a mirror.
Okay, so this is way harder than it looks.
Ted speaks for the first time since we left my friends, and I kind of forgot he was even here. “Come on. You’ve gotta see the best part.” He grabs my hand without asking, his grip bordering on too tight as he pulls me through the maze of mirrors so fast, I can barely keep up.
How the hell has he not run into a single mirror so far? Did he study the blueprints or something?
After a few turns, he lets my hand go, and I flex it, trying to work out the pain. Somehow I ended up in front of Ted, leading us through the maze I no longer want to be in.
“Keep going. We’re almost there,” he says, and suddenly I’m feeling claustrophobic. Every direction I look shows an image of myself and Ted. The fluorescent lights make his eyes glow a familiar shade of yellow, except on him it’s just eerie.
With my arms held out in front of me, I press forward, hoping we’re nearly done with this damn place, but I must have gotten turned around because we hit a dead end. Mirrors surround us on all sides, so we have to turn around.
As I open my mouth to tell Ted that, I see his arm raised in the mirror seconds before blinding pain shoots through my skull and everything goes black.