26. Sawyer
SAWYER
“Gizmo is literally a Christmas gift!” Bella exclaims.
“But it’s a scary movie. Those little creatures are so creepy!” Summer retorts.
“Gremlins is a Christmas movie, just like Die Hard.” Bella holds up her hands, ticking things off. “It has a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations. There’s a whole monologue about Santa. It checks all the boxes.”
“I still think it’s a scary movie,” Summer says.
“But that doesn’t make it a Halloween movie,” Bella counters as she turns to her fiancé. “Hardy, back me up here.”
I chuckle to myself, listening to their exchange.
The house is full of people, but the birthday girl is nowhere to be seen.
Jonah is running around, clucking like a chicken, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t convince my little turtle to stand on two legs, so Tommy keeps crawling around the floor.
McKenna, Jane, and their friend Lana are all dressed as demon hunters, McKenna twirling her purple braid while Jane talks animatedly.
Since I’d already coordinated with Jonah on costumes, and I couldn’t convince Raven to join our flock, she’s dressed as a black cat.
I shouldn’t have brushed her off earlier, but I realized something about the hauntings and wanted to confirm my suspicions before I did something rash.
Jonah’s words echo in my ears. “When you get scared, you’re supposed to hug Sawyer so he will protect you.” Was he helping RJ with the pranks? I did admit I liked his mom in front of RJ. What if this was some elaborate plot to get us together?
A haunting plot.
I’ve got to tell Raven before she figures it out. She wasn’t happy when she thought I was using her books against her. I don’t want her to think that I was orchestrating this to trick her into falling for me.
I tug on my hair, scanning the room for RJ. When I spot him in the living room, I wave him over. “Who are you supposed to be?”
He looks down at his costume. “I’m Milo Thatch from Atlantis: The Lost Empire.” His answer comes quickly, like it should be obvious. “You look interesting. Are you a caveman wearing the carcass of a dinosaur?”
Glancing down at my gut, I chuckle. My dinosaur costume is hanging off my body, the zipper open. “Nah, the fan irritates Jonah, so I didn’t want to turn it on.”
“Gotcha.”
I blow out a breath, frustrated with our small talk as I pull him aside toward the bottom of the stairs. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“Maybe.”
“Are you asking as my boss or as my sister’s boyfriend?”
“The second one.”
He nods, taking a sip from his red Solo cup.
“Jonah said something the other day that’s been stuck in my head. He snuck up behind Raven in an attempt to scare her and got upset when she didn’t jump into my arms.”
“Okay.”
“And earlier today, Raven and I got stuck in her room, and she made a joke about me locking her in there like it was a scene from Misery. Then Bella was going on about Halloween movies.”
RJ’s eyes dart around the room as if looking for an escape route.
“It got me thinking about all the weird shit that’s been happening around here. When I thought about it, all the hauntings were scenes from scary movies. I think it’s a really strange coincidence. Don’t you?”
He doesn’t say anything, and I take a step toward him, turning my back to the stairs so I can scan the room behind him.
“Are you haunting the house?”
His head drops in defeat.
“What the fuck, man?” I growl, careful not to garner any attention from the kids.
“It wasn’t just me. It was everyone. The moms. The kids.”
“Why?” My voice is low as I try to calm the rage boiling in my blood.
“You said you needed help, and we all wanted to help.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You didn’t tell me about her books, and when she found out I was reading them, she was pissed. It took a while to earn her trust back after that. She’s gonna be pissed when she finds out about this.”
“I’m sorry. We were just having a little fun. It was obvious you two were into each other, and we just wanted to give you both the push you needed.”
“By Parent Trapping us into falling for each other?”
“Well, yeah.”
I drag a hand down my face when something hits me. “The guy in the window with the Michael Myers mask…that was you.”
He reaches under the back of his shirt and pulls out the mask.
“Where did you get that?”
“The trash can in your office. Sorry. It was all in good fun. And it worked, right? She ran right into your arms.”
I grab the mask and hide it behind my back, worried Raven will see it.
“What worked?” Raven’s voice says from the stairs behind me.