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“Go, get your costume on. I brought it down for you.”
“In a sec, Kayla and I are running together tonight.”
“I know. You’ve told me a million times since this morning.”
“But she has no idea that we are all hunting her. I’m going to pretend to protect her and then absolutely not protect her once you catch us.”
I roll my eyes in loving frustration. “Good plan. Now get dressed, or no one will be chasing anyone.”
He takes off, and I turn back to Clay and Ares. I know something is up between them and have let it go for almost a week.
“What the fuck is going on?” I snap.
Clay looks at Ares, and they both glance over at me. I pin them with a glare; I won’t let this go tonight.
“Kayla has been feeling as if she is being watched. It started recently, and though I have checked her loft, I came up empty. But I trust her gut,” Clay finally replies.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Because your boyfriend isn’t stable right now, and after his last episode, we almost lost her. So excuse us for not wanting you to let it slip while Vero sucks your dick.”
“Will you two please not start this right now?” Ares sighs.
“I put a PI on it and got an email an hour ago confirming her shitty ex got out of prison,” Clay continues.
“Am I the only one in the dark about an ex in prison?” I snap.
Ares shakes his head. “No, she only just told me, and the only reason I told Clay she had a shitty ex was because of this whole situation. Otherwise, none of you fuckers would know about it.”
“We don’t even know for certain if it’s him, but the PI is doing some more digging. He has a record of controlling behavior and was in prison for a while. That’s all I know so far.”
Though I hate how they kept me in the dark, I understand why. I hate keeping secrets from Vero, and half the time he can tell when I’m not telling him something and can get it out of me.
“She doesn’t know about her ex being free, or at least I don’t think she does.” Clay crosses his arms. “I want more information before we tell her. But her behavior makes sense now—he was arrested a few years back.”
Violence radiates through my core. I need to know what he did to her, because whether he is following her or not, he will get what he deserves. I might just let Vero have his go at death by paper cut on this guy.
“We need to find him,” I grit out.
Neither of them argues with me, and Vero appears with his Hannibal mask, Kayla beside him. She isn’t dressed up, clad in a pair of jeans and a shirt with her leather jacket. Vero says something to her as they get closer, and she throws her head back and laughs. My chest flutters at seeing them both so happy.
Clay pulls his bandanna all the way up and cracks his neck. “You two ready to run?”
Vero takes Kayla’s hand, and she smiles. “Bite me, dickhead,” Kayla throws back at Clay.
“Oh, I plan to when I catch you.”
She uses her free hand to flip him off just as Vero drags her away.
“You can bite me, too, Brawley,” Vero yells, followed by a cackle.
“Let’s round them up and come back around to near the carousel. We’ve been given that area tonight,” Clay directs.
Both Ares and I nod, and we wait another minute before we take off after them. Screams are already filling the air as people run through the open spaces.
The carousel is in the carnival area, and I head straight there, letting Ares and Clay draw them in. I stroll through the side gate of sideshow alley, watching for my targets. The stalls line both sides of the path, but everything is dark and locked up for the night. I stop where the path forks and the carnival grounds open up, waiting to see if I can hear anything. Then as I slowly head in, I see a flash run past toward the house of mirrors.
I creep around the back, waiting in the gap between the building and the fence. The sound of footsteps gets closer, then stops.
