In My Skin

CH 19 || Halloween Part III

I spun around and started running again, the muscles in my legs screaming in protest. I nearly stumbled twice, my speed hindered by chairs and other furniture that was lying around.

Refusing to look back, I frantically searched for any sign of the others. If I could just find them...

I rounded the next corner and smacked into something hard. Disoriented, I stumbled backward until a pair of strong hands gripped my shoulders.

I recoiled, a scream on my lips.

"There you are," a husky voice said.

My heart stopped. One beat. Two. "K-Killian?"

"What are you doing? Everyone's looking—"

The muscles in my legs seemed to fill with jelly. I raised my fist and smacked his chest as hard as I could.

"What the?" He sounded flabbergasted.

"You think this is funny, yeah?" I bit my lips, hating the small tremor in my voice.

"What?"

"I asked if you think scaring me like this is funny," I said, louder this time.

There was a brief silence, only disrupted by my own short gasps of breath.

"What're you talking about, Tay? Do you know how long you've been in here?"

"But—"

"It's been over a hour and a half," Killian cut me off, his voice tight. "This challenge was supposed to take maybe half an hour if you're slow. Do you think it's fun to put on a disappearance act to make everyone go look for you?"

Wait a second.

"But one of you guys was in here, right? You set someone up."

"What are you talking about? Everyone was at the entrance. They set up a moving door but that already stopped working after the first group was through."

My hands clenched more tightly. "No, there was someone," I said with more emphasis this time.

He sighed. "As I said, everyone waited at the entrance."

"No, I'm telling you, I saw someone and then they chased me."

"Chased?" A low threatening note crept into his voice. "What do you mean chased?"

"Yes, and I think I heard him behind me again..." I jerked my head around but didn't move to check. Killian pulled me a bit closer as he stepped forward. He lifted his phone and shone the light down the dark corridor.

"It's empty," he said calmly.

"But...there really was someone, I swear. He was in the hallway we were supposed to take, and he saw me and then..."

His hands moved to my back and then hugged me to him. "It's fine now, I believe you, okay?"

My knees buckled an inch, and I would have slumped forward if he hadn't been holding me up. As if my body had a will of its own, my arms wrapped around his waist, and I burrowed my face into his warm chest. A clean masculine scent with a hint of sandalwood swirled around me. The steady beat of his heart thumped against my ear. I shut my eyes and tuned out everything else.

Weighty steps pounded above our heads, and I flinched involuntarily. Killian tightened his hold on me.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, my voice muffled.

He shifted me in his grip but didn't let go. "Yeah," he said quietly.

I tried to keep my tone steady as I spoke. "Maybe one of the others is upstairs looking for me?"