Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (free novel 24 TXT) 📗

“Join u-us, October. W-we can be a-a famil-y again.” His words came out disjointed and breathy as they stepped closer. Soon, both of their rotting corpses were towering over me. There was no love left in those sunken eyes.

“Time to wake up,” Mom said. Her voice sounded suddenly normal, but she was smiling at me with her head cocked to the side. “Wake up, October!”

I woke up gasping and clutched at my chest as my heart thundered. I was a sweaty mess and disoriented.

“Bad dream?” someone asked as the bed dipped at my side.

I startled so badly, I ended up getting the sheets tangled around my ankles as I scrambled to move away. I somehow found myself spread eagle with my legs sticking up in the air after I fell to the hardwood floor with a soft thud. “Shit!”

“You just can’t help spreading those legs, can you?” Jason peeked over the edge of the bed, grinning wickedly. I hated the way those wide lips made my stomach flip.

“Only in your dreams. I promised myself a long time ago that I’d only spread my legs for…” I grunted as I picked myself up off the floor, gripping the bed sheet. Then I closed the space between us, secretly enjoying the way his grey eyes darkened when my breath fanned his face. “A man who knows his alphabet.”

I tried to control a grin at his confusion but waited for him to ask, because Jason just had to know the answer to everything.

“What the fuck does that even mean?”

He’d caved quicker than I thought, then sat back against the headboard with his arms crossed over his muscular pecs before taking a look around. My room still had all my belongings—from the standing wardrobe in the corner full of black clothing, to the shelves lining my dark walls adorned with little trinkets I’d collected over the years. What my parents allowed me to own, that is. They didn’t exactly approve of my macabre taste in collectables. Definitely not my collection of skulls, framed insects, and candles.

The only thing I could immediately see that wasn’t there before was the honest to god cluster of cobwebs hanging from my ceiling and a gigantic tree branch spreading across my whole room, originating from my opened stained glass window. The tree branch was thick and black, and it was covered in cobwebs. Looking closer, I realized Jessica had suddenly taken up residence in the highest branch and was currently snoozing away.

“Earth to Carrie! I asked you a question.” Jason snapped his fingers, rolling his eyes when I just stood there looking around like an idiot.

What were we talking about? Something to with the—Oh right, now I remembered.

“Honey, if you don’t know your ABC’s by now, I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask. Sometimes, it’s good to play with your food.” I winked, feeling abnormally cheeky. Having him in my bedroom again after a year was doing all kinds of things to my body. Speaking of… “What were you doing in my bedroom, Jason?”

I could tell I caught him off guard, as he was still digesting my alphabet comment, then his eyes filled with realization. I started to giggle, but before I could so much as squeak, he was off my bed, grabbing me by the waist with a snarl and tossing me on the mattress. Landing with a bounce, I moved my messy orange locks out of my eyes and gaped in shock as he prowled closer, kneeling on the bed over my prone body. He grabbed both my wrists and shoved them up, holding them above my head with surprising strength.

“I’d be happy to show you how well I can spell. I know my letters backwards and forwards, and maybe if you’re really nice to me, upside down.” He was inches away from my face, his lips curling upwards.

It was hard to breathe, and the room felt at least ten degrees hotter. I could feel something hard digging into my pelvis, and it took all my strength not to grind against it. He knew exactly what he was doing. The way his eyes darkened to a gunmetal grey and the way his heavy breathing matched my own told me all I needed to know—he was just as turned on as I was. His heaving chest grazed my pebbled nipples, which he no doubt could feel through my thin dress.

“I love when…eyes…color of icicles…”

His lips weren’t moving, not in the slightest, but I heard his voice in my head like a soft whisper. He’d been talking about my eyes…but why weren’t his lips moving? It was just like on the road—breathy voices and words they’d never say to my face.

“I wasn’t watching you sleep,” he whispered, his breath washing over my lips. “After you fainted like the drama queen you are, the aunties assigned us the guest rooms, but I couldn’t sleep with all the screaming going on in here.” His palm skimmed down my arm while the other hand held my wrists. “So shut the hell up so I can sleep.” His lips grazed mine, and my head spun, delaying my rational thought process. It took me a moment to realize what he’d said.

“Get off me,” I gritted out, pulling my wrists against his vice grip. “You lost the right to touch me a long time ago.” I twisted in his grip, but he wasn’t budging.

“No, I’m not going to fucking kiss her!” he said with his eyes narrowed, leaving me confused, because I didn’t say anything about kissing me. But if he wanted to…I didn’t think I’d actually stop him. “She got us into this mess in the first place—shut the hell up!” he spat as he turned his head to the side, whisper-yelling at absolutely nobody.

I glanced around my empty room in confusion, seeing nobody but a still sleeping Jessica in the tree. Was he arguing with himself?

“I have no idea what kind of acid trip you're on right