Don't Look Behind You (Don't Look Series Book 1) by Emily Kazmierski (summer reads .txt) 📗

Are you still here? What did Mr. Baugh want?

Hello?

If you don’t answer, I’m assuming you’ve been kidnapped. ;)

Megan? Is everything okay?

They’re from Esau, starting over an hour ago. I stare at the messages, not sure how I missed them.

We both jump when a hard knock comes against the front door.

“Megan? You home?” Esau.

My eyes go large in surprise.

Noah’s eyes dart between me and the door. “Is it okay that he’s here? I can stay, if you need.”

“It’s fine.” I open the door to Esau, who looks like a Greek god with his black hair streaming out behind him and his face fixed in an avenging snarl.

He takes in Noah and I standing in the foyer and zips it all back inside his protective shell until he’s his usual, well-controlled self. “I guess I was worried for nothing.”

“You were worried about me?” My heart melts into a puddle of goo and my words come out in a coo.

Esau huffs. “No.”

My lips curve upward. “Liar.”

“I’ll just see myself out,” Noah mutters, his cheeks tinged red. “Thanks again,” he tosses back, and then he’s gone.

Esau swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He closes the front door without taking his eyes off me. Shrugs out of his shearling coat and drops it on the floor. With a deep inhale, he advances with intent in his eyes.

A welcome shiver rolls up my spine at that look. My toes curl in my cutesy slippers. Esau may be an expert at hiding his emotions at school, but right now I can almost read his mind.

Our mouths crash together in a kiss full of heat and want. He backs us up to the wall and leans against it, banding me to his torso with muscled arms braced across my back. Breaking off to take a sniff of my neck, he murmurs. “When you left the maze with Mr. Baugh, I thought something had happened. And then you didn’t answer your phone…”

He moves to kiss me again, and I barely get a word out before my brain is a fog of fizzing sparks and the velvety caress of Esau’s fingers down my arms.

“Maze?”

“Corn maze,” he breathes against my mouth.

“Wait.” My hands press against his chest, but it’s not necessary. Esau has pulled away to get a better look at my expression. “You saw me leaving the maze with Mr. Baugh earlier?”

I’m panting, anxiety spiraling upward through me and slicing through the endorphin-fueled haze. Aunt Karen never could figure out who was behind the Mayday’s Killer’s notes I found in my backpack. But Mr. Baugh has been around the entire time, hovering. I thought he was being a teacher, worried about how the new kid would do at Valley High. But what if that wasn’t it at all?

Esau nods.

“A little over an hour ago?”

“Yes.”

I swallow as I glance up the stairs, hoping Aunt Karen will materialize on the landing. It’s a futile wish. I already know she isn’t here. I square my shoulders and look to Esau, who is studying me with hungry eyes. A dull pain cuts through my chest.

“Whatever you’re thinking is going to have to wait. I think I left something in Mr. Baugh’s car. Can you drive me over there?” He doesn’t see the fingers I have crossed behind my back.

He shrugs.

“Be right back,” I toss over my shoulder as I run up the stairs. With hurried, unfocused movements, I toss on my jacket, shoving my bracelet into the front pocket. I stomp down the stairs in time with the throbbing pulses of my heart.

“You ready? It’s getting windy.” Esau asks as he stands in the doorway. Already wearing his coat. He drags a hair tie off his wrist and pulls his hair back into a bun on the crown of his head.

Over the blood rushing in my ears, the wind whips around the sides of the old house, howling as if begging to be welcomed inside. But I know better than to welcome monsters in.

The door flies against the wall with a smack when Esau opens it. Opposite, a frame falls to the ground and shatters.

“I’ll get it later,” I say when Esau moves, his boots crunching on the shards of glass littering the floor.

I pull him outside. Drag him after me as I run to his truck and jump inside.

My hands grow clammy in my jacket as he drives through town, which has already begun falling asleep even though it’s only just after 6 PM. Many of the stores are dark. There are only a few stragglers on the sidewalk.

“Everyone’s still out at the maze.” Esau glances at me before focusing on the road. “What’s so important that you have to go get it now?”

I squirm in my seat, not sure how to answer. So I don’t. My eyes are fastened to the red light ahead.

“Can you drive a little faster?”

Esau’s black eyebrow cocks upward, but he presses the gas harder with his boot and the truck guns forward.

My feet tap on the floorboards in a nervous rhythm as we ride out into the country. Rows and rows of almond trees flank the street. During the day, I find their spindly branches kind of pretty. Right now they look as if they’re about to grab me and drag me down like the ghostly trees in Snow White. But unlike the warbling princess, I’m not running away from my worst nightmare, but toward it.

I only hope I get there in time.

Chapter 36

Esau pulls on to a dirt road surrounded by gangly, overgrown trees on all sides. Up ahead there’s a pale green ranch house tucked under the naked boughs. A rusted metal playset sits on a dead, yellowed lawn. Mr. Baugh’s yard is so overgrown we could hide in the tangle of brambles and tall grasses and never be found. The screaming wind will cover any noises we make. I’m counting it as a sign that this isn’t going to be a total disaster.