Hunt Me! I Crave the Chase (Spooky Boys #3)

But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t…tired.

Tired of the fight.

Tired of being strong.

Tired of holding the world together when it didn’t feel like I belonged in it in the first place.

It would be nice if someone else stepped in for a change.

It would be nice if I could rest.

Distracted, I could blame no one but myself when Asshole’s fist connected with my shoulder. It stung, and I gasped—which was a mistake. Big fucking mistake. Jesus-god. Fucking, fuck. The smell!

Acrid and thick. Greasy hair. Potato chips.

“God, you are rank,” I managed, trying to breathe through my mouth, though that wasn’t any better.

“Fuck you, princess,” his nostrils kept on flaring.

“It’s Prince, actually.” I shrugged. “Jeffrey Prince.”

“Fuck you, princess,” he repeated, like he thought he was being clever.

“You’re really not my type.” I twisted to avoid a second punch, fingers bunching in his shirt for the second time that night as I shoved him deeper into the hallway. It was a bit of a struggle, I’ll admit that. Harder than I’d thought it would be. I wasn’t really in peak form at the moment, but I managed to hold him off long enough that the girl I’d saved could hurry back to the safety of her bridal party.

My shoulder throbbed.

It was going to bruise.

Up close and personal with my chest against his, I couldn’t help but gag a little when his breath filled my nose. “Ever heard of a toothbrush?” I couldn’t help but ask as he struggled, then roared, his steel-toed boot stomping down right where my foot had been. “It’s this really cool invention—revolutionary, really.”

Hopefully someone would call security so I could go home.

I really didn’t want to deal with his stench for longer than I had to.

“Shut the fuck up, fire crotch,” he hissed, stomping at my feet again, his fists swinging. However, before one could connect with my body for a second time that night, he was suddenly gone.

Gone.

What the fuck?

“What—”

“The fuck?” I stared at the spot where the asshole had just been, my empty hands shaking. Stumbling as his weight disappeared, I was forced to find my balance. The sugar in my stomach churned.

Whipping my head around, alarmed, I observed that there was no one to my left, or right—the hallway completely empty.

Except that it wasn’t, because before I could take another breath, a low, menacing growl filled the air.

Mean and deep, the sound quaked through my bones. It set my teeth on edge. Made it feel like electricity was zapping through my body, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.

It was the kind of sound I heard in my nightmares.

The kind of sound made for creaking woods, starry nights, and blood-splattered leaves.

It had no place here, in a town like Ridgefield, where the population was normal and humans were unaware. In fact, the sound was so out of place that when it stopped as abruptly as it had begun, I was nearly able to convince myself that I’d made it up. Hallucinated this entire encounter.

That this was just another nightmare.