Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,3

was empty of people and had only a few cars. A streetlamp glowed eerily, casting a putrid glow. My eyes shifted around, trying to register any movement.

“Di-nah…” This time the voice was so deep it vibrated against my soul, running up my body like fingers, making me gasp. My heart thudded in my chest, my hands shaking.

Earlier it had also been a man’s voice calling me, but this one was different.

Darker. Deadlier.

It promised my demise in two syllables.

Swiftly, I unlocked my car, sliding in and locking the doors. My pulse throbbed in my ears as I checked my back seat, touching the mace I kept in my cupholder. Dad taught Alice and me how to shoot a gun and had put us in a self-defense class when we hit puberty. As a professor at a university, he saw things happen at frat parties and heard things about girls walking across campus at night. He wanted Alice and me prepared to defend ourselves.

As I pulled out of the lot, my nerves still jumping, I thought I saw something in my peripheral, but when I looked again, nothing was there. I couldn’t shake the feeling of someone watching me.

I hit the gas, tearing down the road, heading for the tree lot. I felt with all Dad prepared us for, he didn’t teach us how to defend ourselves when our own minds turned against us.

Chapter 2

The delicious smells of sugar cookies, hot chocolate, cider, and cinnamon wrapped around me like the softest blanket, letting me forget all about the earlier events. My shoulders eased as I hummed to the Christmas music playing softly in the background while I finished hanging candy canes on the tree. The idyllic, little wooden cottage was attached to a tree farm on the outskirts of New Britain, Connecticut. It was owned by a sexist old man who had his five adult sons running it.

“I didn’t expect so many tonight.” Gabe yanked down his fake beard, popping a joint in his mouth. The dozens of kids wanting to see Santa kept Gabe and me busy for the first four hours. “I need a smoke bad.” It was getting late, and fewer families were venturing over to the workshop, tucking their kids in for the night instead. The holiday season had officially kicked off with a bang.

Christmas spirit seemed higher in the last two years than normal, bringing in far more people to get trees and see Santa this early. Except for me, it seemed. I had lost most of my cheer.

“If you get caught…” I flicked my chin at him. “Shortest manager job in history.” I didn’t understand his constant need to get high. To be fuzzy all the time. I liked being clearheaded and present.

Gabe snorted, but turned, going out the back door to light up. A gust of cold air swept in as he stepped out, instantly pimpling my flesh. Not that I was wearing much. The owner was in his seventies and acted as though women were merely here to be pretty. He clearly had some slutty elf fantasy by the look of our outfits. All the elves he hired were girls, and he had us in exceptionally low-cut, short costumes with red-and-white stockings, green shoes with bells, and a green elf hat.

The number of fathers who brought their kids here multiple times was disturbing. Though Alice had only worked here for one season, dads still came in and asked about her. My sister was stunning—stop-in-the-street beautiful—with the right amount of curves, long, silky, straight, dark hair, dark eyes, and tall. If she and Matt ever had kids, they would be voted the most beautiful babies in the world. It wasn’t until Alice opened her mouth you met the real her. She was blunt, real, witty, and sarcastic. It made me love her more.

Most said we looked alike, but our personalities were total opposites. I was the pros-and-cons girl, while Alice leaped into something with her heart. I would write lists, and Alice would already be out doing it. Even if it failed and she fell on her face, she’d jump back up and try again. I was controlled, guarded, and cautious.

I never envied her until lately. Alice’s life was completely together, while I felt mine was crumbling at the seams. Everything I worked and planned for felt empty and wrong now that I had them. Scott and I worked all the time to be able to afford an apartment in Hartford and a car. We