Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,89

get Kennedy and Robert up here for a dance!” Mrs. Caldwell said into the microphone.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” Kennedy said. She released my arm from her grip and made a beeline to the stage.

I looked around, hoping to see Isabella’s reaction to losing. But I didn’t see her in the crowd. My Sandy lookalike was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully she’d left when she’d realized that no one wanted her here. And hopefully it would be the last event at the Caldwell mansion she was ever invited to.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Matt whispered in my ear as Kennedy and Rob started dancing.

I looked up at him. “We live here.”

“I just want to steal you for a few minutes. Or maybe more like thirty minutes. We’ll see what happens.” He pulled me toward the ballroom doors before I even had a chance to respond. But I knew what was on his mind. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t on my mind too.

Chapter 30

Saturday

I was holding Matt’s hand so tightly that I was sure I had to be hurting him. But he just laughed as we ducked under spider webs in the hallway.

I screamed as a vampire popped out of the coffin.

“It’s all fake,” Matt said as he tucked me into his side.

“Even the blood?”

He put his fingers through one of the fountains. “It’s just red food dye.”

I knew that. And yet…it was all still creepy. “Your house was pretty much made for Halloween parties. I’m surprised this isn’t always the décor in here.” I jumped when a spider fell from the ceiling.

“Are you really scared?” Matt asked.

“I’m terrified.” I held his hand even tighter.

He stopped in the middle of the hall and pulled me to his chest. “You have nothing to be afraid of. Not when you’re with me, Brooklyn.”

A fake scream echoed from somewhere down the hallway and I flinched.

Matt walked me backward until my butt collided with the side of a smoke machine. “I’ve got you,” he said as his lips brushed against mine. “And I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.”

It didn’t seem nearly as scary in this hallway when I focused on him. Tonight had been perfect. He was perfect. Halloween was quickly becoming one of my favorite days of the year. “So this is what you wanted to steal me away from the party for?” I asked. “To make out behind some spider webs?”

He laughed. “No, not exactly. I was hoping I could get you pants-less like me.”

“Very smooth.”

He winked at me and then pulled me away from the fog machine. We started running down the hall. I only flinched one more time, which I considered a win.

“I can’t run in these shoes!” I yelled to him.

We were both laughing as he picked me up and ran out into the foyer. He didn’t waste any time as he carried me up the stairs to his bedroom. He somehow managed to open the door while holding me. And he kicked it closed. He skipped the lights, carried me right to the bed, and threw me down into the middle of it.

And my excitement quickly turned to disgust. “Matt, why is your bed so wet?” I blinked, trying to make my eyes adjust to the dark room. Oh God, it smelled gross too. What was that?

“Huh?” He leaned over me. “What the fuck?”

My hands were definitely wet. But I couldn’t see a thing. Ew. My back was wet too. Oh crap, all the curls in my hair! I reached up to touch the back of my head and realized my mistake. Whatever was on my hands got even more into my hair. Gross.

“Let me go get the lights.” Matt crawled off of me. He flicked the lights.

The first thing I noticed was that his hands and forearms were covered in…blood? “Matt!” I screamed. There was even some blood splattered on his shirt. I looked down at myself and screamed even louder. I was covered in it too. I wanted to laugh it off. The house was oozing with fake blood. But this wasn’t water with red food dye. It was thick and sticking to my hands. The whole bed was soaked in it. It was everywhere.

“What the fuck?” Matt said.

I crawled backward on the bed and my hand touched something soft. I looked down and screamed again. There was a dead dog in Matt’s bed. No, not any dog. A sob escaped my throat. It was