Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,28

looked over my shoulder, seeing bits of glass on the floor where I would’ve landed.

Turning back to him, I stared up into his eyes as my fingers clutched his shoulders.

And then I felt it. The smile still on my face.

I was smiling. A little.

Shit.

Slowly, I let it fall, but I couldn’t take my eyes off his. Guilt washed over me at the mess we made, knowing I couldn’t pay for it, but the worry left as quickly as it came, because all I could feel was the here and now.

The rain and wind blew through the room, and I reached up, my hands shaking as I lifted his mask off his face and dropped it to the floor.

He just held me as I slipped the hood off his head and looked up into dark green eyes.

“I was never trying to scare you,” Will said, rain glistening on his face and wet hair. “I just wanted to see something.”

I stared at him, because I couldn’t speak no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I...

I wanted to go, but…

I didn’t want to leave.

I liked this.

But I twisted out of his hold, stumbling backward and landing on my hands away from the glass. A smile glinted in his eyes, and he dropped to his hands and knees, too, watching me with mischief.

My heart raced again, hearing the glass crunch under his palms, and I held his eyes, scooting back slowly as he moved toward me.

But just then, he moved with the speed of light, barreling right at me, and I yelped as I leapt to my feet and so did he, but before I could run, he crashed into me and pinned me to the wall.

I exhaled hard, trying to keep the smile off my face, but I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped. My heart was beating so fast.

His body pressed into me, and I could feel his eyes on me as he tipped his chin down, his nose nearly brushing mine.

“Get… get…get away from me,” I stammered, because I was trying not to laugh.

A drop of sweat trickled down my back, his body on mine making it too unbearable to even breathe.

He took my chin in his hand and lifted it up, trying to get me to look at him.

His heat surrounded me, and the pulse between my thighs throbbed.

I didn’t want him to go anywhere.

And I hated that.

Blinking long and hard, I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked up into his eyes, hardening my gaze. “You’re all assholes,” I said, grabbing his wrist. “Boring and predictable, and maybe that shit works on everyone else, but not me.”

I yanked his fingers off my chin and shoved him in the chest, stepping away.

He didn’t want me. He wanted to use me, and no matter how much I wanted to indulge a fantasy of fun and excitement, I’d be the one to pay later. Not him.

Getting me into bed, so he could get laughs when he told everyone what a lousy lay I was or rub it in my brother’s face that he’d gotten me to spread my legs, were the only things he was interested in.

No. He wasn’t going to win.

“Unlock the doors,” I told him.

But he just stared at me for a moment, and instead of heading to the hallway and toward the stairwell doors that had been locked, he walked for the wall of windows, the wind and rain barely staying at bay beyond the broken glass.

“Unlock the doors,” I said again, walking over to his side.

“Why?” he asked.

I scowled. “Why?”

What do you mean, why?

“I wasn’t trying to scare you,” he said, staring out at the rain pummeling the roof, “but why wasn’t I?”

“Real monsters don’t wear masks, William Grayson III,” I retorted. “They look like everyone else.”

He kept staring at the rain, but he didn’t respond.

“Now unlock the doors.” I turned around. “You’re pathetic, and you’ve wasted my time.”

I walked for the classroom door, but then I heard his voice behind me.

“They won’t let you walk home in this weather,” he said.

“They can’t stop me.”

“I won’t let you walk home in this,” he clarified. “You’ll sleep here tonight.”

I glanced over my shoulder at him, placing my hand on the door handle. “Make me.”

And before I could even turn the doorknob, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, tapping the screen.

“‘Stop it, you’re scaring me,’” I said on the recording. “‘Whatever will I do? Don’t be too