Jennie

After spending the last five minutes questioning my sanity, I grab Lisa and bring her into the house.

"What are we—"

"Shh!" I whisper.

Lisa wipes her forehead with the bottom of her T-shirt, giving me a glimpse of her abs.

A low rumble akin to furniture being dragged across the floor has the hairs on my arms rising. "That! Did you hear it?"

"It's probably Ryder upstairs drilling something."

My eyes widen. "That's not possible. Ryder and the rest of the team left an hour ago."

Usually, I would also have headed out, but I didn't want to ditch Lisa, so I stuck around and took advantage of my newly healed left arm. Without the cast, I'm able to work throughout the house on little projects, like paint swatches, testing wallpaper samples, and obsessing over whether or not I should picture-frame mold half the house.

Another scraping noise has me stepping closer to Lisa. "I know you heard that one."

"Are you sure Ryder left?" she asks.

I nod. "Positive."

Lisa shrugs. "It could be materials rubbing—"

"Together as the house cools down. Yeah, no. I'm not buying it, Ms. I Don't Believe In…" I let the statement hang.

"Ghosts?"

I press my index finger against my lips. "Shh! Don't say the word!"

Her eyes roll as the chandelier above our heads flickers.

"Ah!" I shriek and clasp Lisa's hand in a death grip.

She attempts to pry my fingers off, but to no avail. "Can you relax?"

I scowl. "You know what happens when you tell an anxious person to relax?"

"What?"

I squeeze her hand harder. "The complete freaking opposite!"

Her heavy sigh comes off as condescending. "The electrical crew was here today working on that same chandelier."

A sudden cold draft blasts through the air vents, sending the hairs on my arms rising. "Want to explain that?"

"Explain what?"

"Forget it." My voice drops low enough for only Lisa to hear. "I think he's here."

"Who is here?"

"G.B.," I squeak.

"G.B.?" she pauses for a few seconds. "Oh. Gerald Baker?"

"Are you for real right now?" I pinch her between the ribs.

She rubs the sore spot. "Ow. What was that for?"

"Don't say his name aloud."

"Now you're being ridiculous."

I frown. "I swear, it's like you have never seen a scary movie before."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't be saying that if you had."

"What happens to the person who says that?" she asks with a neutral tone, although her eyes glimmer with hidden amusement.

"They end up like G.B." I drag my middle finger across my throat and make a slashing noise.

"You're so—" Her voice cuts out, along with the electricity.

"Lisa!" I wrap my arms around her waist.

She pulls out her cell phone and turns on the flashlight, nearly blinding me. I'm too afraid to extract myself, so I hold on like a baby monkey as she walks toward the stairs.

I dig my feet into the floor in a wasted attempt to stop her. "Where are you going?"

"To go find the breaker panel." She attempts to break my hold.

"No!"

A chilling sound echoes through the house.

Lisa's eyes widen.

My voice drops. "What the hell was that?"

Her Adam's apple bobs. "I don't know."

"Did that sound like Ryder to you?"

"Maybe a wounded animal got into the attic?"

"Yeah, and what? Bit the electrical cables and caused a power outage?"

She makes a face. "Plausible. It happened once with a lizard that fell into a power box at one of our sites."

I rub my throbbing temple. "Will you stop being so damn logical for once?"

"Would you prefer for me to break out into hysterics like you?"

"I am not breaking out into hysterics."

Another hair-raising sound echoes through the corridor above, followed by the ominous sound of a hacking cough.

Lisa only makes it up one step before my fingernails are embedded into her arm.

"You can't go up there."

She pats my hand like one would a scared child. "Don't worry. I'll be back."

"No! You can't say shit like that!"

"You're something else." She shakes her head and laughs before darting up the stairs with her phone in hand.

I turn my phone's flashlight on and stay frozen in place as she disappears up the stairs and around the corner in the direction of the east wing.

"Lisa!" I whisper-shout a minute later, only to have my call go unanswered.

"Seriously. Quit fooling around and come back here. We can fix the power tomorrow, once it's daytime." I speak louder this time.

Something crashes above, sending my heart into overdrive. "Lisa?"

I last four whole minutes without power or proof of life before I walk up the steps myself.

"If she's not dead by the time I get up there, then I'm going to kill her myself." My own voice can barely be heard over the hard pounding of my heart.

"Lisa? Where are you?" I call out as I reach the landing.

I call her phone again, but it goes directly to voicemail.

Shit.

A noise similar to heavy furniture being moved around sounds from above.

"Not the attic," I moan to myself.

My neck tingles, and a sensation of being watched makes the hairs on my arms rise.

I don't turn around despite wanting to check if someone or something is behind me. "Hey, Gerald. We come in peace. Please don't kill me or my naïve friend who doubted your existence. I swear she didn't mean it when she said ghosts aren't real."

The feeling of being observed never goes away as I walk toward the stairs leading up to the attic.

I pause at the bottom step. "Lisa? Are you up there?"

The door to the attic is shut, and a soft light that matches Lisa's flashlight pours through the bottom crack.

I press a hand against my chest, right over my racing heart.

You're Jennie Kim. You're not afraid of anything.

Says the woman diagnosed with anxiety when she was a teen.

Despite my stomach churning, I climb the stairs before stopping in front of the attic door. After a second of hesitation, I roll my shoulders back and turn the knob.

The door opens with a creak, and I take a cautious step inside. Another blast of cold air hits me from behind, and the door slams shut, causing me to jump in place.

"Hello?" I'm afraid I might burst into tears if anything else happens.

Soft scampering has me turning my flashlight in the direction of the noise.

"Oh, fuck!" My phone drops as I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

A massive, fuzzy spider with beaming red eyes, incisors the size of my fist, and legs the width of my thighs stares back at me.

It moves, and I lose my shit.

"Lisa!" I scream.

Light floods the attic, and it takes me a few seconds to process the laughs of the two walking dead men hiding behind the support beams.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Their laughs cut out as they show themselves. I completely ignore Rafa as I launch myself at Lisa. She catches me, locking my arms behind my back before I have a chance to wrap them around her throat.

"Gotcha."

"I hate you!" I lift my foot, only to smash it against the wood floor as Lisa avoids my stomp.

She tugs me closer to her chest. "That's not nice."

"Neither was setting me up to believe you died!"

Rafa chuckles at his phone screen before the sound of me crying out Lisa's name fills the room.

"I can't believe you helped her with this." I jab a finger at him.

Rafa shrugs. "Lisa was right. This was fun."

"Fun? I'm traumatized, you jerk."

The sound of my screams echoes off the walls as Rafa replays my video again while he walks toward the stairs. "Can't wait to send this to the family group chat."

"Rafa! Get back here!" I fight Lisa's hold. My phone pings on the floor. "You sent it already?"

Rafa tips his chin in Lisa's direction. "Thanks for the invite."

"I'll be sure to extend one for Lisa's funeral," I call out.

He turns away and heads down the stairs. "See you on Sunday, Jennie," He says from a safe distance.

I lash out against Lisa's hold, only to pause as I rub against something that shouldn't be hard.

"You're turned on?"

"With the way you've been squirming against me for the last minute, it's impossible not to be."

I fight harder, earning a hiss from her.

Good. Serves her right.

"Cut it out, and I'll let you go," she says while tightening her grip.

I still in her arms. "I can't believe you did this."

"Consider it payback for my office." She pulls away.

I throw my hands in the air. "What I did was cute! This is…disturbing!"

"Were you scared?"

"Terrified."

Her head tilts. "Yet you still came to my rescue despite being afraid."

"A temporary lapse in judgment."

"Were you afraid I got hurt?"

I frown. "More like I was scared you got possessed by a demon, but then I should have remembered that's been the case since you were born."

Her smile expands, easing some of my annoyance. "You called my name when you were afraid."

"I shouldn't be held responsible for what I said when my life flashed before my eyes."

She traces my bottom lip with her thumb. "What did you see?"

I slowly brush my hands across her chest, earning the sweetest inhale from her. "You."

She cups my cheek. "How?"

"You held me like this." I drag her hands toward my hips.

"And?" Her fingers press into my skin.

"And I choked you like this." I latch my hands around her neck and squeeze hard enough to make her eyes widen for a second.

She places her hands over mine, pressing them deeper into her neck. "If you wanted to act out one of your fantasies, all you had to do was ask."

I trace a finger down the center of her chest. "It's not like you would have followed through until my arm was cleared."

"Speaking of…" she brushes her hand across my left arm.

I shiver as she pushes her hips forward.

"It was a sacrifice I plan on making up for tonight."

"Why wait until later?" My fingers tremble with anticipation as I reach for her belt and work on undoing it.

"What are you doing?" she attempts to step back, but I hold her in place by the buckle.

"Use context clues." I pull the undone belt through the loops before tossing it aside.

"I had other plans for you." Her deep voice makes my stomach flutter.

"Save them for later."

"Jennie…"

The slide of her zipper sends a shiver skating down my spine. Her abs clench as I kneel and pull her pants down far enough to reveal her straining erection pressing against her briefs.

"Did scaring me turn you on?" I swipe my finger across the damp material covering her tip.

"More than it should have."

"That's sick." I tease her length with a featherlight touch.

"I'm aware."

I kneel before gripping the band of her boxers and sliding them down her thighs to free her dick.

She grips my chin hard. "Maybe I should scare you some more if this is the reward I get."

I tilt my head back so I can glare properly. "I prefer you when you're quiet."

"What—"

I run my tongue up the length of her cock before tracing the tip. Her groan has my toes curling within my sneakers, and I repeat the same motion on the other side.

Her fingers slide through my hair and hold me in place. "Let me take you out to dinner first."

"We never agreed to a date." I flick my tongue across her tip, collecting a drop of her arousal in the process.

My comment earns me the hottest scowl.

"Open." She practically snarls the word.

My lips part out of surprise rather than submission. Lisa doesn't seem to notice or care about the difference as she slams inside. I gag, digging my fingers into her thighs as I try to find purchase.

It takes me a moment to adjust to her size, and she patiently waits until my eyes are no longer cloudy from my tears.

"Turns out I like you better when you're quiet too." She flashes me the most unhinged grin as she repeats the same move, although I'm better prepared to take her this time.

My attempt at controlling the situation slips away as Lisa finds her tempo, fucking my mouth in the most deliciously depraved way. I should hate the lack of control—should despise everything about Lisa using me like this—but I'm too turned on by it all to care.

I press my thighs together as her gaze burns a hole straight through my heart.

She chants my name in a hoarse voice that makes my stomach muscles tighten. I alternate between flattening my tongue and sucking hard enough to make her hiss.

She curses as she nearly rips my hair out by the roots gripping the back of my head, and I return the bite of pain by digging my nails into the back of her ass hard enough to leave half-moon indentations.

"Do that again and I'll find a better way to keep your hands occupied."

Fuck her. I'll show her.

I lift the hem of my skirt, exposing my soaked underwear.

Her gaze follows my every move as I push my underwear to the side and trace my slit. I'm careful to avoid my clit, wanting to drag this process out.

Her muscles bulge as she pauses mid-thrust. "Let me see."

I lift my glistening middle finger into the air.

"Fuck."

My body lights up like the sky on the Fourth of July.

"Show me how you like to be touched."

Her demand feels like a test in a way, and I'd like nothing more than to pass with flying colors. She pulls back, giving me a moment to collect myself before restarting her ownership of my mouth.

God. This is so wrong.

I spread my thighs wider and match her thrusts with my own. Every pump of my fingers sends a fresh wave of sparks down my spine, and after a minute, my muscles are trembling.

I play with my clit and shudder at the building pressure in my lower belly.

"That's it, sweetheart." Her maddening pace quickens.

The butterflies in my stomach rage and riot at her nickname, threatening to burst free. My eyes roll into the back of my head as I tease myself to the sounds of her groans.

"Jennie," she chants as I wrap my lips around her cock and suck hard enough to make her shake.

"Fuck, sweetheart. You are too fucking good at that."

Lisa cursing twice in one breath? A girl could get used to that.

"Screw this." She pulls out of my mouth, yanks me to my feet, and drags me by the hand toward the wall with the window facing the lake.

"What are you—" My question gets cut off as she drops to her knees, throws my leg over her shoulder, and yanks my underwear to the side.

She gazes at my pussy like one does a work of art—with utter fascination and devotion. My legs tremble, which seems to snap her out of her trance.

She glides her tongue over my slit, sending sparks down my spine.

"Oh, fuck." My head knocks back against the wall.

Whatever self-control Lisa had snaps as she alternates between long strokes and deep thrusts of her tongue. She studies my reactions like I'm her favorite subject, her attention never straying from my face, and I have to break eye contact multiple times because what reflects in her eyes excites me way more than it should.

I detonate with a single thrust of her finger and a rough tug of my clit with her mouth. My leg locks around her neck as I trap her against my pussy, forcing her to keep going while I ride out my orgasm.

I'm so lost in my lust that I don't notice Lisa's jerky movements until she is groaning against me. I glance down at the mess she made of the floor.

Holy shit.

Lisa came to the sound and taste of me. I've never felt more powerful in my life than with her on her knees, still trembling from the aftershocks of her orgasm while she stares up at me with an expression I'm too afraid to dissect.

She got my hopes up once before, and I refuse to fall for it again.