Page 37 of Enter if you Dare: Part One

He smiles, and I say goodbye, then race back to Noa, who is now waiting outside singing to himself.

He squats down. “Get on—your chariot awaits.”

I wrap my arms around his neck, and he stands, then adjusts my legs around his waist. “Giddy up,” I say, and he takes off, his laughter echoing around us.

We get to Ares’s bar in no time, and he pushes through the doors and sets me down.

A woman dressed all in black sneers at us from a corner table, but I ignore her and turn my attention to the bar where Kayla is grinning.

“Well, look who survived,” she says, leaning over the bar. “Girl, I won’t lie to you, I did not think you would make it through the night in one piece.”

“Neither did I when I hit the cornfield. Noa scared me.”

“And yet,” Noa says, dropping onto the stool beside me, “you still went in even with a warning.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like the risks at home weren’t worse,” I reply.

From a corner booth, a voice rises, and I turn to see what the girl is actually sneering at.

“Do you know how much money I won?” Vero is sprawled across a corner booth, as if he had been taking a nap.

“You bet on me?” I ask him.

“I bet on you living. I knew the mangy scarecrow wouldn’t hurt you.” Vero grins.

“And no one thought she was in danger from me?” Noa pipes up.

“She is in more danger around me than you,” Vero throws back, cackling at himself.

“Fuck, you dried-up, old sperm! Your mother should have swallowed you and done us all a favor,” the woman in black snaps.

“Vesper,” Kayla chastises. “What have we talked about?”

Vesper rolls her eyes. “Sorry, I won’t be mean to the crusty sperm you keep as a pet in the bar.”

“Ignore them, this is their love language. I think they are just secretly best friends and won’t admit they like each other,” Kayla whispers to me.

Vero scoffs. “I heard that and don’t accept it. I tolerate her because of Brawley.”

“He is too good for you,” Vesper snaps, and Vero pokes his tongue at her just as the bar door opens.

A jester walks inside. I swear it’s so weird here, most people are in character all the time.

Vesper stands. “That is my cue to leave. Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, the island imbecile walks in.”

The guy dressed as a jester orders a coffee and takes a seat, ignoring the drama that has played out around him.

Then Noa orders us some food, and we sit at the bar while Kayla works on the coffees, and Vero narrates all the reasons he doesn’t like Vesper. He tells me how he once accidentally killed one of her spiders, and if she found out, he would be dead.

After we finish breakfast, Noa walks me to my car, kisses me sweetly, and tells me to drive safely. The drive home casts a gray cloud over my mood. I’ve never wanted to avoid going home before, at least not like this.

When I pull up, I see Rowan sitting on the front steps, and my stomach drops. It’s unlike him not to just let himself inside.

“Where the hell have you been?” he snarls before I even close my door.

“Out. Why are you here?”

He gets up, and I can tell his mood is off simply by the way he stands. He is agitated, and normally I only see this version of him when he is desperate for money.