“A monster?” I repeated incredulously.
“Yeah, that sounds a little crazy. I-I don’t remember anything after that.” He rubbed one of the scratches my nails had made down his back. “Can you catch me up?”
Maybe it’s the best thing if I ‘forget’ too. “I don’t remember anything either.” I chewed my lower lip, hoping he’d buy the lie.
He took a deep breath, no doubt inhaling the unmistakable scent of sex that perfumed the room. “Lee, it’s obvious we slept together.”
Oh, there wasn’t much sleeping involved.
A loud crash from the front of the house saved me from addressing the seismic shift in our relationship. Ridiculously relieved to have a reason to leave, I reached for the door handle.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to tell Ronnie and Cami to keep it down.”
The sound of glass breaking made me see red. They better not be destroying my living room as part of their fuck fest.
Reed jumped off the bed. “Our friends wouldn’t trash the house.”
Having his lean, muscular body only inches away from mine, made my lower belly clench and my breathing go ragged. Unable to fight the impulse, I swayed closer. Has he always smelled this good?
“We should call the police.” He bent down to pick up his pants from the floor.
Seeing the half-moon marks my nails had left in his tight ass raised my body temperature ten degrees.
“Damn. My phone is dead.” He frowned at the black device in his hands and threw on his jeans. “I’ll check it out. Wait here.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
Ignoring me, he opened the door.
Trying not to admire how amazing he looked with his jeans riding low on his hips, I followed him into the hallway. He slipped into his bedroom and reemerged a few seconds later with a baseball bat.
I rolled my eyes. “Is that really necessary?”
Another crash sounded from the front room.
“Motherfuckers.” I pushed past Reed and rushed down the hallway.
“Lee, wait!” Reed shouted, following close on my heels.
We skidded to a stop at the entryway to the living room.
The vertical blinds were open and the floor-to-ceiling windows bathed the space in bright light. It took several seconds for my eyes to adjust and even longer for my brain to make sense of the chaos in front of me.
Gran’s antique floor lamp had been knocked over. The glass coffee table was shattered. The recliner was lying on its side. And blood… blood was everywhere.
Reed tightened his grip on the bat. “Jesus. What happened here?”
Wide-eyed, all I could do was take a hesitant step into the room.
The scent of blood was so strong that I tasted it in the back of my throat. A river of it flowed from behind the couch.
With my heart in my throat, I peered around the armrest.
Cami, naked as the day she was born, was crouched over an equally naked Ronnie. Her mouth was latched around his throat. She was making soft slurping sounds.
“Cami, what are you doing?”
She glanced up. Blood dripped down her mouth and chin, giving her a creepy clown-like appearance.
I stumbled back, my mouth dropping open in horror.
She was abnormally pale and covered with dark black veins. They spiderwebbed across every inch of her skin from the roots of her blonde hair to the pads of her bare feet. Her pearlescent eyes fixed on my face, but there was no recognition there.
Oh, crap. She looks just like Jess.
I struggled to breathe.
Cami shambled to her feet and swayed from side to side.
Catching sight of her, Reed inhaled sharply. “What the—”
Cami growled and sniffed the air like an animal tracking prey. Seeming to lock in on us, she gnashed her teeth together.
The clicking noise brought me straight back to the alley the night before.
Not a prank. Not a prank.
The room spun around me as I gasped for air.
Jess had been a zombie. And now so was Cami.
Cami stumbled into the back of the couch. Seeming confused, she clawed the air in front of her, trying to reach us.
Struck dumb, all I could do was stare at what had become of my best friend.
Reed pushed me out of the way. “Ronnie.”
I grabbed his arm. “Reed, no. He’s… dead.”
Ronnie’s body twitched and spasmed on the floor.
Reed tore out of my grasp. “He’s still alive.” He rushed around the couch and confronted Cami. “What did you do to him?”
Cami lunged for his throat.
“Reed,” I screamed.
Reed hit her with his bat.
She flew into the side of the TV stand. The ancient 36-inch tube TV wobbled and fell on top of her in a thunderous crunch of glass and bone.
Seemingly oblivious to the two-hundred-pound weight on her chest, Cami thrashed and kicked her feet.
“No, freakin’ way,” Reed murmured as we watched Cami try to free herself.
How can she survive being crushed by that weight?
She can’t, answered an insidious voice in my head.
A rustling noise had Reed and I spinning around.
Ronnie stood at the end of the couch. The blood still pouring down his hairy chest contrasted vividly with his cadaver-white skin. Portions of his trachea were visible through the tattered flesh of his throat.
His eyes snapped open.
“Ronnie?” Reed gasped.
Ronnie’s milky gaze swiveled in our direction. He let out a moan and lurched forward.
“He’s one too,” I shouted.
Reed shook his head as if in denial. “Get back, man. Get back.” He pushed me behind him protectively.
Together we backed toward the hallway.
“We can get you help, man,” Reed pleaded.
Ronnie followed us, growling and gnashing his teeth.
“Reed! Hit him.”
Cursing under his breath, Reed swung his bat at Ronnie’s face.
There was a wet crunch and Ronnie’s brains splattered against the wood-paneled wall.
Holy crap. I’d forgotten what a hard hitter Reed was.
Ronnie slid down to the floor, the side of his head completely bashed in.
Reed dropped the bat, his entire body shaking. “I killed him. I killed him.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “You saved us.”
He pulled me against his chest, seemingly unaware that all his scars were on display.
I took a shuddering breath. How did things go so off the rails? Just minutes ago, I’d thought nothing could be worse than finding Reed in my bed. And now, both our best friends lay bloody on the ground.
Cami gnashed her teeth, drawing my attention back to her.
I pulled away from Reed and walked over to her. The screen had crushed her flat. Portions of her broken ribs peeked through her torn flesh. Still, she tossed her head from side to side and beat at the television set.
“Cami,” I whispered, tears burning my eyes.
As she caught sight of me, her thrashing grew more frantic.
I took a step back. My brain had already accepted what my heart refused to believe. My best friend was gone, and this… mindless creature was all that remained.
She's dead.
Cami, who took me under her wing when I first started at the club. Cami, whose blasé attitude about sex never failed to shock me. Cami, who was more than a little crackpot crazy. Cami, who’d cut off her left arm for her family and me…