Page 57 of Nightmare’s Playground

I overslept.

Wiggling like a jackrabbit stuck in a trap, I tried to get out from under his arm, but it was impossible. He was too strong.

“Where you tryin’ to go, Sweets?” he mumbled into the pillow.

“I overslept! Let me up!

The doors should have been opened over two hours ago. I was freaking out.

How was I ever going to open a second location when I couldn’t even get my ass up to run the first one?

Jax pried open an eye. “Your friend Ian’s got it.”

I stopped squirming. “What?”

“Ian. He’s got it covered.”

My brows pulled together. How did he know Ian had it? Actually, how did he know Ian at all? Why would Ian even have his⁠—

Then it hit me.

The two of them had been consorting behind my back.

“That rat bastard,” I growled.

That was how Jax knew where I’d gone with Ben. Ian had blabbed.

And that’s when it happened.

Nightmare’s head went back on the pillow, and he burst out laughing.

I stilled completely.

It was the first time I’d ever heard him laugh, and it was the most deep, beautiful sound I’d ever heard.

I didn’t even care that he was laughing at me.

When he finally sobered, he rolled onto his side and looked at me, and his eyes were shining. He looked… happy.

Something in my chest went soft and gooey, and that was precisely why I had to ask the question that was burning a hole in my brain.

“So,” I said, picking at the edge of the sheet. “Was this a Halloween thing?”

“A Halloween thing,” he repeated slowly.

“Like, do we turn back into a pumpkin now, or…?”

It would hurt. God, it would hurt if he scraped me off after what we’d shared last night, but I had to know.

He stared at me for a long minute and then he moved all at once, crawling over me until he was all that I could see.

“Listen closely,” he said, eyes dead serious.

“Okay.” Biting my lip, I held my breath.

“There is no going back,” he rumbled. “This is it. This is the start of you and me.”

I sucked in a breath of air.