Holy shit.
Darkness and brake lights fill my vision as my hands smack the dash because I’ve instantly woken up to see logs—huge fucking tree logs—coming straight out of a truck in front of us and at our window.
I scream a bloodcurdling amount of fear as my eyes squeeze closed, and I brace for death with one hand on Evie, the other in front of me.
My heart’s in my throat, my pulse is going faster than it’s ever gone, and the veins in my neck are about to explode, but nothing happens.
No shattering glass, or impact. And definitely no logs.
My lungs are still trying to commit to the screaming, except it’s died out into something reminiscent of a Chewbacca impersonation because I’ve run out of breath.
I open one eye and see the logs hanging in the air just in front of our window. My face whips to Evie’s, then back to the window.
My mind races to catch up as all the outside sounds begin to filter in, now louder than the sound of my heart. But my mouth’s still hanging open and my eyes are still bugging out as I stare at the logs being retracted into the bed of the truck ... pulled by a chain ... connected to some kind of motor.
Oh my god.
“Evie!” I shriek as soon as I refill my lungs.
She’s laughing, her hands in a defensive position in front of her. Not for the logs but for me ... Because she knows I’m about to kill her. I look around and see a bunch of her FX nerds watching and laughing, too, along with the dreaded bus she mentioned before.
We’re in a damn parking lot. She faked it. The diabolical witch faked it.
My heart’s pounding out of my chest as I turn back to her and smack her arms in a flurry. “I hate you. I thought we were dying!”
A slew of curses falls from my lips as my car door is opened and I recognize her boss, Scott.
“I’m sorry ...” Evie laughs, pointing at him. “He made me. We needed a test dummy, and well ...”
I smack her arms again before I lay back in my seat and press a hand to my chest, ensuring my heart’s still thrumming. My hair falls in my face, but I don’t care.
“My life flashed before my eyes, Scott.” I narrow them as I watch a bunch of guys she works with jump onto the fake death logs to secure the lines. “You two are the worst people on earth ...” I whip my head to hers. “That movie is awful. Awful. I remember when we were kids and you made me watch it, and it literally made me scared of everything.”
She’s laughing too hard for me to ever forgive her, but it also makes me smile.Oh, I hate her.
I point a shaky finger at her. “If you do that to me again, this weekend will beyour Final Destination. You got me?”
She makes an X over her heart.
“Cross my heart and hope you die. I mean, to die ...” She laughs. “You know what I mean. I promise, no more scares ...”
I don’t miss the “from me” she whispers while looking away. I look up at Scott’s smiling face, raising my brows, but he shrugs. Not at all apologetic for what he’s about to say.
“We’re all really excited you’re here, Goldie. You’re the kind of market research that makes us geek out.”
I lift a leg from the car and drop my foot down outside with a thud. “Well, Scott, I hope you got paid royally because I’m sending you my therapy bill.”
He laughs, then gives the top of the car a tap before walking away and leaving me to truly regret this damn plan.
“Hey, Golds,” my sister says as she opens her car door. “Just send it to me, I’ll expense it.”
Fuck my life. There’s kicking a dog while it’s down and then there’s this—running it over.
“You know,” I tease as I grab my bag from the car, “we could just call it even and you hand over your credit card. Because I’m sure all the way up here in the mountains, I could find a decent spa to grieve and wellness at.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “I’m sure you could, but then I’d worry the whole time ...”
I frown as I look at her before she closes the distance and puts her arm over my shoulder. “Look at it this way, we never got to go to summer camp as kids. Now’s our chance.”
