"I love you," I muse as I pull him down to me and take his lips with mine.
Tears fall down my face as he takes me in the sweetest, most vulnerable way possible … with both of us crying the whole time.
* * *
I'm wokenby a soft knock at my bedroom door. It makes no sense. Kai wouldn't knock and the others went home.
I don't want to wake up Rowe. He went through enough hell yesterday without insomnia being added to the mix.
I slowly move out of bed, untwisting my clothes, and walk over to the door. Slowly pulling it open, I find Kai standing there.
"What?" I groan slash whisper, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
"Come with me," he says before walking over to the stairs.
Seriously? What time is it? I know if I refuse whatever this is it will be worse for me so I follow his instructions. I carefully close the door and trail behind Kai as he leads me down the stairs, through the kitchen, and down a hall I've never been down before.
"What are we doing down here?" I ask as he opens the last door, holding it for me.
"You'll see." He gives me a tired look but doesn't reveal anything else.
He's not angry or anything. Just … exhausted.
Maybe that's why I step into the room flooded with light. Red carpet lines the floors and the walls are painted blood red along with the ceiling. Even the lightbulbs are red.
"What the—"
I stop when the door slams behind me and I turn quickly, finding myself alone in this room the same size as a jail cell.
No chairs.
No bed.
Nothing but red walls.
I run to the door and slam my hands against the door again and again.
"Let me out! Kai!" I scream. Maybe Rowe will hear me, but I doubt it.
I should've woken him up.
The floor starts to shift, the walls shaking, and I yell for help, but then it hits me that it's not a room at all. It's a fucking elevator.
"Aria James," a robotic voice says through the room as I hyperventilate in fear. "Welcome to The Maze."
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
ARIA
The Maze? What the hell is The Maze?
"Are you ready to play a game?" The voice sounds again.
What the fuck? No, I don't want to play a game. Did I just step into theSawdimension where I'll have to choose for someone to die in order to live or some sick and twisted shit like that?
The elevator shakes again and I scream.
"The game is simple. You make it to the end of The Maze where the only door exists before your opponent finds you and you win. If they find you first, they win."
