A different noise reached me: loud voices and hurried footsteps in the distance. Finally! Why the fuck did they have cameras and security guards if it took them forever to show up when there was a problem? The place was a maze, and the dripping water added to the echoes, making it impossible for me to pinpoint where they were coming from.
“I got her.”
“Good, go,” I gasped, a hand to my chest.
I saw Kujo come out of the basement and raised the LED the moment he crossed the doorway, to fill that short hall with the bright beam. My knees were about to buckle, so I kept my back to the wall and slid down to sit on the damp cold concrete floor. I knew I needed to get out of there. I needed fresh air. But I also knew I wouldn’t make it all the way up the stairs and out the window. And I didn’t know how far the exit of that tunnel was, nor the way out through Quaker Hall, which most likely would also include stairs. I shivere
Brandon took off his mask as soon as he got in the truck, rubbing his face with an annoyed snort. I buckled my seatbelt without a word. I knew I had it coming, I just didn’t know how bad yet.The bastard let me sweat, driving the whole way to the hotel in complete silence. We’d brought a few supplies, knowing we had a kitchen in the suite, so he took them out of the fridge to make a vegan midnight snack, ignoring me completely.I went to the bedroom, left the backpack, took off my cold wet shoes, put on dry socks, waiting in vain for him to speak. So I headed back to the kitchen. I would’ve loved to have a coffee, but the coffeemaker was in the corner of the counter, and I couldn’t reach it while Brandon was busy between the bend and the fridge.He kept his back turned on me, completely focused on whatever he was doing. Like chopping a few greens and fruits and mixing them with his cream cheese would take so long and so much attention. I
It was nice, coming back home to the Manor with Brandon and finding everything was fine. I left him working in the study and took my laptop to the kitchen, determined to update my diary before dinner. His text only twenty minutes later made me chuckle: the Haunter Supreme was thirsty. I had bought the coffeemaker for the study, along with a water dispenser, and had set them in a pretty display with tea, coffee, mugs, spoons and everything required to enjoy an infusion without needing to go any further than two steps away from the desk. But nope, he fancied something cool with more flavor than plain fresh water.So there I went, up the stairs all the way to the third floor, with the forty-ounce thermos bottle full of his mango juice just out of the fridge, thinking it’d be nice once we set his office in the guesthouse with its own fridge. And I wouldn’t have to drop whatever I was doing to go wait Milord’s table.Bullshit. I don’t know w
Isaac woke us up about seven the next morning, to let us know they’d just landed in Logan. Absent Brandon, he’d been named commander of the expedition. But as any good four-star general, he reported their next steps to the Supreme leader.It would take them a while to load all their stuff on the rental SUVs, and from there, they would head all together in a caravan to Worcester, where the crew would stay with part of their equipment. Once they were all checked in and settled, the three Haunters would come by themselves, bringing all they deemed necessary to shoot roll B takes to their heart’s content, plus some additional gear because you never know.“Call me when you’re leaving Worcester,” said Brandon, eyes closed, his arm keeping me to his side like I would try to pull away.He disconnected and stretched to drop the phone back on the nightstand, exposing his chest to my hands and lips. He let out a soft sigh,
I had to promise on seven holy books I’d call Susan if we needed any help. And Brandon finished winning the Collins over when he invited them to the barbeque that evening. Lucky me, they thanked him but excused themselves over a meeting with their Bible study group in town.The Haunters took over the kitchen to make lunch and go over what they’d shot earlier on only two laptops. I was about to feel a little out of place when Brandon required my assistance, like he needed it. He left me in charge of whatever he was cooking and went to sit at the table with Ricky. To wave me over not a minute later.“I got it,” said Cake with a nice smile on his hardened biker face.“Look, love, I think we caught something,” said Brandon as I circled the table to go by his side. “Who would be in the library?”“Let me see.” I stood behind him and rested my hands on his shoulders to lean a little forward and
We shot it in the study, after the best barbeque ever, and it took me a while to relax enough to start having an actual conversation with Ricky. Mostly because Brandon was monitoring the shoot from his laptop on my desk, and Ted and Isaac were filming too, to add to the static cameras that would record the closeups on us with those moving shots they always used in their interviews. Not to mention the lights and reflecting screens and the mic clipped to the collar of my top and all that paraphernalia. Bread and butter for them, absolutely intimidating for me.Ricky had put up a list of questions after watching Deshaun’s cut, and we did our best to stick to it, but it was obvious we would branch off.We talked about Kujo for about an hour, wrapping up the subject with the changes he’d undergone since we’d taken him back to Pennhurst. To illustrate that last point, I spoke about the reason why Kujo was talking so much over my last visit.“Yo
It was exciting, saying goodnight to the Haunters and heading to the guesthouse with Brandon. He pulled off his long-sleeved tee the moment we walked in, whirled it over his head and threw it toward the big cases of equipment.“Alone at last!” he cried out loud.“Fuck yeah!”I jumped on his back and he grabbed my legs by his sides to hold me up, laughing with me. He carried me like that around the house like I was a little girl, and then all the way up the stairs to the bedroom, where he dropped me flat on the bed. I lay there, watching him.He unbuckled his belt, eyes locked with mine and a smile to melt rocks.“Y’know, I would do the whole double episode only with your interview, just intercutting clips to show what you were talking about. All eighty minutes of you, talking,” he said, undoing the buttons of his jeans.I held my breath, lusting for his bare chest, his arms, those lips I was
Somebody gave Brandon the thumbs up and, once more, his voice overcame all the sounds and noises around us.“Rolling in five!”Even with Isaac’s warning, Trisha’s interview turned out to be super interesting to me, because we’d never actually talked in depth about what we’d been through over those days.Amy came out of the guesthouse, all dolled up for her own interview, and went to sit down under the third tent, at the other side of where Brandon and Trisha were sitting. The way she kept avoiding me threw me off. Yeah, she and Trisha didn’t see eye to eye about what had happened, but why would that make her change her attitude toward me like this?Trisha and Brandon soon wrapped up the first section of the interview, which had covered the bare facts in what looked more like a conversation: two friends reminiscing about something they’d been through together. The kind of footage they use in documentaries to
“Lunch!”Brandon sent Trisha with Isaac and Ricky to our tent, while he headed in the opposite direction to meet Amy. That was where the lunch catering was being served, so he motioned for her to walk with him. I watched them stroll around the Manor in no hurry, toward the backdoor.No time to even wonder what they were saying. Trisha was already circling the board table, so I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around her neck. We hugged tightly, like we hadn’t done in a long while.“I love you,” I whispered in her ear.“And I love you, you fucking kamikaze.”“Look who’s talking.”We let out shaky chuckles and let go of each other. To find Ricky filming us.“Really?” I grumbled.“It’s the perfect closing shot for her interview,” Ricky argued, eyes on the display of his camera.I gave him the finger, making them laugh. “How ab