After waiting around for a few minutes, I spot Klara park and get out. She runs over, out of breath, a little flustered from being so late. “Where is it?” she asks.

“It’s locked,” I say.

She frowns and tries the door. “Locked.”

“Like I said.”

She glares at me. “What’s going on? I thought I was late.”

I shake my head. “Maybe your dad got drunk and forgot about this? Or maybe—”

Before I can finish that thought, the door unlocks and slowly pushes open. I stand back with Klara and watch as Ryan materializes in the gloom.

“Welcome,” he says, pitching his voice low, “to the Reality Hurts House of Horrors!” We stare at him and he laughs. He flips the lights on. “Just kidding.”

Klara rolls her eyes. “What’s going on?” she asks him.

“It’s a weird one,” he admits. “Did you guys come prepared?”

I shrug and glance at Klara. She’s nodding and looks determined.

“Cool.” Ryan steps aside. “Come on in then.”

We walk inside. The lobby looks the same, but as soon as we’re back in the offices, the differences are clear.

Half of the cubes are gone and a large curtain is pulled across the space. Ryan leads us through and we’re standing in front of two cots and a large countdown timer.

“First thing’s first.” He picks up a notebook and a pen. “Each of you write down three questions about yourself. They have to be questions with clear answers. Nothing abstract. Stick to personal things, like your favorite color, or your mom’s maiden name, stuff like that.” He hands the notebook to Klara. “You go first.”

She frowns at him but takes it and writes. When she’s done, he tears out her page, folds it, and puts it away. He hands me the notebook and I write down my questions.

“Perfect!” he says, taking my questions and putting them with Klara’s. “Okay, so. You two want to guess what we’re doing?”

“No, Ryan,” Klara says. “Now’s your time to shine.”

“Perfect.” He grins at us. “Okay, Shaun, you’re on the right bed. Go ahead and sit down.”

I walk over and sit.

“And Klara, you’re on the left.”

She sits and looks at me, head tilted, a smile on her lips.

“Here’s the game,” Ryan says. “You two are here overnight. No sleeping. If you sleep, you’re disqualified completely, and the other person wins.”

Klara groans. “I hate these.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Staying up all night challenges. Such a pain in the ass.”

“Ah, it’s not so bad.”

“You say that now.” She sighs and stretches her legs.

“The timer will start soon,” Ryan says. “The game is simple. You talk to each other all night, try to learn as much as you can about the other person, and then ask the questions you just wrote down. Whoever gets the most right, wins.”

I frown at him. “Seriously?”

“Yep. That simple.”

“What if I just… lie all night?”

He stares at me. “You’d do that?”

“If it wasn’t against the rules and I wanted to win, of course.”

“I, uh…” He trails off. “No lying. It’s against the rules.”

I laugh. “You just made that up.”

“So what?” He shrugs. “I just made that rule up, but I’m sure Aldo would agree. So no lying to each other for the rest of the night. If either of you suspects a lie, bring it to my attention and we’ll check the tape.”

We both stare at him. “The tape?” Klara asks.

“Oh, yeah, we’re filming this,” he says. “Just to make sure it’s fair.” He grins and winks.

Klara groans and I laugh. “Your old man’s kinky,” I say to her.

“Stop,” she says. “Don’t be gross.”

“Time starts now,” Ryan says. The countdown timer lights up. Eleven hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds. “Good luck.”

He turns and leaves without a word.

I lounge back on the cot and stretch. “Well, I might as well just fall asleep now,” I say.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Why not? Then you’d win and this would all be over.”

“I’ll be so pissed. I’m not taking your charity, Shaun.”

“I know. You made that abundantly clear already.”

She laughs. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

“Damn. Going in with the big guns.”

“Come on. Don’t lie.” She looks at me with a sly smile.

“Fifteen,” I say.

“Wow.” Her eyebrows raise. “Really?”

I shrug. “She was older, too.”

“How much older?”

“Thirty-three, I think.”

She cackles and stares. “That’s insane!”

“She was one of the staff at the manor. Really pretty good. I don’t know what the hell she saw in me.”

“I’m sure you’ve always been good-looking.”

“I’m better now.” I grin at her. “How about you?”

“I’m not answering that on camera.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Nope. And I promise not to use that as one of my questions later.”

I laugh and sigh. “Yeah, fine.”

She lays back on her cot and looks over at me. I meet her gaze and smile despite myself.

“This is weird, right?” I ask.

“Yep,” she says.

“I don’t like that we’re being filmed.”

“I don’t either, but what can we do?”

Tags: B.B. Hamel Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net