Free The Lost Girl by Lilian Carmine

him, making him stop and turn to look at me. “Thank you.”
    His smile was big and he shot me a quick nod before leaving.
    I walked upstairs to talk to Tristan about my last-minute night-out cancelation.
    He was leaning over the bathroom sink with a white towel wrapped low around his waist, smearing shaving cream over his jaw.
    “Hey, I’m about to hit the shower. I’ll be ready in a minute,” he said, glancing quickly at me. “You don’t look too excited.”
    “Yeah, I’m not really in the mood for this, Tris.”
    He stopped mid-shave. “You don’t wanna go?”
    “Sorry, no.”
    He furrowed his brow, clearly disappointed at the news. “Are you sure? We never go to these kinds of parties with the boys … It might be fun. Plus, it’s a very selective guest list. All our close friends are going to be there.” He looked at me for a few seconds and then sighed in resignation. “Well … I guess you are right. It will be a loud night and probably bad for your head; we should stay home and get some rest.”
    “What? No, you don’t need to stay with me,” I protested. “You can go with the boys. I’ll be fine here.”
    “What are you talking about, Joe? I’m not going without you.” He turned to look at me, clearly annoyed.
    “Why not? You’re not glued to me. Just because I’m not going it doesn’t mean you can’t go, either. We have been to lots of events before without each other!” I felt bad; I could see in his eyes how much he wanted to go out tonight.
    “That’s different. Those were job-related events,” he stated, leaning his hip against the sink and crossing his arms over his chest with a stubborn scowl. “If you’re not going, I’m not going. I’m not leaving you here all alone, especially after what happened yesterday.”
    “That’s very sweet of you, Tris, but you don’t have to worry. Harry is going to stay with me. He’s not in the mood for going out, either,” I reasoned.
    He pursed his lips, not really sure what he was going to do.
    “Come on, Tris. Please say you’ll go? I’ll feel like crap if you have to stay here because of me, and then you’ll resent me later for having missed all the fun. I’ll feelobligated to go, just so I won’t ruin the night for you,” I exclaimed, moving closer to him and wrapping my arms around his waist. “Please, Tris. Say you’ll go? This way I’ll be happy about staying and you’ll be happy about going, so we’ll both be happy. What do you say?” I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes.
    He chuckled and, after a moment, conceded defeat. “All right, Buttons. I’ll go.”
    “Yay!” I exclaimed and stood on my tiptoes, giving him a small peck on the lips, getting shaving cream all over my face. He laughed and wiped the cream off my nose before going back to his shaving.
    When everybody was ready to leave, Tiffany whined a little about me and Harry not going, but she dropped it when she saw how adamant I was about staying home.
    It was just me and Harry tonight.
    “So, are you ready to kick some zombie ass?” he asked, waving our favorite video game in his hands, after everybody had left.
    “Hell, yeah!” I shouted happily.

Chapter Eight
Bumps in the Night
    After a few hours spent contentedly killing zombies, Harry and I decided to call it a night, and I went for a quick shower before hitting the sack. I had the water running and was feeling quite happy and relaxed when a shiver ran up my spine, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up: that eerie feeling was back, putting me uncomfortably on edge again.
    I shook my head and tried to get back to enjoying my steamy shower. Then I caught a shadow moving by the bathroom door. It was so subtle and fast, I could almost swear it was only a trick of the light.
    I quickly turned off the shower and stepped into the middle of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around me in a protective gesture. I was about to shout to see if there was anybody outside in my room when I realized that