Through my better judgement, I arranged dates with the men that seemed, relatively normal. They had messaged me with some dignity and did not sent any explicit pictures, they maintained a conversation and eventually, it was me who suggested we met up.  I felt awful for arranging multiple dates, but when Sophie told me that the guys would be doing the exact same thing, my guilt dwindled away and I began to feel a little excited for what was ahead.

Mia even offered to vet half the men, to find out if they were good guys or not. At first I looked at her as if she was crazy, I even told her so. But when she explained that someone could have a record, I was swayed. But I eventually decided against it and wanted to make my own impressions, taking on the quote - Never Judge a book by its cover.

Which is how I came to be sat here, in this bar. It wasn't too busy considering it was Vegas, but it was enough to keep a loner like me entertained whilst I waited. I was able to spot couples as well as single men looking for a single or not so single woman to take home.

I had ordered myself a drink and settled on a bar stool, wondering what Eric, a man originally from Idaho had to offer. He looked cute in his pictures, but did he live up to it in real life?

His last message told me that he would wear a blue shirt, now looking around the bar, it was hard to stop a guy without a blue shirt, which meant I had to rely on my eyes to spot Eric out.
It didn't take me long to spot someone like him only a few feet away and as I raised my hand to wave, I spotted him twisting his hand around. Nerves maybe?

My hand was halfway up when I realised, he wasn't nervous... He was trying to remove a wedding ring.
Maybe he is divorced? Widowed? Let's not jump to conclusions here...

I slip off the barstool, abandoning my drink because if he is doing what I think he might be doing, I won't be staying any longer.

He pauses the twisting to get his phone out of his pocket and answers it. "Hey honey, how are you?"

My step falters slightly. Honey?

"No, no. I'm just meeting a client at a bar, he wanted a drink so..." "I know, I know. How's my baby girl doing?"

Oh Hell no.

The anger in me rises and I have visions of myself walking over there and slapping the phone out of his hand and telling his wife exactly what a slime ball he really is. But I don't. I stay still, whilst people walk around me and whilst Eric, the man from Idaho, which turns out to be too good to be true, talks to his wife.

I backtrack to my stool, retrieve the glass I had abandoned and head in Erics direction.

"I'll be home soon. I love you." He hangs up and goes back to trying to pull his ring off when I step in front of him.

"Hi. I'm Elle."

His brows furrow slightly in confusion before he twigs. "Oh! Hey, I'm Eric,  how are you?"

His smile is wide and I can't deny that he isn't a good looking guy, but what makes him super ugly, is the cheating snake that he also is.

"How was the wife?" I ask causing his smile to waver. "Oh I heard and don't bother trying to remove the wedding ring."

"It's not like that. I-" He pauses as I step in close and then gasps.

"Yeah.. It's cold. I didn't think you'd mind, considering what a snake you are. Have a good night." I answer, setting my now empty glass on the bar behind him and walking away, leaving him with a wet patch on the front of his jeans.

"Bitch!" He shouts as I pull out my phone and ring Sophie to let her know what a jackass I had encountered. 

*****

The next night, I am in a different bar, different part of Vegas and waiting on a different guy, praying that he is gonna be better than the last! Mia also offered to vet this guy and I was tempted, especially after the snake from last night. But I declined and sneakily did my own background check on social media. No wedding photos, no girlfriends. Single guy, reveal yourself.

Caleb, a business man in development from Reno. Although he had social media, it wasn't a playground of information. But that could be due to his professionalism, so I was going to cut him some slack.

He did arrive, he had no wedding ring or indentation of a ring. Why was I looking at his hands so much, I hear you ask? Simple. His phone was going off nonstop and I spent most of the time keeping quiet whilst he took business calls.

The night was a washout and we eventually gave up almost joking with each other every time he phone rang. I had told him to take it, before they sent the bat-signal up. We parted way, and I can't deny I was a little disheartened.

******

The theme continued, night after night until I was almost at breaking point. If this week had told me anything, it was that the old ways were sometimes the better way.

I've met up with a guy who thought one drink constituted for me to take my clothes off, one guy who video called his mom for her approval of me but the best one, was a guy who dined and dashed leaving me with the bill.

Tonight was the last one, the make or break. If it was break then I was going to the shelter to look at cats tomorrow, maybe a dog. I prefer dogs but cats are low maintenance and use you.

Much like men...

Better get a dog.

Matt, from Vegas, worked... I can't remember where. Seemed like fun in his messages so here I was. Waiting for him to pick me up outside a coffee shop.

It was off to a good start when he pulled up, on time, opened my door and closed it when I was in. I smiled and kept the fact I had pepper spray in my bag just in case, to myself. I also had Mia set up a tracker on my phone... Just in case too.

She knew where I'd be every 5 minutes when the signal pinged and with that piece of information, I felt a little more confident.

Matt was dark haired and had dark eyes, slight stubble and wore a pair of jeans and a shirt. He was cute, funny and well spoken. He told me a bit about himself and then listened as I returned the favour. We had a few things in common, which gave me hope that I was onto a winner.

That was until he stopped the car.

I almost laughed... Almost.

The building looked spooky, but that wasn't what had me sinking into my seat and suppressing the urge to groan.
It was the large black sign, lit up.

"Have you been here before?" He asks unclipping his belt.

"No. Have you?" I ask him.

"No, I've been dying to get here, I got us tickets as well. Come on." He grins getting out and running around the car.

His excitement makes me heart squeeze and it's because of his good nature, that I get out the car and fake my enjoyment. As we go through a set of gates, I spot a few security cameras and join the line of buzzing customers, all awaiting to get inside.

"You a fan of the show?" He asks spotting me looking up at the sign.

"Haven't seen the show." I tell him causing his brows to lift in surprise.

He then goes into a full flood of information and facts about the show, whilst I, Elle, who has nothing but bad luck, fakes a smile, nods her head and looks up at the large black sign, reading 'Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum.'

Matt soon turns out to be a super fan and I don't intend on bursting his bubble as we sign non-disclosure forms. At his request, I take a photo of him with his form and can't help but smile when I see how much this actually means to him.

I also don't know if Matt almost pissed his pants when we got inside the building and stood in the foyer waiting to be taken by a tour guide. It was the only part we were allowed to take photos, so I made sure to get as many for him as I could before preparing myself.

"Do you really think this place is haunted?" I whisper over to him.

"Yeah. Definitely. It's a shame that its a guided tour, I'd love to spend a few hours looking around in here." He replies looking around the room.

I spot a large plaque on the wall, giving out a warning. 'This Building is known to contain Ghosts/Spirits and cursed objects. By entering you agree that management will not be liable for any actions by these unseen forces.'

"What could happen?" I ask him.

"Well you know the rapper, Post Malone?"

I nod, enjoying the music from him. "Yeah, he does some good songs."

"Well, he came here and was in a plane crash."

"What?" I ask stopping him as the group moves forward a bit.

"He's okay, but had a string of bad luck since being here." Matt answers. "Why, you worried now?"

I laugh nervously. "A little."

"I'll look after you." He says bumping me with his shoulder.

"What kind of things are here?" I ask looking at the  Zak looking doll sat in the fortune telling machine. "It's a good likeness for him."

"I know. So there's a lot here, which is why I want to be in here for longer than 45 minutes. There's cursed dolls, stairs from a demon house that he used to own, a suicide van, some items of Charles Manson, film memorabilia, Ed Geins' cauldron, um a devils rocking chair, there is loads." He tells me.

"Demon house? Devils chair? Brilliant." I mumble.

"There's also a box that's cursed real bad. I think that's what caused the plane crash for Post." He says.

It's not long before a tour guide arrives and introduces herself. After running through a few things, we are on our way, down the long and dark corridors of the museum. I notice the vast amounts of cameras and summarise that this place must have cost a lot of money, especially to have security as tight as what it was. If it wasn't for Matt pointing out things, I might have missed a lot of them, due to being creeped out that someone was watching and following us. Hence my thought on security.

I guess they have to keep an eye on people.

The incense burners gave me a headache after 10 minutes and I welcomed the air conditioning when I found it.

"You okay?" Matt asks placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, just a little headachy. Whatever they are burning doesn't agree with my senses. How about you? Enjoying it so far?"

He grins. "I love it. I have to come back though. Is it bad that I want to sneak off?"

I laugh quietly. "Probably not. Although I don't think you'd get far, I think they have a security guy rounding up the back."

He looks over my head and frowns "I can't see anyone."

A part of me wonders how serious he was about sneaking off when he begins looking around a lot more and through doors, into rooms that they had already been inside. I fully expected to be left alone when he snuck off, but for now, he was here, walking with the rest of us.

"Psst."

I look over "What?" I whisper.

"Huh?" He answers.

"What are you pssting me about? You gonna make a run for it?" I joke.

"I didn't psst you. Are you hearing things?" He says standing a little closer.

"I could have sworn you psst at me, I thought you were gonna sneak off."

"Nope. Not me."

"Probably the pipes or something." I wave off before moving on, pulling him along with me because I knew it wasn't pipes. It sounded way too human.

We were shown Dr Jack Kevorkian's Van, Matt was like me, intrigued and fascinated. However, when someone began bad mouthing Dr Kevorkian's actions, it was me who spoke up.

"I feel empathy for a man, he was a doctor. His main objective was to heal peoples ailments, he probably did it for years, but what happens when they are too sick? He was a man who tried to make sick peoples time on earth a little more bearable and gave them power at a time where they thought they had none. Yes, it is frowned upon to help someone die, but every one is different and I couldn't imagine being so sick that I had to wait until the Reaper knocked on the front door. I would want to be in control, Dr Kevorkian gave them that control back."

The tour guide gave me a smile and a nod, no doubt having to hear someone's opinionated views on how bad the man was to them and not hearing many people defend the man. But it was nothing compared to the smile Matt gave when we moved rooms.

"That was awesome." He whispered.

"What? It's true.. I think he was just doing his job. Even if the lines got blurred."

"I know and I totally agree. Wonder what room we are going in next?"

I didn't miss someone muttering at me as we passed them, but I don't care. I stand by what I said. He wasn't a Jim Jones, forcing people to drink any cool-aid. He was a doctor, still listening to his patients and still caring for them, even if it meant breaking the law.

"So, tell me about the demon house?" I whispered to Matt.

"Let me guess, haven't seen the documentary?"

I shake my head and listen as he goes into detail, how Zak had himself drilled into the home so that he was unable to leave the property and faced a demon or demons head on. How he caught a large black mass on his camera, had an attachment and how it effected him after.

"So he has to wear glasses now, like forever?" I ask.

"Yeah, he always wore them, but he can't wear contacts anymore, hence why some photos, like the one on the sign, he isn't wearing any. That photo was taken a few years ago whilst he was investigating. Now his eyes can only be corrected by surgery, which I don't think I'd like to do when the risk of going blind is high."

"No, me neither. So you say he's a paranormal investigator... Right?"

"One of the best."

"How many investigations has he done to get a place like this?"  I ask, because Matt is bound to know.

"Over 100." A voice replies making me jump. I turn to find the man himself stood behind me.

Of course he would be here... It was my luck.

Zak is dressed in all black, his hair is styled up and he is looking down on me with a little satisfaction. I know I am short, but to tower over me is annoying.

Bigger they are, the harder they fall right?

"H-" I get cut off by Matt, losing his shit and introducing himself.

It was kinda cute, if not a little weird to see a man fawn over another. But hey, Zak must be used to it right?

He is polite enough to let Matt ramble on before the rest of the tour group notices he's here and with smile and a wave, he departs. But not before giving me a look that makes me frown.

What's all that about?

"Man, that was awesome." Matt sighs before continuing on with the group.

I'm still stood in place, with my head cocked slightly to the side wondering what just happened. Guessing that I wouldn't get an answer, I shake my head and catch up with Matt.

As we head further into the museum, my interest is peaked and I find myself enjoying it more, rather than being on edge and looking for something or someone.

"You enjoying the tour?" Matt whispers as I step closer to an exhibit.

"Weird fascination with serial killers." I tell him before looking over. "That sounded worse out loud."

He chuckles "Don't worry, I like the odd documentary too."

I smile but refrain from telling him that I've watched documentaries, read books and tried to study them. In school I wanted to be a criminal psychologist, I guess that has always stuck with me.

The next few rooms go too fast, like Matt said. But I certainly have no problem getting out the puppet and doll rooms fast. It's like hundreds of little eyes watching you, and every movement you make. It's creepy as hell and I wonder why the hell Zak would own so many. The man just gets more mysterious.

"Next up, the dybbuk box." The tour guide says before telling the group that additional disclosure forms have to be signed due to the level of activity often seen within the room. There was an opt out, but nobody took it and soon we had all signed another form and awaited our turn.

In the excitement, Matt had climbed the queue and was waiting near the front like a school child, whereas I was at the back, a little resistant to see the box that causes so many problems.

The tour guide checks the room before smiling "Lets go."

As the group starts to move, I take a single step and stop, feeling my top snagged on something. Reaching back, I twist around to see a hand holding my shirt and Zak in the darkness of the wall.

"Off." I tell him, slapping his hand gently to let go.

"Not today.." He says looking past me and at the group as they file in.

"What? What do you mean? Not today."

He looks down at me "Trust me.. The energy is bad, Elle. It's better if you give this a miss."

"I signed a form, I understand the risks."

His eyes flash down to me with annoyance. "You understand do you? You know how that box works?"

"Well, no. But-"

"Please. Just, just walk with me and miss this room. It's dark today. Even I can't stick it. Please?" He pleads.

With a sigh, I nod my head and the tour guide rounds up the back of the group before heading inside the room and closing the door.

"Now off." I tell him, removing his hand and looking at the closed door.

Zak circles my hand with his own and walks me through the dark corridor which leads onto another.

"How do you navigate through this?" I ask realising the halls look almost identical, probably designed like that to confuse people.

"Perks of owning the building. I know the secret entrances too."

"There's secret doors too?" I ask looking at the walls and running my hands over it.

He laughs "Inquisitive, aren't we? But yes, I can get into any room and out without being seen."

"So why all the cameras?" I ask.

"Got to keep an eye on people."

"So the group will come out of here, yeah?"

He nods and steps in front of me, blocking my view of the door. "So, who did you come with? What's his name?"

"Matt. His name is Matt." I reply.

"Does he always babble on like that? Has he given himself a chance to breath?" Zak questions. I know I thought it, but to hear it out loud sounded cruel, it's enough to make me frown.

I take my hand away realising he is still holding it within his and it was beginning to feel weird. "He's actually a really nice man."

"Nice isn't the same as great, fantastic, wonderful, exciting and mysterious." He counters.

"And are they words you'd use for yourself?"

"Definitely in more ways then one." He smirks. I watch his brow quirk trying to pull a smile out of me, but I keep straight faced and fold my arms.

"Matt is a good man. I can tell that already."

"First date?"

"What if it is?"

Zak shakes his head "No reason..."

"Well he's been better than the others this week, that's for sure." I answer looking around Zak to try and see the door.

"The others? There's been more?"

"Many more. Ever dined and dashed on?"

"I normally pay for dinner anyway." He replies.

"Well one didn't and he eat the most expensive freakin' meal. It's a shame they don't do reviews on dating profiles, he would have got a fat zero." I complain.

"And what about the nice Matt? What would he get?"

"Well I've enjoyed myself so far."

"And yet you're stood with me.." Zak draws off.

"Because you wouldn't let me go in the room. Don't make out I've ditched him, for you, 'cause I haven't."

Zak smiles, it's a devilish one and it's one that sends a shiver down my back. Must be an air-con unit near by..

"Why are you really here, Elle?"

"I'm with someone." I tell him.

"But you don't want to be, do you? You're intrigued, interested and excited. I've watched you from the moment you came in.-"

"Doesn't sound creepy." I interrupt sarcastically.

"You're curious and not just about the museum, about me. I mean, that's the reason you'd stayed, isn't it?"

I hate the smirk he has written across his face. It's arrogant and amused at the thought of me wanting to be here, to be near him.

"You think a lot of yourself, if you think this has anything to do with you." I answer.

"But you're here."

"Because Matt booked tickets. I didn't know until he pulled up in his car."

"You came together." He notes.

"We did. At first I groaned at the thought, and then realised you have zero effect on me. So I came in for the sake of Matt. Not for you or your creepy cameras." I tell him.

I side step to move around him when he matches my move, blocking my way. I can hear the tour guide exiting the room and I look up to see what he wants now.

"If you'd excuse me-"

He face comes close to mine, cutting me off instantly. "If I didn't effect you, you wouldn't be taking those little gasps of air and have hooded eyes. I bet your heart is racing.."

Damn him.

I gulp a breath and try to straighten my spine as I force out "What is your game?"

He smiles "It almost sounds like you're interest in playing it."

"Hey babe, when you coming home?" I say, repeating the phone call from the other week.

It was suppose to make his smile falter, maybe even stop this little show he's putting on. But instead, it causes his eyes to flicker with excitement.

"You're jealous. I like it."

I move past him when I catch the sight of Matt looking confused as to why I was there. Making my way back towards the group, I hear Zak again.

"It looks good on you. Until next time, Elle..."

I turn, with intentions of telling him to go away, when I see that he's gone.

Poof! Like a magician.

When I get to Matts side, he asks where I've been and why I was with Zak, his idol...

"I decided to give the box a miss. Zak showed me the way around so I could meet you again."

Matt hums "I thought you said that you didn't know him."

"Well, I don't. Not really."

"Looks like he knows you."

I shake my head "No, probably just confused me with someone else."

He looks unconvinced and he has every right too, I was just stood in the hallway with Zak talking in what would have looked like close quarters. Well more of duelling than talking, in whatever little game this was.

He has disturbed my date and he wasn't going to get away with it...