Page 45 of Trick or Treat

Keegan opened his mouth, more than likely getting ready to argue with his sister. In an effort to head the argument off before it could get started, she reached for the box. “If you’ve got all the ingredients, I’ll make them. How’s that sound?”

“Yippee!” Reagan jumped up and down.

“What do you need to make them?” Keegan asked.

“I’ll need water, oil and eggs.” She checked the back of the box.

Keegan opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of eggs. “Looks like we got eggs.”

“Okay. Where would the cooking oil be?”

Keegan opened the cabinet next to the stove and found the oil. “I guess you need a bowl, too, and the blender thing?”

“Yes,” she chuckled. “But it’s called a mixer. Do you have one of those?”

Keegan dug around in a bottom cabinet and handed Lindsey a mixing bowl over his shoulder, then pulled out the mixer. “I don’t know where the things are that goes in this.”

“That’s okay. Let’s check the drawers.” Sure enough, she found them in the drawer where he kept the mixing and serving spoons and spatulas. “Found them.” She also found a measuring cup in an upper cabinet.

“Here’s the dish he usually bakes them in.” Keegan handed her a glass baking dish.

With a little help from the kids, Reagan pouring in the water and oil and Keegan using the mixer, they finally had the brownies ready to go in the oven. She set the timer and turned to the kids. “You guys have any board games?”

“Yeah. I’ll go get them.” Keegan ran off down the hall, presumably to his bedroom and returned with three different games. “Here’s Life, Sorry and Twister.”

Twister wasn’t technically a board game, but Lindsey didn’t mention it. Odds were they wouldn’t pick that one anyway. “Which one do you guys want to play?”

“Twister!” Reagan jumped up and down.

“Yeah. Twister would be cool!” Keegan agreed. Her breath caught in her chest. He smiled just like his dad. The boy was going to be a heartbreaker when he got older.

She should have known it. “Okay. Twister it is. Let’s go get set up in the living room.” She followed behind the kids and helped Keegan move the coffee table out of the way so they could spread out the mat with the colored circles. Keegan placed the board with the spinner on the floor next to the mat, then instructed Reagan to take off her shoes.

Lindsey was probably going to regret it, but she took her shoes off, too and stepped up to the mat. “Reagan, go ahead and spin it.”

She swatted at the spinner. It landed on right foot yellow. Everyone put their right foot on a yellow circle on the mat. Keegan spun and it was left hand blue. And on it went until they were a tangled mess and Lindsey had to fall to the side in order not to squish Reagan as she fell. Keegan won that round. They let Reagan win the second round and it was during the third round that Trick came through the door.

Trick pulledhis truck into the drive and under the carport, glad to finally be home. After sliding down the snowy hill and participating in a snowball fight, he’d been soaking wet for the rest of the ride home. All he could think about was getting home and putting something dry on. Maybe he’d make a cup of coffee to warm himself up while he was at it.

About thirty minutes after he talked to Lindsey to make sure everything at home was all right, they’d spotted a woman on the side of the road trying to change her own tire. Race pulled in behind her and offered their help. He told the woman and her young daughter to go sit in his truck so they could stay warm while they changed her tire. She’d been more than happy to do as he suggested. She must have been trying to change the tire for quite some time considering her red cheeks and nose and her chattering teeth. She’d done pretty well on her own, getting the spare out and getting the car jacked up.

There was no way she would have ever gotten the lug nuts off on her own. Trick was struggling with it himself. Whenever an impact wrench was used to tighten them it made it nearly impossible to get them off manually. He was down to two lug nuts and was putting all his effort into breaking it loose when it suddenly gave way. He’d been so caught off guard that he’d jerked and fell backward. The car was parked so close to the edge of the road, he tumbled backward down the incline, completely soaking himself in the wet, cold snow that had been accumulating all afternoon.

He looked up the hill and saw his three brothers laughing their asses off. Jed was finding his predicament especially funny. He climbed back up the embankment, pretended to be sliding back down and waited for Jed to offer his hand. When he did, Trick yanked on it, sending his friend rolling down the hill.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuckers.” He glared at Race and Jackson as he swiped the snow off himself as best he could. He glared at them and went back to changing the tire. He smiled to himself as he listened to Jed groaning and grunting as he made his way up the incline. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Jed almost reach the top, then ended up sliding back down, cussing a blue streak. Knowing Jed was having difficulty getting back up, he finished with the tire and lowered the jack. Jackson tossed the flat in the trunk, then grabbed the jack from Trick and put it in next to the flat.

The woman thanked them all, clearly happy they’d come to her and her daughter’s rescue. She thanked them again and was on her way.

Splat!A snowball hit Jackson on the back of his head, some of it falling under his collar and sliding down his back. That was it. Game on. Jed and Jackson lobbed snowball after snowball at each other, laughing like little kids. Trick was laughing along with them until Jackson nailed him square in the chest. Left with no other option, Trick was dragged into the game.

People were driving by, probably thinking the big, bad bikers had lost their minds. Maybe they had, but they were having a blast despite being cold and wet. Race had been doing his best not to get dragged into their snowball fight by standing on the other side of his truck. When a stray snowball went his direction, he simply ducked behind his truck. Trick was sure Race thought he had one over on them by keeping relatively dry. And he would have succeeded if not for a semi-truck and trailer flying by, completely soaking Race’s entire backside. They couldn’t help it. The look on his face had the three of them coming together, holding each other up, and laughing like a bunch of hyenas.

“Fuuuuuck!” Race yelled at the instant soaking. It took him a second to catch his breath. That’s all the time it took for him to level his glare on the three of them. The look was so scary, the three of them scrambled to get in the truck before he left them stranded on the side of the road. And in the current mood he was in, he’d do it.

While they were piling in, Race stood outside his door and stripped his clothes off. Trick, Jackson and Jed all shared awhat the fucklook as Race climbed in buck naked except for his boots. He reached behind him and dropped his wet clothes on the floor at Trick’s feet.

“Uh, Race?” Jed tried feeling him out.

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