Page 78 of Back To You

I love how everyone took the theme so seriously.

In the kitchen, I find my brothers, Caleb, Bennett, and Jack. Bennett and Jack are dressed all in black flowy capes and Scream masks pulled up on the top of their heads, and Caleb is dressed as Kylo Ren, his mask under his arm as he chats with Bennett and Jack.

“Nice costume, little brother!” I hear Bennett yell across the kitchen when he sees me, and I walk over to them, letting Rosie off her leash to say her own hellos and setting down the container of Annie’s cupcakes.

She hasn’t been stress-baking half as much as I thought she would've, but I partly blame myself for my own methods of relieving her stress.

“‘Mommy’s Little Monster’, Luke. Really?” Caleb snarks, reading my shirt and shaking his head, but I see the amusement on his face.

“Cute, huh?” I say, my smile accentuated by the pink and blue makeup I found of Annie’s around my eyes and her cherry lip gloss of hers on my lips.

“It is pretty fitting,” Jack laughs, taking a sip of the drink he’s holding. “I saw Annie’s costume when we got here. It makes sense you’re dressed as the obsessed one of the two.”

Bennett and Caleb let out a chuckle, and I don’t correct them.

Obsessed is an understatement when it comes to Annie.

Before I can say anything else, the voice I’ve been waiting to hear all day booms behind. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

I give Caleb, Bennett, and Jack a grin before turning around.

Annie’s brown hair is pushed back like she ran her fingers back through it. It has a green tint over it, and her oversized purple suit jacket perfectly showcases the orange bralette, little black shorts, and fishnets she has on underneath.

I have to will my jaw to not drop to the floor.

Her brown eyes are framed with triangles of purple eyeshadow, her lips looking more red than usually, the lines of her mouth exaggerated to her cheeks.

“Damn, honey. Crazy looks good on you,” I tease, leaning into The Joker’s main characteristic, and I walk to where she’s standing behind the couch in the living room.

“I wish I could say the same,” she quips, but I watch her eyes roam, staring at my pink and blue hair and down to my chest where she echoes Caleb’s sentiment, “‘Mommy’s Little Monster’, Luke? What is wrong with you?”

“Do we really want to get into that tonight?” I ask her, taking her chin between my thumb and index finger, pulling her closer to me, needing to taste her cherry lips before the temptation overpowers me.

Her kiss is soft, and I wish we weren’t in the middle of a party of a dozen people because my need for her never seems to go away.

“You guys are so hot!” I hear Mia yell across the living room. Annie pulls her lips from mine, and I find Mia and Eddie dressed as Chucky and Chucky’s Bride, always killing it with their couple’s costumes and winning the contests we always have at these Halloween parties.

Drew and Emmett are with them, dressed as Team Rocket’s Jessie and James with Lennon in a baby Mew costume.

“Hot enough to win this year?” Annie questions playfully, grabbing my hand to walk us over to our friends. “Did you bring the cupcakes?”

I nod not being able to tear my eyes away from her. I lean in to kiss her temple, letting go of her hand to throw my arm over her shoulder. “Did you make my favorite?”

She laughs. “I won’t say they’renotdark chocolate and peanut butter.”

I lean down. “That’s what I like to hear,” I whisper into her ear, keeping that little shiver I feel going up her spine to myself.

We spent the first few hours of the party mingling and catching up with the people there who we don’t see too often. We’ve gotten to know Cal, Emma, Lacey, and Tyler over the years, and if they’re important people to Drew, then they’re important people to us.

Same with Mateo, Theo, and Silas—Mateo being Mia’s brother and Eddie’s best friend for all of his adult life, Theo and Silas being the other half of Cross MyHeart—we’ve gotten to know them well since they practiced next door to Lenny’s for years.

In the warehouse that is mine.

Mine to turn into something.

Mine to be proud of.

Mine.

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