Page 59 of Haunted Nights & Savage Sins
It’s obvious he doesn’t want to be here, but he’s doing it for me.
CORMAC
Halloween is supposed to be the night of ghouls and witches. Gore and evilness.
In actuality, it’s just sugar-infused crotch gremlins. Still scary in their own right.
Brenna has changed me. There’s no way to deny it. If someone were to have told me just a few months ago that I’d be standing here in a semi thrown-together Halloween outfit, handing out candy to kids, I’d have laughed in their face and suggested that they get their heads checked.
Craziness.
Yet, here I am giving my best playful glower to the next bunch of kids who have shown up at my door.
The first few times I opened my door, I was prepared for an attack, prepared for parents to snatch up their children to get them away from the monster hiding behind the door.
It’s true I did get a few startled stares and even one or two whimpers from people who weren’t prepared to see me. The ones I hated the most were the adults who looked at me with pity, as if to say poor man.
I made it my business to snarl at them hard enough to get them to look away. I’m not a freak or a sideshow.
The woman standing by my side is proof of that. She is totally in her element as she oohs and ahhs over the creative costumes of the children.
She nearly lost her mind when a child no more than two years old toddled up to the door in a leprechaun costume. I had to stop her from filling the little tyke’s pot of gold with all the candy.
Even I had to admit, it was cute.
Besides the adults, though, the most reaction I got from the kids were, “Oh, your costume is cool.” Or, “I didn’t think you were real.”
Turns out I had indeed become the stuff of rumors in the town. Now that the folks had seen me, maybe that would change.
By eight at night, I can see Brenna is nearly dead on her feet.
“I can have Maxim shut the gate again. I don’t think there are any more children to give candy to.”
She looks down at the last remaining bag of candy. It’s about halfway finished. “No, not yet. There may be some stragglers.” She yawns.
“You need to rest. You’re tired.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “I wonder whose fault that is.”
I chuckle and throw my hands up. “I had no part in that. It was my alter ego.”
She scoffs and leans against the wall, gazing at me adoringly. “Oh, please, there is no alter ego. It’s all you. Besides, I don’t think I could deal with more than one of you. I can barely keep up as it is.”
It’s only then that I realize maybe I’ve been a little too enthusiastic with my desire for her. She’s never told me no.
“You know you don’t have to have sex with me if you don’t want to, right? I don’t want to force you.” The words are serious.
She focuses and pushes off the wall, coming over to me to put her hands on both sides of my face. “Cormac, I want every last second with you. Your kiss, your body, you. I know it’s my choice and I choose you.”
I kiss her softly once. “Good, cause you’re stuck with me.”
Before things can get any more heated, the doorbell rings and I groan. Goddamn kids.
I stand back and watch her scurry over to the door, plastering on her happy face as she opens the door. She’s just as excited about this trick-or-treater as she was about the very first one.
She talks to the kids like they are small adults, asking them what kind of candy they like. Making deals with them if we don’t havetheir favorite in the low stock of candy we have left. She laughs and interacts with them.
I take in the scene.
