Page 52 of Something Cryptid This Way Comes
He pulls something from his back pocket, and Zach groans. Conall’s brother Rory, yells, “Get down.”
But Conall waves him off. “I have to redeem myself.” He swivels to the guy Trevor identified earlier as Pierce and points a dart at him. “You, don’t move.”
Alaric yanks off his headband then puts his hands over his head and slinks down in his chair. Jake throws his arms over Alaric like he’s throwing himself over a bomb to save his man.
Lips twitching, Trevor murmurs to me, “I’ll tell you about that later.”
The crowd starts chanting, “Con-all, Con-all, Con-all.”
Conall rolls the dart between his fingers. Rory storms across the room toward the bar, Adrian hurrying after him. The chanting continues. I hear bets being placed among some of the patrons. And the Pierce guy stands in the corner, stone still, the only thing moving are his enormous eyes as he watches the chaos unfold.
“What’s going on?” I ask Trevor.
Laughing, he shakes his head. “I wasn’t there, but apparently Conall blames Pierce for distracting him at a bar in New Island when he was trying to do some trick dart shot or something. Ended up hitting Alaric’s hatwhileit was on his headinstead of the dartboard and pinning it to the wall.” He bites his lip, but his laughter keeps coming. “You should have seen Jo. She was pissed. She’d just given Alaric the hat which took her months to knit, or crochet, I can’t remember which. I’ll take you there and we can get a picture with it.”
“It’s still there?”
“Still pinned to the wall with Conall’s dart. It’s become quite the social media attraction. Jake and Alaric actually met that night. Jake saw the dart fly and raced over to check if Alaric was okay.”
Conall eyes up the board and the crowd grows quiet. Rory has his head on Adrian’s shoulder and Zach rubs his back. Conall takes a few practice swings, and then lets the dart go.
It sails through the air over tables and trick-or-treaters as we collectively hold our breath. When it hits the board with athunkdead center of the bullseye, the entire bar erupts.
Conall is lifted from the bar and paraded around on the shoulders of three of the penguins. Money exchanges hands. People pat each other on the back as if their collective energy helped that dart find its mark.
It’s loud and ridiculous and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Once the celebration settles down, some of the people I’ve interviewed about the old and new cryptids stop by, chatting about the sightings and inviting Trevor and me to other activities in town. A few ask if we have any leads and mention the dark figures seen about town.
Sitting here, in this crowded bar, filled with old and new friends, I feel like I’m slotting in a missing puzzle piece.
Trevor’s hand finds mine and he links us together. His eyes shining, he leans into me and I claim a kiss before snuggling under his arm.
I can see myself staying here in Maplewood, with Trevor, for good.
CHAPTER 15
TREVOR
Pieces from our Halloween costumes litter my bedroom floor. Flannels, tees, socks, jeans, and boxers form a trail Bram and I created as we kissed on our way to a shared shower.
Rubbing a towel over my hair, I watch my sexy man pick up the clothes. A pair of my pajama pants hangs low on his hips. He drops the clothes in the hamper then pulls a fresh tee from the space I made for his clothes in my closet the day we returned from our camping trip.
He wrinkles his nose at our costumes in the basket. “I can smell the alcohol and food on them from here. We need to do laundry tomorrow.”
Our night at The Striped Maple ended in a round of shots with our friends and plans for Trevor and me to join most of the same crew tomorrow for dinner at Jake and Alaric’s place, and to go hiking with Rory, Adrian, and Zach next weekend.
I glance at the empty dog beds. “Where are the dogs?”
“Hades settled on the rug in the guest room. Bandit went downstairs. I heard him drinking water.”
The clock by the bed flips its numbers from 11:59 to 12:00. “Halloween’s officially over.”
Bram smiles as he pulls back the covers. “We have a year to come up with better costumes.”
A year’s a long time. When we sat in this room weeks ago, he told me he’d come up more often. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him to stay forever, but I hold the words in. That he’s staying for now, indefinitely, is enough.
I hang my towel on the rack above his then pull on boxers and join him in bed. “We can add an extra blanket if you’re cold.”
