44. Halloween
44
Halloween
It would’ve been easy to re-use my random mistress of cobwebs costume for Halloween. Too easy. Luckily, Zero had no problem repurposing some of her test animatronic legs into a black widow spider costume. Victor secured the leg-infused brace over my red-and-black corset. His cool fingers brushed my back.
I shivered with pleasure and grinned over my shoulder at him. “How does it feel, putting my clothes on for once?”
“Important,” he purred, smoothing his palms along my bare skin.
“It is.” I rubbed my thighs together, still tingling, and clasped his fingers. “I appreciate all your help, Spider-Man.”
He arched his eyebrow, which had been darkened with my eyeshadow. “You have no idea how long it took me to convince Zero we needed six legs.”
“Why? Was she not counting my real legs?” I bumped him with my ass.
“She suspected my true intentions were to clear out the basement.” He palmed my hip and neck, holding me flush against him with exhilarating control. “My true intentions are much more devious,” he said.
“Get laid?” I grinned.
He nipped at my jaw, and I gasped, grinding against him.
“We shouldn’t ruin our makeup yet,” I said.
“As you wish, mistress.” His eyelashes tickled me as he placed a chaste kiss to my cheek.
I groaned and leaned into him. If it wasn’t Halloween, I’d ruin my lipstick on him in a heartbeat.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I tensed, and Victor tightened his grip on me.
It wouldn’t be Sam. He hadn’t contacted me since our little game. Still, once in a while, that fight or flight instinct kicked in. I patted Victor’s hand and showed him my screen. “It’s the video doorbell thing. It’ll probably be buzzing all night.”
Mom had gotten me the newest system with motion detection for extra security. Dad had installed it, and Tori got me a case of candy apples as an apology. We’d had a decent night sharing them. I’d saved an apple for Victor, which didn’t go unnoticed by my family, but they managed to be low-key and let me change the subject pretty quickly. I wasn’t going to move in with Victor right away, but we spent almost every night together anyway.
I clicked the doorbell notification. The security camera showed a dad and his young daughter in a cow costume walking up the sidewalk.
I tucked my phone into my skirt pocket. “Our first guests. Are you ready?”
He nodded.
I skipped down the hall, snagged the giant bowl of candy, then yanked open the door. “Happy Halloween,” I cheered.
The little girl in the cow costume gaped at me. Her dad’s jaw went slack too. Black widows had that effect on people. I bent over and shook the bowl at the kid. “Would you like some candy or would you prefer to graze the lawn?”
Her dad nudged her. “What do you say, Maxine?”
“T-trick or treat.” She clawed at the shiny wrappers, then dropped one into her pumpkin pail.
The dad dragged his gaze from my boobs and grinned. “That’s quite an outfit. You look amazing.”
“Good enough to eat,” Victor rumbled, hugging me from behind.
The little girl gasped at my Spider-Man’s vampire look.
I’d lined his eyes with charcoal and painted his cheeks and lips with rouge to give him a gaunt, just-fed undead look.
He grinned, baring fake fangs. “Don’t worry. I only drink blood if we’ve run out of candy.” He plucked a piece from the bowl, eliciting giggles from me and the girl.
The dad gave us a weird look and ushered his kid away, but she peeked over her shoulder and smiled at us.
I squeezed Victor’s arm. “Are we too scary?”
“No. You’re gorgeous. Besides, if people avoid the house, we get more candy.” He peeled open the caramel wafer and offered me a bite.
"Silver lining." I only took half the bar so he could savor the last bit, then closed the door.
Jinx waltzed down the hall to check on us.
“Hi, Jinx. Do you want a treat too?” I asked.
My cat froze and stared at me, his pupils shrinking despite the darkness of my multi-limbed shadows. All the hair his little body pricked out in fuzzy apprehension.
“Aw, Jinx, don’t be scared. It’s just me.” I knelt in front of him and extended my hand.
He sniffed my fingers and perked his ears. His pupils spread. He rammed his cheek into my palm and purred.
I rubbed his head. “There we go. See, I’m not a real spider lady.” Although it had been fun to draw cobweb eye makeup on today.
Victor dug into his pocket. “Oh, Kat, I almost forgot; I got you something in honor of Jinx.”
I expected a black cat sugar cookie. Cat ears. Fuzzy handcuffs, maybe. Instead, he presented me with the thick, flat metallic outline of a cat’s face. “You can put this on your keychain, and security won’t notice anything. I tested it this week.”
He slipped my fingers through the cat eyes, so I wore them like brass knuckles. The ears angled out like claws. I flexed my fist and ran the points of the ears up his chest. “This cat could do some serious damage.”
“I wanted you to have some self-defense handy,” he rumbled, his thumb grazing my wrist.
Oh my god. The puns. The gentle seduction. He was too much, which was perfect for me.
I tapped his lips with the cat ears. “Think of all the gouging possibilities.”
“The gouging?” His laugh accidentally shot the fake fangs out. Sucking the plastic against his gums, he covered his mouth. His gaze flashed across my face.
“Are you…savoring those teeth?” I teased.
We clutched each other and burst out laughing. Jinx purred, sliding through our legs.
This was perfect, messy love: dark desires, extra-as-fuck fabulousness, loyalty, fun, and everyday adventures. Today was special, though. The world was wilder, and so were we.
Whatever monster lurked in my chest was welcome to come out to play with Victor on Halloween. This was such a weird, wonderful holiday to spend with my equally weird and wonderful person.
We spent the next two hours handing out candy to eager kids and watching the Halloween film series. Jinx got tired of switching laps every time we got up, so he resigned himself to the back of the couch to nap and judge costumes through the window.
“This costume is not conducive to cuddling,” I said, maneuvering the spider legs so they didn’t jab Victor’s ribs again.
“Next year, we’ll work on the accessories,” he lisped through the plastic teeth.
Next year. We’d still be a ‘we.’ I smiled and squeezed his thigh. “You can probably spit those out, now. We know you have sharp enough teeth.”
He snapped them at me and arched his brow. “Does that mean we can finally ruin our makeup?”
“Maybe a little bit.” I giggled and leaned in for a kiss.
Just as our lips brushed, someone rapped on the door.
“Ah, fuck,” I muttered, maneuvering my costume so I could stand without knocking half our goodies over, including the skull glasses on the coffee table.
I grabbed the candy bowl and prepped a smile as Victor opened the door to a bunch of taller kids.
All six of my bonus legs might as well have scampered up my throat and closed around it.
One of the kids was wearing that creepy-ass clown mask from Hot Contra, the same one Sam showed interest in.
He wouldn’t dare come to my house again, would he?
The masked group held out their bags and reached for the candy—for me.
I jerked the whole bowl away and thrust out my elbow to keep them back. “Hey!”
Victor furrowed his brow and hugged the door tighter around me. The masked kids glanced at each other.
“Uh, what?” one of them asked.
They might’ve been an innocent group of teens or bigger kids, but if my stalker was among them, I was going to handle it.
“You haven’t said, ‘trick or treat’ yet,” I chided. “Now, you have to pay a penalty to get the candy. One peek under the mask.” I pointed to the clown. “You, first.”
They all hesitated.
It’d be easy for them to walk away. That’s what Sam should’ve done way before he came to my complex.
The clown lifted the latex, and every muscle in my body tightened.
It’d better not be him. If it was, I’d get the cat thing and blind him.
The clown fully peeled the mask away, and all that was underneath was a slightly sweaty kid. “Trick or treat,” he stammered.
“Thanks.” I let the masked kids take their share, then dropped the bowl on the doorstep with a sign that said, ‘Take one.’
“We’ve had enough interruptions for one night,” I told Victor.
“Agreed.” He squeezed my hip.
We’d already taken pictures with my spider pumpkin, but I still took it inside and blew out the light so Jinx wouldn’t burn his whiskers for being curious and no one would smash it. We triple-checked the locks and closed all the curtains to be safe, then retreated to the bedroom.
“We can finish the movie marathon in here,” I said, queuing it up on my tiny TV.
He rubbed my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just tense.” I cracked my neck, then smiled. “Now, we can take off our costumes.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I kind of like them.” He bunched my skirt, his eyes gleaming in admiration.
I stepped out of my tights, then guided him to the bed. “Aren’t you worried about mating with a black widow?” I teased.
He put on a thick Transylvanian accent. “You forget, Miss Silver, I’m already dead.”
I laughed and climbed onto his lap. “Bite me, Mr. Sterling. But first, I want a kiss.”
Our lips met, sending a thrill to my core that would last long after the end credits.