Chapter 31
“Ican’t believe I’m wearing this,” I say, looking down at my costume.
“I can. You look hot. Everyone at that party is going to be drooling over you, Little Psycho,” Zane assures me.
I laugh as I look at myself in the mirror once more.
The ridiculously short red shorts barely cover my ass, and the tight-fitting T-shirt that says “Camp Crystal Lake” stretched across it is basically a crop top.
I’ve got a whistle hanging around my neck and knee-high socks pulled up my calves.
I’m the gay slasher movie camp counselor come to life, and Zane can’t take his eyes off me.
“Come on, as much as I want to pin you down in that slutty costume and fuck you right now, we should head out, or Grant will be pissed I’m late.” Zane picks up the Jason mask from the dresser, then looks back at me with a hungry look as he promises, “Later.”
Turning to the mirror one final time, I run my hand through the pink strands of my hair.
The outfit really does show off my toned legs and lean frame, so I exhale and hope I don’t look too much like a slut in front of Zane’s friends, but he’s assured me over and over that I look great, even if he did just call my costume slutty.
Oh well, I’m sure I won’t be the only one dressed in a skimpy outfit. It is Halloween, after all.
We head outside, and he opens the truck door for me before helping me in, even though it’s completely unnecessary.
“Are you nervous?” I ask when we start the drive.
“Not really. It’s just a soft opening with friends, so it shouldn’t be overwhelming, and if something goes wrong, we’ll work out the kinks.”
“I’m nervous,” I admit.
Zane reaches a hand over to my bare thigh and squeezes. “How come?”
“Well, I’ve only ever met Grant. I don’t love being in crowds of strangers,” I admit, especially since I haven’t left the house really since Zane kidnapped me in the first place.
It’s strange to casually leave the safety of the bubble I’ve been in for so long.
Even when I pretended to escape, it felt like a game.
This is Zane bringing me into his life outside of his house.
“Eric is really the only other close friend I have here, but he’s excited to meet you,” Zane reassures me. “Grant’s been bragging that he’s already met you though.”
I laugh. “Really?”
“Mm-hmm, and I’m really happy that you’re coming with me. How about we make a deal?”
His suggestive tone has me immediately intrigued, and I perk up, sitting taller in my seat. “I’m listening.”
“If you want to leave at any point, we can leave, of course, but—” He takes a quick pause.
There’s no way I’d ever ask him to leave his own soft launch, that’d be awful, and I’m so excited for him.
I’m curious what he’s going to say, though, so I don’t stop him.
“If we stay long enough, after all the introductions and when I’m sure that they won’t need me, we could reenact our own Friday the 13th.
I think I finally found some woods that aren’t too far away where we could have some privacy. ”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Oh fuck, yes, that sounds fun.”
“Let’s see how the night goes when we get there.” He chuckles deviously. “But I’d love nothing more than to chase you through the woods and fuck you while you’re dressed like that.”
“Fuck, you’re giving me a very obvious boner in this jock, Zane.”
His fingers start dancing up my thighs, and I shiver. “Good.”
I snort a laugh. “Not good! That is not the first impression I want to be giving the rest of your friends.”
We pull up to the brewery a couple of minutes later, and the whole time I’ve been trying to calm my body down by focusing on all the strangers I’ll have to meet, not the fact that Zane wants to chase me through the woods while we’re dressed up like characters from one of my favorite horror movies.
When we park and walk inside, a handful of people are already there.
“There he is!” Grant shouts, approaching us as he pulls up his Scream mask. I’ll have to tell Zane he should borrow that for our next role-play session. That’s another fantasy of mine.
“We’re here. I couldn’t stop looking at this one; took everything in me to walk out that front door,” Zane says, thumbing my direction.
Grant laughs. “Damn, Mason. Love that you two are really committing to the bit. I wanted my girlfriend to do a couple’s costume, but she wasn’t feeling well and had to skip tonight.”
“That really sucks, man. I was looking forward to meeting her,” Zane says.
“Yeah, next time,” Grant assures him.
“It looks great in here!” I compliment while looking around.
The space is industrial but warm with exposed brick walls, Edison light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and steel fermentation tanks visible through the glass partition.
It’s got a cool, artsy feel. It’s the exact kind of place I’d want to hang out in even if I weren’t dating the owner.
“I can’t believe you haven’t brought him here sooner,” Grant says pointedly to Zane.
“We’ve been busy,” Zane explains with a laugh.
“Hey, man!” A guy in a Michael Myers mask approaches with a very pretty blonde at his side.
“Sup, Eric?”
He pulls the mask off. “Can you believe we did it!”
Zane lets out another laugh, probably thinking about how he thought I’d turn him in and ruin the reputation of the brewery. As if.
He manages to sound confident with his answer. “I never doubted us for a second. Eric, this is my boyfriend I’ve been telling you about, Mason.”
“Hey, man, good to meet you. This is my girlfriend, Annie.”
“That costume is everything,” she says to me. “Very Sleepaway Camp meets Wet Hot American Summer. You pull it off so well.”
Zane wraps his arm around me and pulls me in close. “Told you.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for.” Sort of. Has she never seen Friday the 13th?
“Can I steal him for a second?” Annie asks Zane. “I want to introduce him to my friends so he’s not stuck while you talk business all night.”
Zane’s fingers tighten slightly on my hip, and I love the reminder of his possessive side. “Don’t corrupt her too much, Little Psycho,” he mutters quietly near my ear just for me before releasing his grip and winking.
She leads me farther into the brewery and guides me toward a group near the bar.
“So that’s Peter and his boyfriend, Dev,” she says, pointing at two guys in vampire costumes.
“They’re both super sweet. And that’s our friend Jenna—she’s dressed as Carrie—and her husband Rich is around here somewhere. He’s a zombie.”
I nod, trying to commit names to faces, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already forgotten.
My attention keeps flicking back to Zane and his promise of another chase through the woods.
He’s standing with Eric and Grant by the tap wall; all their masks are pushed up, and when my eyes meet his, he mouths something that looks like “behave.”
I smirk. I’ll be good here, but there’s no way I’ll be good when we get to the woods.
“How about a drink?” Annie suggests, nudging my attention away from Zane. “The fall beer is really good. I had one the other day.”
“Sure, that sounds great.”
The bartender fumbles a little bit behind the counter, which is understandable since this is technically their first shift before they fully open next week.
We sip our beers, and Annie tells me about how she and Eric met and how wonderful he is.
It’s kind of nice to have conversations like this since my friends clearly aren’t friends.
Not one of them has even texted me to check in since I got hit by a truck, was kidnapped, and became a slutty house pet.
Oh well, I think I could like Zane’s friends more anyway.
They already seem more interested in my life, and they all immediately followed me on social media when I mentioned I’m an artist. And if things don’t work out with them, at least I’ll have Zane. I never feel lonely around him.
“You doing okay?” Zane asks, sliding his hand around my waist as he sneaks in beside me.
“Yeah, Annie’s great and so is everyone else.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet. You’re great too, Mason! I’ll leave you two for a second while I go grab Eric,” Annie says before scurrying off.
“Have I mentioned how fucking incredible you look?” Zane compliments, and I laugh as I shake my head.
“No, I don’t think you’ve said that at all,” I tease.
“Mmm, is that so? Do I need to remind you?”
“Yes. I think I’m very ready for that.”
Of course, at that moment, Grant calls out to give him our attention. “Hey, everyone! Gather round. I want to make a toast.”
I’d yank Zane away—I’m that eager for what he has planned—but it is his night, and he should be here for this. Besides, I feel way more comfortable here with him and their friends than I was expecting.
The crowd converges and quiets as Zane keeps me tucked into his side.
Grant launches into a speech about dreams and hard work and taking risks.
He talks about always looking up to his big brother and how he’s so excited they get to do this together.
It’s sweet, actually, watching him get emotional like this.
I can tell he’s got a big heart and he’s not afraid of his emotions.
“And finally, I’d like to raise a glass to our other business partner and my best friend, Zane.
None of this would be as cool without you.
You’ve always had the only eye for design and marketing out of the three of us.
Oh, and to Mason”—my heart stops because I surely was not expecting this—“thanks for making this asshole smile more than I’ve ever known him to.
It’ll be good for business. Welcome to the family. ”
He says the word so casually, as if it isn’t even a big deal.
But it’s the first time someone has ever really said that to me.
Family has never felt easy for me. The sense of belonging and total acceptance that I’ve read about in countless books felt just as foreign to me as my fantasies of falling in love with my own morally gray antihero.
Except now I have Zane, so maybe I could have that too?
My own found family after all these years of being mostly alone.
It came so easily too. All it took was one successful stalking attempt.
Sure, it’s a lot to hope for after one comment, especially since I barely know Grant, but he considers Zane to be a part of his family, and by extension me. I really hope he means it, and I hope I get to hang out with Zane’s friends more.
Everyone cheers and drinks, and I’m pretty sure my face is the same color as my hair right now. Zane leans down and whispers in my ear. “Told you they’d love you.”
“Shut up,” I murmur, but I’m grinning at the acceptance.
“Come on,” he grabs my hand as a dark smile takes over his face, and I eagerly follow him back to his car.
We start driving away from the city in silence.
My excitement and nerves grow as anticipation builds inside of me as I wait to see where we end up.
Zane somehow keeps his focus on the road, but he’s drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as though he’s impatient for us to get there too.
When we pull up to a red light, he turns to face me.
“Do you have your phone? Just in case we get separated or something happens.”
I nod. As much as I’m looking forward to what we’re about to do, I also appreciate that he’s always looking out for me and considering my safety.
In the beginning, I was so overwhelmed and optimistic about the possibility of participating in my dark book fantasies that there was so much I hadn’t considered.
I was also very lonely and clinging to the hope that everything would work out.
It was way easier than accepting the reality of the danger I was in.
Or maybe I just had a concussion, who knows.
Now though, I’ve come to realize the reason these fantasies of mine work so well for us is likely because it’s so easy to trust Zane when he continues to prove to me how much he actually cares.
I can easily give in to the fear and excitement when I know deep down that he’ll keep me safe.
I trust that he’d never intentionally hurt me, and if I ever say my safe word, he will stop whatever it is we’re doing.
“We’re going to a pretty remote area that doesn’t have any paths, so we shouldn’t be interrupted,” he explains as he continues to drive. “If you’re up for it, I’d like to try something a little different tonight.”
“What is it?” I ask eagerly. I have way too many ideas to try to guess.
“Well, I was thinking we could role-play. The couple of times I’ve chased you before, you were my Pet, and I was your Master. You knew exactly who was chasing you, and I was stalking what was already mine.”
Heat pools in my gut hearing him describe us that way, and I try to focus on what he’s suggesting we could do differently.
“Tonight, I was thinking that we could pretend like we’re strangers,” he suggests in a wicked tone.
“Maybe I’ve been stalking you, but you had no idea.
Maybe your bright pink hair caught my attention around town, and I’ve been waiting to make my move.
Maybe I even tricked you, made it seem like a friend had invited you out here to the dark woods, but now you’ve realized they aren’t coming and you’re all alone. ”
Holy shit. “Yes, please,” I eagerly agree. “And don’t hold back. I want it rough. I want a fight.” Every word out of his mouth turns me on even more. It’s like I’m back to when we first met, and I was imagining all the scenarios that could end up with us being together.
Except now I actually know him, trust him.
I care about Zane in a way that I’ve never cared about anyone before.
And the fact that he’s suggesting all this makes me feel somehow even more seen and accepted by him than ever before.
He knows all my deepest, darkest desires and doesn’t shy away from them, doesn’t suggest I tone myself down or attempt to fit in or act more appropriately.
Zane knows I want to be chased through the woods by a masked man, and he doesn’t look at me like I’m a freak.
He’s ready with the mask and researching the right woods to take me to.
If that’s not true love, then I don’t know what is.
Well, damn. I was not expecting to feel so emotional while preparing for this fantasy. I can’t help it though, as soon as I have the thought, I know it’s true. This has to be what love feels like. Holy shit. Should I tell him that I love him? Is now a bad time?
I have no idea how long we’ve been driving, and I suddenly realize we’ve stopped moving and are parked on the side of a remote dirt road. Zane turns to me with a serious expression before I can say anything.
“Your safe word remains the same. Run.”