Chapter 12
“TRICK OR Treat!” a little girl in a bumblebee costume said as she hurried toward the door, her pumpkin candy bucket bouncing as she went.
Conrad put some candy inside, and she hurried back to her mom, turning to wave before she went on toward his mother’s house.
He had already taken Lizzie out around the block, and she got a ton of candy that he had to put on top of the refrigerator so she wouldn’t eat it all.
Thankfully, Mom gave out candy for both of them while they were away.
Now Lizzie was inside playing in the living room behind him, and he kept an eye on her between kids coming to the door.
It was slowing down now, and he had time to get into his own costume. Once trick or treating was over, Mom was coming to stay so he could meet Forrest. They had been invited to a party by some of Forrest’s friends, and he was really looking forward to seeing him.
Finally the flow of kids trickled off, and Mom came in the side door near her yard. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, almost.” He sat at the table.
“What’s got you so nervous today?”
He sighed and poured a glass of wine, hoping it would calm his nerves.
“I want his friends to like me.” He took a gulp, and his mom pulled the glass away like he was going to get drunk or something.
“I had my interview for the director position today. I think it went well. Lester had his yesterday.”
“Did you explain to them what that idiot did?” she snapped, reaching for his glass and taking a swig herself.
The logs from a few weeks earlier had shown a change made to the systems, and Conrad had traced it back to instructions Lester had given the clients when he’d had support duty.
Conrad hadn’t determined if he had done it on purpose or was just stupid, but he had documented the issue and passed all the information to his temporary supervisor.
“It didn’t come up,” he said with a groan.
“The man is a menace. And he has plenty of questionable things in his past, but I can’t use any of them.
At least not outright. It’s frustrating as hell.
Apparently Lester’s ex-wife, Caroline, had a restraining order against him that included his daughter.
Forrest said it had lapsed, but a new one has been ordered. ”
“Well, two things. First, don’t let it get to you.
The people at the office want the best person for the job…
and that’s you. Second, you’re going to out with Forrest, so put all that out of your mind and have fun tonight.
You’re off for the weekend, and tomorrow Lizzie and I are going to the craft fair, and she asked if she could stay the night.
I told her it was okay, so pack a bag for her in the morning and you and Forrest can have the whole day together. ”
“Thanks, Mom,” Conrad said and got up. His mother grabbed the wine glass and finished it off as Lizzie came running into the room. She had her Barbie suitcase behind her. “I take it you want to go to Gramma’s tonight?”
She nodded. “Can I?”
“Of course you can,” his mom said. “Go upstairs and let your daddy check that you packed everything, and you and I will have a sleepover.” She winked at him.
Conrad took her suitcase and brought it upstairs with Lizzie.
When he opened it, he found her favorite stuffy and a doll, nothing else.
Conrad finished packing for her and sent her downstairs with her suitcase.
Upstairs, Conrad finished putting on his costume. When he came back down, Lizzie was sitting on the sofa with his mother, watching cartoons.
“Daddy, you’re scary,” Lizzie told him. He flashed his red-lined cape, and Lizzie giggled. Then she went back to her cartoons.
“Come on, Lizzie. You and I need to go home. It’s getting late, and we need to get your snack before it’s bedtime.” Mom packed Lizzie off with her, and Conrad put his shoes on and left the house, closing the door before getting into the car.
He arrived at Forrest’s and knocked on the door. Forrest opened it, his body covered in green makeup to the waist. “Hulk kiss,” Forrest said. Conrad snorted and leaned in, kissing him carefully. “I’d kiss you properly, but then I’d cover you with this makeup, and I don’t want to smudge you.”
Conrad laughed outright. “Okay. Though we are going to have fun getting that off you at the end of the evening.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Mom took Lizzie for the whole weekend. They’re having a sleepover, so you and I can have a sleepover of our own.” He raked his gaze over Forrest and swallowed hard. “Though even with the makeup, it’s going to be hard for me to take my eyes off your hotness.”
“Then come on. Let’s get going. We can have fun once the party’s over.
” Forrest pulled on an old shirt without fastening the buttons, and they got into his car and drove east toward Harrisburg.
It took about twenty minutes before they pulled up in front of a large home, and as soon as they stepped inside, Conrad wondered if the guy who designed it also did hotels.
“Forrest!” someone called. He swept into the room and seemed to suck out half the oxygen. He had a presence that was undeniable. “You made it. And is this the boyfriend?” He stepped back. “Damn, it’s too bad I didn’t see you first.” He swept away and left a hole where he had been.
“That was Dale. He has a personality as big as the whole outdoors. That’s his husband Jack.
He’s the one who makes everything work between them.
Dale adores Jack and is adored in return.
” He took off the shirt and flopped it over the back of the chair by the door before leading Conrad farther into the heavily decorated home.
One of the rooms was filled with spiders and spiderwebs, while another, the family room if he were to guess, had been turned into a laboratory. These folks were really committed to their Halloween.
“Do you want a Frankenstein?” a server asked, dressed as a Chippendale dancer. Except the kid had to be maybe eighteen and seemed rather uncomfortable. He kept eyeing one of the other rooms.
“Sure,” Conrad said. “Thank you.” He took two and handed one to Forrest. “What’s going on in there?”
The server shook his head. “A couple of guys who came as… desperate old men,” he said more loudly.
Conrad smiled. If the kid could be feisty, he was in good shape.
“Uncle Dale has this party every year, and he’s paying me to be the server.
What I didn’t know was that I’d be on the menu for some people.
” He glared at a pair of guys leering from the other room.
Forrest said nothing, but Conrad knew that stance. He was going into Hulk teacher mode. He walked over to the men, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head.
“Awww, we were just having a little fun.”
Forrest didn’t miss a beat. “Hulk have fun. Hulk smash heads.” Conrad knew that glare was intense, and he saw the moment the men nodded and turned away.
Forrest was gentle and kind, but damn, that little display of power really got his engine running.
He squirmed a little and pulled the cape around to cover all of him until any bulge in his pants subsided. Forrest returned and sipped his drink.
“I’d say that Hulk saved the day,” Conrad told him sweetly.
Forrest sighed. “Some guys just can’t behave when they drink.” He turned back to the server. “Let them get their own drinks.”
“Thanks,” the kid said and moved on through the party, standing a little taller.
“Are you hungry after all that intimidation?” Conrad asked.
“Hulk starved,” Forrest answered. Okay, if he wanted to stay in character, so be it.
“Me too. I need to find some really good blood,” Conrad said in his best fake accent, which he admitted wasn’t very good.
People were coming and going from downstairs, so after a stop in the kitchen for some munchies, they headed to the basement, which had been turned into a dance floor.
Almost the entire floor was a single open space, with a DJ at one end and a portable dance floor covering much of the rest of the space.
There was also a second bar and plenty of couples dancing.
“Does Hulk dance?” Conrad asked, before doing a graceful spin.
Forrest shrugged. “I take it you do.”
“Mom. She told me when I was young that a man who can dance will catch himself a good wife. So she taught me at first and then enrolled me in ballet for three years. I liked it, but I wasn’t as good at it as some of the others.
I knew I was never going to be able to break out and go professional, so I went on to other things.
” Still, he took Forrest’s hands and spun himself onto the dance floor.
Then he drew nearer, thankful that Forrest’s makeup was dry, and tugged him in close.
“Let me lead, big guy,” Conrad whispered, and then he proceeded to glide Forrest around the floor.
It was nice to know he hadn’t lost it, and once they got in a rhythm, he looked deeply into Forrest’s eyes and got lost in their deep green.
Damn, he was sexy as all hell and when he held him close, the rest of the world fell away.
By the time the song ended, Conrad was breathless and wanted to climb Forrest like a tree.
“I take it you’re all worked up,” Forrest whispered in his ear as the next song started.
“Yeah. I’d be up for finding a bedroom and getting it on, except that’s really tacky, and I don’t want to embarrass you.” He held Forrest, and they swayed together to the slow song.
A tap on the shoulder pulled him out of the happy mental fog that had surrounded him. “I want to dance with him,” a man said as soon as Conrad turned around. He was a little unsteady on his feet. “You can’t monopolize the really hot guy all night.”
“Yes, I can,” Conrad retorted. “You’ve had too much to drink. Go get something to eat and find somewhere to sit until you feel better.” Damn, this party was turning out to be a real dud. Guys hitting on the server, and now stupid drunks hitting on Forrest.