Halloween #2
“Love the knife.” I’m surprised by Cass’s words and the genuine amusement in his voice.
At least, I think it’s amusement. I try to glance up at him, but he’s backlit by the hallway sconce behind him, and I can only see the darkness of his silhouette.
“And the mask looks good, too. But he didn’t wear a jumpsuit. ”
“Yeah,” the boy sighs. “Hey, you know about him, then? Have you seen that one documentary? It’s old too. My parents have it on DVD.” The way he says the letters like some ancient language has me shuddering, once more feeling older than what I am.
Am I ancient? Have I joined the ranks of the elder-emos, the Boomers, and the Gen-X’rs?
What a horrifying concept.
“I’ve absolutely seen that documentary.” I don’t know if Cass is bullshitting me. The documentary put out by some shitty indie filmmaker isn’t exactly something we talk about much, and it’s never been part of our movie nights.
“Why do you think he did it?” the boy whispers. “Killed his sister and went after the girl she was babysitting, I mean. Do you think he was born psycho, like they said?”
“Okay.” I jerk to my feet, heart twisting and trying to jolt through my ribs.
“We have to get back to what we were doing.” I grin at the kids, and the smile hurts my face with how fake it is.
“Duplex down the street has great candy. See you later, bye!” Without giving them a chance to say anything else, I close the door, my fingers hovering near the light switch to end this parade of heathens early.
My eyes lock on Cass’s face, and I swear he seems…amused?
“You okay?” he asks, and I just blink at him.
“Am…am I okay?” I repeat. “What do you mean?”
“You seem very not okay.” He raises a brow at me, still standing there like none of this bothers him. “You’re all pale and weird. Not a fan of the Cass costume?”
He’s…joking. He’s standing there, after just seeing a child dressed up as a monstrous version of him, and he’s smiling mildly at me like I’m the one who might have an issue with it.
“You are?”
“Well…” he looks away, thoughtful, head tilting.
“Didn’t love the jumpsuit. It was too dark to really see the blood.
And what murdering child wears a black mechanic’s jumpsuit?
Where would I even have gotten it?” He shakes his head.
“White sneakers would’ve been a great touch.
But I don’t remember what that documentary had me wearing. ”
I just stare at him. Processing. Trying to figure out what the hell is actually going through his head. Slowly something bubbles up my throat, and a giggle slips past my slightly parted lips. “You’re disappointed because his costume wasn’t accurate.”
“Could’ve been better. I give it a five out of ten.”
“Not that a kid is wearing your identity like you’re the boogeyman.”
“I’ll have bragging rights for months with the guys from this. I can assure you none of them ever had kids dressing up as them on Halloween.”
That finally has me laughing for real. I glance at the light switch to make sure I didn’t actually turn it off, just as the doorbell rings once more. This time, Cass is faster than I am. He breezes by me with a grin and picks up the candy bowl before pulling the door open with a grand gesture.
As I watch, I can’t help but wonder what the filmmakers who painted him in the worst light possible would think if they could see Cassian Byers now.
He kneels in front of the group of kids, accurately guessing their costumes and sorting through fun-size candy bars with them.
I even see him sneak a couple extra to the shy boy who gets shuffled to the back.
When he closes the door and turns, Cass stops, looking bemused at my expression. “What?” he asks, apparently unable to read me.
“You.”
“Me?”
“You’re…” Perfect, I don’t say. That sounds cheesy and sappy and sort of pathetic.
So I just take the bowl of candy from him and drag Cass into a kiss.
It isn’t quick or chaste. It’s a damn good thing the door is closed, because I kiss him like I want to suck out his soul.
He murmurs in pleasure and pulls me against him, not letting me pull away even if I wanted to.
I don’t want to.
We stand like that, as close as humanly possible, until I’m gasping against his lips. My fingers find the edge of his T-shirt and I push it upward, my palms flat against the warm planes of his stomach. Fuck the horror movie, I decide. Fuck not embarrassing myself in front of Sloane. I want—
When the doorbell rings again, I jerk back while Cass just chuckles.
I’m sure I look disheveled as hell, but so does he.
His eyes are overly bright, his lips are kiss-swollen, and he’s panting almost as much as I am.
“If you want to be left alone, we’ll have to turn off the light,” he purrs before snagging the bowl again.
I consider it. I really think about it, because I’d love nothing more than to climb him like—
“Trick or treat!” The young voice is one I know well, and I step around Cass to see my nephew standing on our porch, beaming, his orange plastic pumpkin bucket held out to us. “Do you like my costume, Winnie?”
“You are the best Spider-Man I’ve seen all night,” I assure him, watching my sister walk up my porch stairs. Lou smiles at both of us, though she gives Cassian a slightly longer than polite look, like always.
Not that she’s ever said anything to me about having bad feelings about him.
Part of me wonders if deep down she knows.
If there’s something about him that stirs the primal fear instinct in her.
But I’m never going to ask, and he can just keep being Cass Michael, my boyfriend, without her knowing that’s his nickname and his middle name instead of his full one.
She really doesn’t need to know the truth of it. Ever.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, smiling as Cassian kneels with Scott to look for M&M’s exclusively.
I should probably object, since that feels like favoritism, but I decide to let the infraction slide this once.
“This isn’t really anywhere near your neighborhood. Not that I’m not happy to see you—”
Lou hugs me suddenly. It’s the most sisterly thing she could ever do for me, except maybe help me prank our mother until she loses her mind. But since she actually has a good relationship with our mom, I’ll take what I can get.
“I just missed you,” she admits. “I feel like we don’t see each other as much since—” She glances down at Scott, then back up at me.
“Since I moved in with Cass,” I supply helpfully, to which she nods.
“I thought I’d see if you wanted to go with us. Both of you.”
“It was my idea,” Scott puts in. “We’re going to my school. They have trunk-or-treating and a costume contest.”
Cass grins slyly up at me, unseen by my nephew or sister. He knows this is not how I wanted to spend my night.
But fuck it. I can, thank God, fuck my boyfriend almost any day of the week. But Halloween with them only happens once a year. When I raise a brow, Cass’s smile grows.
“I suppose I can spare her for the night,” he chuckles, getting to his feet. But immediately Scott grabs his hand, frowning.
“No, you have to go too,” he tells him. “You can’t stay home on Halloween alone like a weirdo.”
Cass’s grin falls in surprise before he pushes it back into place.
He stares at Scott like this is the first time he’s really seeing him, then looks at me.
“You’re right,” he agrees in his quiet voice.
“That would make me a weirdo. Come on, Winnie. We have a costume contest to cheer at and trunk-or-treat to conquer.”