10. Casper
The last week has been the longest week of my entire goddamn life. I traveled for preseason away games, and while I’d missed being on the ice and feeling the adrenaline of game time, I missed her more. Thankfully, I’m back in the city, back to her.
Now it’s Friday night, the official opening day for The Schrader House, and being here is the only place I want to be because it’s where she is.
Of course, I brought some companions—Kol; Bates and his girl, Serena; her best friend, Kerrigan; and Kerrigan’s little sister, Haley.
Ledger and Ransom are here, too, and I would hate how easily they were fitting into our friend group if I wasn’t already obsessed with them, on and off the ice.
This last week of travel definitely helped us bond, although I’m pretty sure that we are all brothers, separated at birth.
It’s kind of wild how fast a dynamic can shift when they go from your opponent to your teammate.
The initial hatred—maybe too strong of a word—still bubbles up when I see them, the habit of it taking over.
But then I remember watching Ransom prank Ledger at our last game by locking him inside the bathroom stall using some creative knot-tying with a loose lace so that Ledger couldn’t pull the door free.
I was keeled over, laughing so hard. We all were.
Well, everyone but Ledger. Eventually, he softened up, joining in on the joke with the rest of us once Ransom let him out.
Thankfully, the long-awaited reunion with my Scaredy-Cat has finally arrived. She might not be aware of who I am without my mask, but she’s about to see my face up close and personal. Because of course, our group is getting in line for face painting, and no one is touching me but her.
Her back is to us, and I have no shame that my eyes haven’t left her body since the moment we got to the back side of the house and I finally spotted her. She’s somehow even prettier. There’s a glow about her, a confidence that’s growing each day.
I’d like to think that perhaps I’m playing a small role in that. That her smile is bigger because of the joy I bring her. That her eyes are wider because of how she reacts when I scare her.
That her pussy’s wetter because of how I treat her, worship her.
I intend to invade every aspect of her body, her life, her future. And I have no plans on changing any of that. But she feels the same way, which is all that matters.
“So, big guy, are you going to get the butterfly or the dinosaur?” My sister’s agitating voice mocks me, cutting through the chatter of the guests, the occasional screams as scare actors do their jobs in the haunted house, and the spooky music playing throughout the entire event.
With my eyes still glued to Mona, who’s welcoming the next kid up to her chair, I don’t bother turning in her direction as I answer, “Hi, Cambrie. You know, I was just thinking that this night would be better with my pestering sister around. Voilà. The princess appears.”
She chuckles. “You know, you should really get into manifestation if that’s true. You’re pretty powerful.”
I shrug, my smile breaking the straight line of my lips. “I’ll look into it.” Tipping my head to the side, I find Cambrie staring up at me with a knowing gleam in her gaze. “Oh God, I know that look.” I groan, rolling my eyes. “Out with it.”
“You have a crush,” she murmurs with a shit-eating grin. “On the girl doing the face painting.”
“Fuck off, Cam. I do not.”
Oh, a crush is hardly how I’d describe my feelings for Mona Greer. But I’m definitely not telling my sister all the details of our relationship.
“Do too!” she squeals, and I can practically see the wheels turning behind her eyes.
I turn and crouch enough to fully face her and lower my voice so that only she can hear me when I say, “I swear to God, Cam, do not say a single thing to her.”
“I knew it. I knew it.” She gasps with her mouth wide open and her eyes sparkling like a cartoon character. A heavy, disappointed sigh pulls from her chest. “Ugh, your secret is safe with me, Cassy.”
“I’m not five. You don’t have to use that nickname.” I chuckle as we move forward in line.
She scrunches her face and shoulders up mockingly, crossing her arms. “Yeah, I’m aware. But you’ll always be my Cassy, Cassy. That’s how it works.”
“Oh really?” I laugh. If she wants to play this game, so be it. “I’ll remember that, Clammy Cammy.”
“How dare you?!” She scoffs. Her voice breathy and low, she threatens, “You swore you wouldn’t use that again.”
I pinch her arm. “I’m just teasing you. I’ll do my best to refrain from using your hilarious childhood nickname when you rightfully deserve it.”
We step forward again, and my group behind me draws my attention as a fit of laughter ripples through them. Cambrie says a quick goodbye, then storms off, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders as she goes. I don’t think she knows any other way.
Then, just like it always does, my attention returns to Mona, who’s painting a jack-o’-lantern on a teenage girl’s face.
I am surprised how many people are in line for this.
From a few guys who have specifically gone to Mona, I have an inkling of their motives.
But my girl sends every single one of them away as a happy client and simultaneously saddened from her rejection.
If I couldn’t see the joy hidden on her face when she turns them down, I’d have intercepted the interactions altogether. But I’m also here with my sister and friends. While Kol, Bates, and Serena know about my masked persona, Ledger and Ransom don’t—not yet at least.
It’s a bit of a tough subject to casually slip into conversation, especially when a majority of them are about hockey, or the shared stories of our rebellious years … or arrests when we were delinquent teens.
I’m sure they’ll know the true us soon enough, especially at this rate. They didn’t question Bates’s or my mask at the Halloween party. Didn’t even bat an eye.
But none of that matters right now because we’re up next, and I’ll get to breathe Mona in again, bathe in her aroma, getting flashbacks of the last night we spent together.
I wonder if she’ll remember me from the store or if I was just a face of another man who approached her, uninvited. One unicorn later, and the chair is ours. I shrink to the back of the group, wanting to go last.
She’s focused, homed in on her craft as she works through Serena, Kerrigan, and Haley, giving them their requested matching vampire makeup.
Bates is up next, opting for the dragon.
Kol chooses the skeleton, which actually looks pretty sick when it’s done.
Ledger and Ransom both get the spider in a spiderweb, leaving me.
I know this isn’t Mona’s end goal for her makeup career, but she’s still incredibly talented at it.
Her customer-service smile is in full force when she spins around to face me, her long black hair whipping through the crisp fall air. “And what can I do for—” Her voice falls. The recognition is clear in her scowl. “You …”
Wetting my lips, I try to not let my amusement completely take over my face. “Hi. Moore’s Crafts, right?”
She glares at me, probably debating how she wants to act to a paying customer.
“If you’re here for the event, fine. If you’re here as some weird creep who found out I was working here, I’ll have security escort you out promptly.” Her eyes narrow, and she purses her lips with a lifeless smile.
Clearing my throat, I chuckle, holding my hands up in surrender. “I am absolutely not here to be some creep.” I gesture toward the table and chair. “I’m here for …”
“A skeleton?” She fills in the blank, clearly making the decision for me.
I nod. “Right. Exactly. One skeleton, please.”
She smacks her chair, harder than she intended, clear from the sudden, widened expression. “Right here. Have a seat. One skeleton coming up.”
Her eagerness unsettles me, but I know who she is behind this playful mask and snark. It’s her shield, but I also know it’s her weapon.
“Thank you.”
I smile, stepping toward the chair and looking straight down at her, her green eyes peering up through her lashes. My view is unshielded, unobstructed by the mesh of my mask. Her eyes have never looked prettier.
Without backing down from her planted stance, I lower myself to the chair, her legs between my knees. Now if she would just crawl into my lap, I’d enjoy the next part that much more. My dick awakens when I think of her straddling me right now, remembering her bare body pressed against mine.
She grabs her brush and smiles, uncomfortably kind. “You’ll have to close your eyes if you want it to look good.”
I chuckle. “Are you just nervous if you look into my eyes for too long, you might realize you actually like me?”
She sneers, “No, not one bit. Now close them.”
Tucking my tongue between my teeth, I do as told, my eyes drifting shut. “Better?”
“Much,” she mutters, her face closer now.
I don’t need to have my eyes open to know exactly what she looks like right now. Somehow, through the music, I hear her breathing, her clicking her tongue as she gets to work, dragging the cool, wet brush across my skin.
Inhaling deeply, I breathe her in. “You smell nice.”
“Now you really sound like a creep,” she sasses back, a playful undertone in her voice.
I desperately want to tell her who I am.
Tell her I know how sweet she tastes. How I know her mouth falls opens and her jaw quivers when she comes and I’m buried inside of her.
How she twitches when she sleeps, mumbling occasionally.
I know all there is to know about her, and it’s taking everything in me to not reveal that on the spot.
I’m lost in my reflection of her, floating in her decadent scent, and time seems to fade away as her mere presence calms my every racing thought and quickened breath.
Until she clears her throat aggressively, snapping me from my stupor.
“All done.”
Opening my eyes, I find her stare full of satisfaction and amusement. “How do I look? Scary?”
She smirks. “I think you look great.”