Page 48 of Taking What's Ours

“I’d love for you to stay.”

“Really?” I meet his gaze with a smile, lighting up on the inside.

“Really.” He chuckles. “I hate those damn parties. Rock makes us go because his ol’ lady loves them.”

I take a sip from my cup and meet his eyes over the rim. “I hear you all have to dress up in costumes.”

“God, yes. I always feel like an idiot. They play a lot of drinking games, though, and everyone gets shitfaced drunk. By then, nobody cares anymore that we all look like fools.”

“What were you dressed as last year?” I can’t imagine him doing something so silly.

“That hooded guy from Assassin’s Creed.”

My brow arcs. “Wow. You guys go all out.”

“That’s true. We don’t mess around. Rock and Evelyn take this shit seriously.”

“Who will you be dressed as this year?”

“Not sure. The girls were ordering me something. They usually handle the costumes, because face it, if left to our own devices, we’d screw it up.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep. Number one, we’d leave it to the last minute, and two, we’d show up in something stupid like the first year, Trez and I went as a ketchup bottle or a blow-up T-Rex. Needless to say, that was the last time we were allowed to pick our own costumes.”

“Well, that takes some of the fun out of it, huh?”

He shrugs. “To tell the truth, last thing I want to do is try to find a damn costume. We just show up in what they tell us. It’s easier that way.”

“I see.”

“I wonder what they’ll put you in,” he muses.

“They’re going to pick my costume, too?”

“Probably. To tell the truth, I think Evelyn and Lola both have control issues.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

He huffs a laugh. “If I were you, I’d just go along with them. Besides, I’m sure whatever you wear, you’ll be beautiful.”

“Not if I’m dressed as a killer clown or Mrs. Potato Head.”

“I’m sure they won’t do that to you. At least, not if they like you. They did put a girl in a cow costume one year. I think they had it in for her.”

I give him a sick smile. “Great.”

“You’re excited now, aren’t you?” he teases.

“Yay,” I say with fake enthusiasm.

His chest shakes with laughter. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. That girl had it coming. She’d come on to someone’s ol’ man.”

I stare at the people walking past.

“Buck up. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“You sure? Seemed like a done deal. And besides, it could be fun.”

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