Page 63 of Instant Bond

“Whoa!” Ty’s shock rang out from the backseat as Karter’s mothers’ mansion came into our view. “Holy cow!”

It was enormous, and completely decked out for Halloween. Black and orange twinkling lights swirled around the columns of the wrap-around porch, and carved pumpkins, glowing with candlelight, were scattered around the front. The front yard had a lot of cars already, meaning there was already a ton of people there.

Ty was out of the car like a shot, practically hopping up and down in his neon bright Epic Power Squad costume. Karter had warned me that all the kids and even some of the adults wore costumes for the party, but I’d had enough to worry about.Anyway, I hadn’t had too many choices for shirts I owned with a front pocket, so for once plain black would have to do. I wore an unzipped hoodie over it so I wouldn’t freeze.

I let out a shaky sigh before unbuckling my seat belt and getting out. Karter was instantly by my side, threading our fingers together, giving my hand a comforting squeeze.

“Everything will be fine,” he repeated. “You’ll have fun.”

I was extremely doubtful of his statement, but I managed to force a small smile onto my face and give him a light nod.

As we approached the front door, I couldn’t help marveling at how huge and expensive all the elements of the house were. The porch was massive, and had tons of nice furniture scattered around.

“I knew your family had money,” I muttered to Karter. “But I didn’t know you grew up in a literal freaking mansion. You didn’t even warn me.”

He shrugged, and when I looked up, he looked vaguely embarrassed.

“I would have felt like an idiot going on about my family’s finances when you’ve had to work so hard for everything.”

I bit down into my lower lip to suppress a laugh at his chagrined expression. “You sure do worry a lot about what I think.”

“What you think is one of the most important things in the world to me,” he said pointedly. “I don’t want you to think I’m a soft, spoiled nepo-baby.”

“I don’t,” I promised him. “I’m sure it was hard for you in different ways.”

“You thinkmylife was hard?” He scoffed.

“I wouldn’t want to have to worry about whether people really wanted to be my friend or if they just wanted to use me for my stuff. I’m sure that wasn’t fun.”

He stared at me for a few seconds, before bringing a hand to my cheek, holding me steady for a kiss. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but of course it was during this brief window of time that the front door was yanked open by a petite woman with short, dark hair in a polka-dotted ‘50s housewife costume.

“Oh!” She let out a surprised sound as Karter’s lips lifted off mine. “I’m sorry, I can give you two a minute if you need it,” she teased us. Her voice had a little southern twang to it.

“They’re always doing that,” Ty responded impatiently, waving a hand dismissively to indicate his feelings on our annoying habit of kissing.

“Oh, really?” She asked, giving Karter a knowing look, but she looked thrilled by the announcement.

“Mom,” he greeted her calmly. “This is Cam and Ty.” I noticed he used the name I’d asked to be referred as, for once. Maybe he liked being the only one to call me Cameron, too.

“Tracey,” she introduced herself warmly. “Aren’t you two just cute as a button?”

Only half of the two of us were as cute as a button, but I could only nod wordlessly. Ty, however, was not overly flattered.

“You have bobbing for apples here?” He questioned, trying to peek around her into the house like it would be filled with buckets of water.

“Ty.” I said his name in a low warning. He had a tendency to be very single-minded when it came to things he was excited about.

“Well, we won’t be doing that one until later but we have a lot for you to do in the meantime,” she told him, completely unfazed. She’d raised a son too, so I guess she was used to it.

“Okay,” Ty said, agreeably. As long as he could eventually dunk his head in some gross water with other kids’ spit in it and bite into an apple, he would be happy.

We walked into the house, which was filled with mostly adults milling around with drinks or little plates of snacks in their hand. The backyard, which was visible through the massive bay windows and sliding glass that formed nearly one whole wall of the living room, seemed to be the place for the kids. There were a bunch of them out running around already.

“Can I go play, Dad?” Ty asked, tugging to be released from the grip I had on his hand. “Please?” He asked pointedly.

“Just hold on a minute for us to get finished talking to Mrs. Tracey,” I told him. He sighed.

“Oh, you can send him right on out,” she said. “Farrah and a bunch of the other parents are out there already.”

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