Page 67 of The King of Halloween
“You did great. Really scared the pants off of them,” Raj told the lead vampire.
“What about me?” Adam shuffled into the back of the line, earning him a startled, then happy look from Raj. “How did I do?”
“Fantastic,” Raj said.
“Hmm, and you’ve yet to see all of my skills.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve got a trick or two up your sleeve.”
“My sleeve? That’s not usually where I keep it.”
The two men were nearly on top of each other, seconds from tearing off cheap costumes and smearing stage makeup on every inch of their bodies. They both missed the little yelp until a kid asked, “Uh, Mr. Choudhary…?”
“Yes?”
“Can I take two?” He held up both cans of Mountain Dew, and Raj waved him on.
“Yes, yes. Go.” Raj muttered at their rising crescendo once again being cut off at the knees. “I should…check the breakers. I don’t want a repeat of whatever happened.”
“Want some company?” Adam offered.
“More than you can imagine.”
As they trailed through the place, flipping switches on or off depending on what Raj said, he kept talking. It was mostly about the night, how many tickets were sold, and the state of his props after one night. A lot of it washed over Adam, who was doing his best to be a helpful…friend? One blowjob did not a boyfriend make, though god would that be so much easier.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t like the idea of seeing Raj on the regular. Bringing him around for his mother’s spaghetti dinners. Sitting by the fire, sipping warm brandy while watching Black Christmas. Driving past Baph’s place and shouting hello out the window. Falling was easy for Adam. Maybe too easy. He seemed to trip over his dick and wind up head over heels if he so much as caught a whiff of a man in cashmere. It was the staying in love part that kept failing him. He could never be the perfect twink they wanted, only his actual confounding self. By the time they learned the truth, every one of his boyfriends bounced.
“And if it wasn’t for that scarecrow, I’d never have found the broken junction.”
“Scarecrow?” Adam zoomed back in on Raj’s conversation.
“One of the kids was wandering around, and I gave chase. As much out of frustration as to protect them. And when I finally caught up, I spotted the problem.” Raj paused in reaching over to flip the switch on the morgue doors. “Why?”
“I didn’t see any scarecrows.”
Raj’s jaw dropped, then he smiled. “No. There had to be one. I saw him, chased him.”
A cold wind rippled against Adam’s skin, and he wrapped his hands around his chest. “Maybe it was Stitches.”
“Really? The town scarecrow?” Raj laughed at the idea, but Adam couldn’t escape the chill dancing up his spine.
“Maybe a scarecrow climbed off of his cross and walked all the way here to save your haunt.”
“That…” Raj gulped, his brown eyes darting around before they focused on Adam. He laughed. “That’s bullshit.”
“But a good story. Oh, you should tell Marianne.”
“Why?” Raj kept leading them through the haunt until they wandered into the room Adam had been working in.
“She runs the local paper, coupons and stuff. It’s free, but a story about Stitches saving your haunt—that’s advertising gold.”
Raj wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think that’s necessary. We’ve got the place running. People loved it. Word of mouth will save it.”
“Save…?”
“Help it, I mean.” He put on a quick, pained smile. “Thank you, by the way. I know this isn’t what you expected tonight.”
“Don’t be silly. It was fun. I forgot how enjoyable it is scaring the piss out of snot-nosed brats.” Adam reached up to nonchalantly toss his hair back, but Raj stared, then he groaned.
