Page 85 of The King of Halloween
“My sister lives on a goat farm where she spends her free time finding ways to scare the living to death. That would be a no.” Adam crossed his legs tightly, and he looked about to shove away from the table in disgust.
“My siblings and I were pitted against each other. Who could win the most medals, get the best grades, excel at science, medicine, business. I couldn’t keep up? They were the doctors and the accountant. I just played with silly movies for a very tenuous living.”
Raj took a steadying breath. “There was this chart. The ‘Best Choudhary’ chart that hung in the living room. You had to see it just to go out the front door. My parents had our names and pictures on removable stickers, and they’d rank all of us. I was never at the top.”
“Damn.” Adam gulped. “When I gave my mother a bag of mud for her birthday, she kept it on the mantle for years. It hardened to a rock in the end.”
That sounded sweet. Raj’s face fought to smile and also cry at such a simple thing like a mother loving the only gift her kid gives her. “I know you’re just trying to help, and I’m grateful, but I need to do this alone. I have to prove that I can make it work. I can be someone.”
Adam bowed his head. “Okay. I’ll leave all the brilliant marketing ideas up to you. But, Raj, from someone who’s done the alone thing for a while now, you don’t have to wall yourself up. The amontillado’s just as good out here. Probably better because it won’t smell like a decomposing corpse.”
He took Adam’s hand and held it so tight he didn’t want to let go. Adam spun his fingers, sealing them together while they stared into each other’s eyes.
A cuckoo shot out of a clock on the wall. As it bobbed in the air, Raj stared at the numbers, disbelieving the hands. “Is it…? What time is it?”
“Ten. Well, nearly. That thing’s always early.”
“It’s ten o’clock!” Raj shouted. He stood, shoving the chair back, and crammed the rest of his cooling pancakes into his mouth. “I have to get back. Checkout’s already happening. Oh, shit.” He drenched the pancakes in the coffee too good to pass up and tried to swallow.
“I had a wonderful night, we should do it again…” Raj reached over to kiss Adam on the cheek when the man laughed and pointed down.
“Are you really going to walk into your hotel wearing my Evil Dead pajama pants?”
Raj stared at the pants he’d put on without a thought. Tiny chainsaws, demon-possessed deer heads, murder hands, and the Necronomicon stared up at him. His clothing was stained with his cum. Damnit. “I can get a new shirt on the way—”
“Here.”
Adam yanked back an accordion door and pulled out a pile of perfectly folded clothes on top of a dryer. As Raj took them, he stared at the washed and fluffed sweater. “You had time to do laundry?” Then he noted the sharp pleats on his pants. “And iron?”
He responded with a shrug, but grinned as Raj turned around his clothing, realizing Adam also starched his underwear. This man would make a gay socialite very happy. He’s Jeeves and a hot ass all in one.
“Please tell me you’re showing off, and you don’t do this every morning.”
Adam shrugged, then he winked. “A little. Your phone and keys are in a basket by the couch. Don’t forget them, or I might think you intend to stay over again.”
“Well, I do, but I also need them for my job, so…” Lifting his clothing, Raj tried to find a way to slip out for the bathroom to get dressed without making this weirder than it was. “I had a wonderful evening. I love your place. Your eggs are fantastic. And your cock is perfect. See you later.” With that, he turned to bolt out of this fantasy into his dreary reality.
“Oh.” Adam’s sudden cry twisted him around. “Every year for Halloween, there’s a masquerade. The committee’s been texting about it like crazy for some reason. It’s part to celebrate the end of a season, and also where the King is voted on.”
“Ah, your crowning moment.”
He blushed. “Yes. Anyway, I was thinking, as we’re no longer trying to destroy each other for the throne, why don’t we form a united front and go…together?”
Together to a ball? That sounded very serious. Leaving toothbrushes serious. “I…I’m not sure if I can.” Raj’s face crumpled as he expected Adam’s to do the same. For a second, it flickered, but then he went to stone. “It’s the busiest day, and I have no idea what’s going to break.”
“No, of course. You’re right. That makes…sense.”
“We should just keep things casual.”
“Casual?” he repeated, nearly spitting the word.
“Until things calm down, anyway. You’re busy. I’m busy. The whole town’s busy.” Why did he feel like he was saying the wrong thing? They’d only known each other for a few weeks. This wasn’t a make-or-break time.
“You’re correct, again.”
Raj glared out the kitchen door, his legs itching to run. He was halfway through it when he looked back at Adam, who hadn’t moved an inch. “I wouldn’t want you to lose your crown because you’re too busy with me.”
As the words hit him, Adam looked about to argue, then he draped his hands behind his back. In a soft voice, he said, “No, we wouldn’t want that.”
