Chapter Four

 

Beatrice

 

“Why do you look like you’re going to your ninety-year-old husband’s funeral?”

Nia was looking at me with distasteful expression like I had deeply offended her with my choice of clothing. I glanced down at the floor-length black dress I was wearing and back at her.

“It’s chic,” I said.

“It’s creepy,” she replied.

“It’s Halloween,” I pointed out. “Isn’t being creepy a plus on Halloween?”

“Not at a party like this. You’re supposed to be cute and sexy. What happened to being a koala?”

“I told you I wasn’t wearing a fur-covered thong in public.”

“Public? I thought you were coming to the party tonight, Elvira.”

I looked over my shoulder to see the third roommate from the house, Alice, coming into the room. She was wearing essentially the same bra-and-panties ensemble that Nia had tried to convince me to wear, only hers was covered in faux fur in black and white stripes.

“I’m not Elvira. I’m just…dark and mysterious,” I said. “What are you supposed to be?”

Alice struck a few poses and twirled around to show off her costume, which barely contained all that was Alice.

“A snow leopard,” she said. “Isn’t it adorable?”

I was starting to respond when the door opened and our neighbor walked in carrying a huge plastic cauldron of candy.

“Why are you wearing old lady lingerie?”

I rolled my eyes and threw up my hands in exasperation.

“I put on a black dress and did my makeup for what I thought was supposed to be a creepy party.”

All three women stared at me and I knew that I had somehow totally missed the purpose of that night’s festivities.

“The party is about being sexy and trying to find somebody to enjoy a few sweet treats with,” Alice said.

“And here I thought it was supposed to be about Halloween.”

“Like I said.”

I let out another exasperated sound and stared at Nia.

“So, what am I supposed to do? I couldn’t find any yellow tights, so I can’t be a bee.”

“Your name is Bea so you can’t be a bee. We’ve been over this.”

“My name isn’t Bea. We’ve been over that, too. But that’s beyond the point. I can’t be a bee. I’m certainly not going to be a koala. And apparently I can’t just be something dark and sophisticated – “

“And non-descript,” Cheryl added.

“—so, what am I supposed to do?”

Nia glanced at the time and started toward me.

“Alright. The guests are supposed to be here in less than an hour. But that means that they probably won’t be here for an hour and a half. We have some time. Not a lot, but some. We’ll figure it out.”

“Oh,” Alice said as we started out of the room toward my bedroom. “I invited somebody to the party tonight. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Who is it?” Nia asked.

“This amazing guy I met the other night. He’s gorgeous.”

Her voice had gotten a distinctly dreamy tone to it and I resisted the urge to gag a little.

“You’ve known the man two days and you’re already inviting him to our home for my party?” Nia asked.

“I’ve known him three days, and did I mention that he’s gorgeous?”

Nia rolled her eyes and we continued on into my room to try to get me properly ready for the party.

 

There were already guests filtering into the house when Nia announced me ready to attend the party. She flung open the door, ready for my dramatic entrance, but I hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

“I thought we talked about this already,” Nia said. “I thought that you were excited to go to the party and get this Gregory guy out of your hair once and for all.”

“I am,” I said, then looked down at the costume that she had pieced together for me. “But are you really sure about this?”

I gestured at the tiny black dress and heels that I had bought during our excursion at the mall. Nia had refused to allow me to put the leggings on, replacing them with fishnets.

“You’re the one who picked them out,” she said.

“No. I’m the one who bought them. You’re the one who picked them out.”

“You could have refused.”

“Really?” I asked. “I could have just refused?”

Nia looked at me for a few seconds, then shook her head.

“Probably not.”

“Exactly.”

I let out a sigh.

“I’ve just never been seen in public like this before.”

“Like Cheryl pointed out, you aren’t going to be in public. You’re going to be in your living room. It just so happens that there will be other people here with you.” I sighed again and she walked up to me, turning me to look in the large mirror above my dresser. “You look amazing.” Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Wait right here.”

She rushed out of the room and then returned a few seconds later carrying something small and black in her hands. She stepped up behind me and brought it in front of my face. I realized that it was a small mask as she secured it behind my head.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Well,” she said, finishing the knot in the silky ribbons that held the mask in place, “you wouldn’t be a koala. So now you’re a raccoon.”

I looked at myself in the mirror.

I am the most BDSM raccoon that has ever existed. I am going to dominate the hell out of those trashcans.

The longer I looked at myself, though, the less humor I found in the look. I felt the sexy clothes changing the way that I thought about my body and the mask, though it only concealed part of my face, seemed to be chipping away at my inhibitions. I no longer felt like a meek virgin, out of place in both my inexperience and my teetotaling ways among the rowdy crowd that was rapidly filling the house. A new confidence rushed into my chest and I straightened my back, squaring my shoulders.

Maybe I could do this.

“Are you ready?” Nia asked.

I nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

We walked out of the room and started down the stairs. I was only halfway to the main floor of the house, though, when I felt myself stop in my tracks, all confidence disappearing and a painful, sick feeling coiling in my belly. Nia walked down two more steps before realizing that I had stopped. She turned and looked at me.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

I was staring ahead, feeling unable to move. She followed my eyes, gasping as she saw what I had seen…Cheryl crushed up against the wall, her leg crooked over Gregory’s hip as he grabbed her ass and did his best to lick the inside of her throat.

My body started to shake and I felt my hands tingling.

What the fuck was he doing here?

I wanted to run. I wanted to turn around and run right back up the steps, strip off the ridiculous outfit, scrub my heavily made-up face, and spend the rest of the Halloween night curled up in my bed pretending that the party didn’t happen. Cheryl giggled and I saw Gregory’s lips curl up in the smile that had once seemed like the most alluring, beautiful smile in the world, but now only reminded me of the way he looked at me the night that I stood in the rain on his front porch and he laughed in my face for chasing him. My resolution returned and I started down the stairs again.

Cheryl looked up as Nia and I approached, a grin spread across her smeared lips. I couldn’t identify what animal she was supposed to be, but I felt that, much like our taste in men, we would probably be scouring the same trashcans together.

“Nia!” she said happily. “You have to come meet Gregory.” She patted him on the chest and swayed slightly. Apparently, she had already been hitting the glowing brain-shaped punch bowl. “Gregory, this is my neighbor, Nia. This is her party. And this…” she looked at me and gasped. “Beatrice! You look incredible!” She looked over at Gregory. “This is my other neighbor, Beatrice. We call her Bea.” She leaned toward her, lowering her voice to what I could only imagine she thought was a conspiratorial whisper. “She says she hates it when we do that, but I think she actually thinks it’s cute. Shhhhh. Don’t tell her.”

I gave a bitter smile, knowing that my misdirected neighbor not only had no idea that she was currently attempting to climb inside who I was coming to realize was probably Alice’s date, but how well said date and I already knew each other. Introductions were most certainly not necessary.

“Hello, Bea,” he said, laughing slightly as if he thought this was all hilarious.

Cheryl grabbed onto Nia and Nia guided her away, glancing back over her shoulder at us with a look that threatened me if I dare got real blood mixed up in her fake blood decorations.

“Hello, Gregory,” I said. “Should I let Alice know you’re here, or should I just let you tell her yourself?”

I started to walk away, but he reached out and took hold of the strappy back of the dress, pulling me back toward him and turning me so that I was in his arms.

“Don’t be like that, Bea,” he said.

I thrashed out of his grasp and whipped around sharply, trying to get away from him. As I did, I walked directly into a warm, bare chest. I stared at it for a moment, letting my eyes play across the deeply chiseled pecs and abdominals, then lifted my gaze to the man’s face. It was concealed behind a mask that covered the top half of his face, but the lush lips still visible beneath it curved up in a hint of a smile.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

The man shook his head slightly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

He walked around me and headed into the kitchen, and I spun back around to look at Gregory. My heart was pounding in my chest but I didn’t know if it was the fury that I felt toward him or a reaction to the brief encounter with the shirtless masked man.

Maybe a combination of both.

“She wasn’t wrong,” Gregory said, taking a step toward me. “You do look incredible.” He reached up and ran his fingertips along the neckline of my dress. “It looks like you’re finally coming around to what I wanted from you.”

I wanted to punch him. I wanted to grab him by those nether regions that I had cursed at the grocery store and toss him into the tower of pumpkin beer that Nia had created in the corner. I wanted to scream. Before I could select which one of them I was going to attempt first, however, I heard Alice calling his name from behind me. Gregory smiled as he peered over my shoulder at her, seamlessly forgetting the encounter with Cheryl had even happened. This was his master skill, and one day I knew that it was going to come back and bite him in the ass. For now, though, it just left him basking in as much attention as he could want at any given moment.

“There you are,” he said as Alice approached. “I was getting worried about you.”

You slimy, soul-sucking, twisted son of a—actually, son of a delightful woman. His mother was a wonderful person. I wouldn’t want to put the shame of raising him on her. Twisted waste of space and breath.

Alice came up smiling like a first grader who just got her first Valentine and draped herself over Gregory. She kissed him and stared longingly into his eyes for several seconds before even realizing that I was standing there.

“Oh! Beatrice. This,” she flattened her hand on his chest and smiled at him again, “is Gregory.”

“I’ve heard.”

“This is my roommate.”

“Oh, really?” Gregory asked.

“Well, I’m going to bring my piece of Halloween candy out onto the dancefloor,” Alice said.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her. As they started away from me, Gregory leaned in.

“Roommate, huh? Now that I know you can look like this, maybe I’ll be visiting Alice more often.”

He walked away and I felt my hands ball into tight fists at my sides.

“Are you alright?” Nia asked as she stepped up beside me. “I’m sorry I left you here with him. I thought taking Cheryl away would distract him.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “What’s Halloween without at least one monster, right?”

I looked at Nia and saw that she was holding one of the bottles of beer from the tower. I snatched it out of her hand and downed a massive gulp.

“Bea!” she gasped.

I coughed as the alcohol burned my throat and the strange taste registered in my mind like spoiled pumpkin pie.

“Good lord, that’s awful,” I said, handing it back to her.

Someone walked past with a plateful of jello shots layered to look like candy corn. I took one and tossed it back. It jiggled across my tongue and slithered down my throat, mercifully very little flavor but the orange and lemon behind.

“Maybe you should slow down,” Nia said.

“No,” I said shaking my head. “That one wasn’t bad at all. What was in that?”

Nia glanced at the person who was carrying the plate and I followed her gaze to watch him hand one of the shots to a visibly pregnant mummy.

“Well, considering Ben just handed one to his wife who’s due in three weeks, I’m going to go with those are the plain ones I made for her. So…. nothing.”

“Shit.”

“What are you doing?”

She sounded worried about me, but I didn’t feel like stopping long enough to analyze what I was thinking or feeling. I just wanted it all to go away.

“You said that I should come to the party and have some fun, right? Forget Gregory? Well, since he’s decided to make that so very much harder, I’m just going to have to work that much harder to get him out of my head. So, let’s go have some fun.”

I pushed past her toward the living room where a tall, bearded man dressed appropriately as a Viking was mixing drinks. I danced my way over to this more sophisticated, and hopefully more palatable, version of the beer tower and accepted the clear glass that he held out to me. The red liquid inside glowed thanks to the help of an illuminated ice cube in the bottom and I swirled it around for a second before tossing it back. It burned through my mouth and down into my belly, but the sweet taste counteracted it and I didn’t immediately feel like returning it to the world. I reached into the cup with my fingertips to grab the cube and handed the cup back to the man. He started to fill it again, but Nia grabbed me by my wrist and started guiding me away from him.

“Thank you, Mark,” she said. “I think she’s OK for now.”

“I’ve only had one drink,” I protested.

“Yeah,” Nia said. “Ever. In your life. You keep going like that and you’re going to be blacked out before the party even gets all the way going. Just settle down a little.”

“I don’t want to settle down. I’ve been settled my whole life. I want to have fun.”

I rushed into the room where music was blaring and jumped into the people already dancing. I could feel hands gliding along me and bodies pressing against me as I danced, but I didn’t even care who was near me. My mind was starting to swim just enough that it was amplifying the uninhibited confidence started in me by the mask and costume and I could feel myself getting blissfully lost in the throbbing music, slithering bodies, and flashing lights around me.

As I danced I felt someone watching me. I looked up, dreading seeing Gregory, and instead found the shirtless man leaned against the doorframe, his eyes locked on me from behind his mask. I couldn’t see his entire face, but something about that only made him sexier and I felt my body responding to him. I knew he was older. Considerably older. When I first saw him, I had noticed the streaks of silver in his hair along his temples. This must be one of the men from the hotel that Nia said she had invited. I didn’t care. In fact, that only made it better. I enjoyed the way his eyes on me made me feel and by the next morning he probably wasn’t going to remember me, so it didn’t matter. I could go into November with Gregory out of my system once and for all.

Nia and Cheryl jumped into the crowd beside me and I took a sip from the drink that Cheryl was holding. It was much stronger than the other and I felt it hit me almost immediately. Everything around me was more alive and I didn’t care about anything anymore. I laughed, tilting my head back as I let myself drift away. I danced there until the heat of all of the people around me started to get to me and then broke away to go out onto the porch where some of the party had overflowed. The cooler air out there revived me and I joined another group dancing in an elaborate cemetery scene that Nia had built.

I had to give it to the girl, she knew how to throw a party.

I was twirling around, knowing that I was likely making a complete fool of myself but no longer caring, and shouting along with Vincent Price when I slipped off the edge of the porch. Taking a few running steps to catch myself so I wouldn’t fall, I ended up in the shadowy corner of the yard. The music wasn’t as loud here, creating the perfect environment for me to hear the low, rhythmic grunts and high moans that punctuated them coming from the small gazebo tucked in the corner. I took a cautious step toward it and saw two figures bent over the bench, their bodies pumping in time to the music and their own sounds. I was turning away when I heard a voice coming toward me.

“Hey there, Beatrice,” Gregory said. “Want to join us?”

Disgust rose up in me and I ran back toward the porch. In the blur of people, lights, and chaos, I tripped over one of the tombstones, twirled around to try to right myself, and fell back over another. Losing my balance completely, I started to fall, but felt myself get caught in strong arms. They guided me away from the tombstone and set me on my feet. I turned around and found myself staring at the masked man. My heart was pounding and my mind spinning. I didn’t know what was happening, but an instant later my mouth was on his. His arms looped around my waist and drew me up against the warmth of his bare chest and belly so that he could deepen the kiss. Our mouths tangled, catching and pulling at one another almost desperately. I felt him guiding me away from the crowd on the porch and into the shadows on the other side of the lawn.

He sat down on the bench that I had positioned on the edge of my garden and pulled me down into his lap. The straddled position pushed my skirt up nearly to my hips and I felt the cool night air rush over my upper thighs and against the wet heat that was building between them. I pressed that feeling into him and was rewarded with a subtle lift of his hips that nudged a rapidly hardening bulge against me. I gasped slightly and he pulled back, looking at me through eyes that I could now see were green, slumbering, and intense.

“Come to my hotel with me,” he growled.

I stammered for a moment, unsure of what to say. This was starting to feel like a runaway train and I wasn’t sure I was ready to go along with it.

“I think I should stay here,” I said.

He lifted his hips again, nudging me more insistently, and brought his mouth to the side of my neck. I felt myself and all of my resistance melting away in the kiss.

“Are you sure?” he murmured.

I was starting to answer when I heard a scream from across the lawn. I jumped off of the man’s lap and rushed toward the sound of the screaming, worried that something had gone terribly wrong. When I got to the other side, I found Cheryl and Alice standing a few feet from the gazebo, where a third woman I didn’t know was scrambling to return her slutty flight attendant costume to its full and upright position. Gregory was behind her, zipping up in a way that was far more casual than her apparent desperation to get away from the screaming women.

“What the fuck, Gregory?” Alice shouted. “What the actual fuck?”

Actual fuck? What does that even mean? Is there a hypothetical fuck? Metaphorical perhaps?

“Calm down, Alice,” Gregory said, stepping out of the gazebo after the flight attendant made her escape and ran into the house. “I was just spending a few minutes with an old friend. I’m still here with you.”

It was like I was looking back in time and I expected the same sickening feeling to rush through me. Instead, I only felt anger and pity.

“Like hell you are,” Nia said, coming down from the porch. “You aren’t here with anybody. Get out.”

The crowd roared around her and I felt like I had stumbled onto the set of a high school angst movie. Gregory scoffed, looking around like he thought this was all a joke, but then headed back across the porch and into the house, hopefully to sink away into the scum from whence he came and not return. His departure seemed to break down the camaraderie that had formed between the two wronged women and they turned on each other, screaming and flailing. Nia and I rushed toward them, peeling them apart and trying to calm them down. When we finally succeeded in getting them to call a truce long enough for Cheryl to go home, I turned back to the bench, but the masked man was no longer there. I let out a sigh.

Maybe that’s for the best.

Dammit.

The party went fairly downhill from there. People chose sides, battles broke out, I spent several minutes screaming at Gregory after finding him in my bedroom and chasing him out, and within a few minutes many of the guests had left. I stood out in the cemetery, looking out over the lawn as the relative quiet settled around me. Suddenly I felt someone step up behind me and warm breath touch the side of my neck.

“Trick or treat?”

I turned around, staying close enough to the masked man that my breasts brushed his chest.

“Treat,” I said.

He took his hand from behind his back and brought a piece of chocolate to my lips. I opened my mouth and let it settle onto my tongue. The explosion with Gregory and the women had taken away the effects of the alcohol from earlier, but the adrenaline was still coursing through me and just the slight touch of his fingers on my lips and the dark flavor of the chocolate melting on my tongue was electrifying.

“What would have happened if I had said ‘trick’?” I asked.

Without a word, the masked man scooped me off of my feet, tossing me easily over one shoulder, and started carrying me around the side of the house. I was too surprised to protest, and before I could fully process what was happening, I heard a car door open and felt myself get tossed inside. Seconds later he was in the driver’s seat and we were zooming down the street away from the lingering remnants of the party.