“What exactly is the plan again?” I walked through the aisle of slutty Halloween costumes trailing behind Brooke and Sophie. I wasn’t even sure how I got into this situation.
“We’re going to show up at the Rock Bottom Halloween party, and you are going to knock my brother off his feet.” Sophie held up a Wonder Woman costume that looked like the skirt was exactly three inches long, and I shook my head no.
“But what if he doesn’t want me there? I don’t want to upset him at his restaurant.” My fingers skimmed over a mummy costume, and I prayed that they let me pick something like it. Something that covered all my goodies.
“Did you read the article?” She put her hands on her hips. “He wants you there.”
Running my hands through my hair, I let out a sigh. I heard what she was saying and I understood why she thought that, but I was still scared to death. What if I was too late?
“What about this?” Brooke held up a costume in her hand, and if it wasn’t for the Gryffindor symbol on the breast of the shirt, I would have no idea what it was.
“Is that supposed to be Hermione?” I pulled the skirt toward me to get a better look.
“Yeah. It’s sexy Hermione.” Brooke shook her hips and I shook my head.
“That is more like slutty Hermione, and quite frankly, it’s a disgrace. Hermione Granger is one of the smartest and talented female characters of our age. We should be celebrating who her character is, not slutting it up so we have an excuse to barely wear any clothes for one night.”
Brooke rolled her eyes and placed the costume back on the shelf.
“I didn’t know you were so passionate about Harry Potter.” Sophie looked at me like I was an alien.
“If there is one thing I can teach you about Kennedy, it’s to not insult the Harry Potter series. That bitch has killed people for less.” Brooke threw up her hands in what I assume was an attempt at gang signs. Sophie thought it was hilarious. I thought she looked like an idiot.
I walked away from them and picked up a Mary Poppins costume. It was adorable.
“Umm, no.” Brooke looked over my shoulder.
“Why not?” I held the costume up to my body and looked at myself in the mirror.
“We want him on his knees begging to have you back. Not running away because you look like a grandma.”
My elbow connected with her stomach and she laughed. “It’s the truth.”
“I’ve got an idea.” We both turned to look at Sophie. “You can try that on if you agree to try on one costume that each of us chooses then we’ll pick our favorite one.”
I hesitated but then thought “what the hell?” If I don’t like it, I won’t buy it so I could at least appease them. They didn’t need to know that I had no plans on actually wearing their choices.
I put on my Mary Poppins costume first and when I looked in the mirror, I frowned. Brooke was right. I looked frumpy. Not sexy at all.
When I walked out to show the girls, Brooke held her tongue but looked smug as hell.
“Next,” Sophie called out before I completely made it out of the dressing room.
Brooke’s choice was next. When she handed it to me, I almost handed it right back.
“Where’s the rest of the costume?” I called through the curtain.
“Just put it on.”
I squeezed into the cheap fabric skirt and then pulled the top over my head. I think it was supposed to be Poison Ivy, but I looked like I was trying to get laid. By anyone who was willing. By someone who would probably leave me with an itch afterward.
“Not happening.” I turned in the mirror and could almost see the curve of my ass cheek.
The curtain was pulled back, and I thanked God that I had some clothes on even if they only covered a few inches of skin.
“You look hot,” Brooke crooned, but Sophie shook her head.
“It’s my turn now.” She handed me a long black costume before pulling the curtain closed again.
I gawked at the costume when I realized it was made of leather, skintight leather, but I shimmied into it anyways. I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it until I did.
The black body suit went all the way down to my ankles and ended just above my breasts. The top was strapless and the sweetheart neckline curved perfectly over each breast making my rack look amazing.
Sophie peeked her head into the curtain. “Need help zipping it up?”
“Yeah.” I held the fabric against my chest as she tugged the zipper up my back.
I looked at myself in the mirror, and I blinked. Hard. Who was this girl? Where had she been?
The leather suit ran along every curve of my body. It accentuated the flare of my hips, the curve of my ass, and every inch of my legs. They were areas that I had always hated about myself. They were areas that I now couldn’t stop staring at.
My body looked amazing. I had never said those words before. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I looked good. Damn good.
The weeks of running with Tucker had transformed my body in ways I hadn’t even taken the time to notice.
I took a deep breath and put my hand on my stomach to try to stop the flutter of butterflies.
“What am I supposed to be?” I looked up at Sophie to see her looking at me with a devilish smile on her face.
“Cat Woman.” She dangled a mask from her hand, and I grinned.
…
It was the night before Halloween, and I wasn’t even sure how we got here. I was at Tucker’s cabin less than a month ago, but it seemed like that was a lifetime away. It had been too long since I saw him. Too long since I touched him.
My need to see him was consuming me, but my fear was greater. Every time I let myself think about the possibilities of tonight, my fear would rear its ugly head and remind me of all the times I failed. My fear lived inside me and it taunted me with ugly words that had been repeated to me so many times throughout my life.
You’re not good enough. You’re not good enough. You’re not good enough.
It didn’t matter what my parents, my brother, or my ex-boyfriends criticized me about. It always came back to one thing.
You’re not good enough.
But I wasn’t going to let it beat me. Tucker was the most amazing man I had ever met, and I would let him decide if I was good enough or not. I wouldn’t let my own fear ruin the one thing in life that I truly wanted.
“Holy shit, Kennedy.”
I turned from the mirror I was currently standing in to look at my best friend. She was dressed as a cheetah, full makeup, covered in spots, and it completely fit her personality.
“What?” I adjusted my Cat Woman mask on my face, being careful not to mess up my hair and makeup she had just spent an hour doing.
Sophie walked into my room looking cute as can be dressed as a mermaid. Baby blue mermaid hair and all.
“My brother won’t know what the hell to do when he sees you. That’s what.”
I looked in the mirror again and smiled. My body was covered in the leather body suit. My feet in a pair of heeled booties that I borrowed from Brooke that make my legs look a million times better than they did on their own. My black hair was stick straight falling over my shoulders and tucked under my mask. But then there were my eyes.
Brooke applied enough smoky makeup around my eyes to satisfy the pickiest of drag queens, but the effect was amazing when I put on my mask. My eyes popped in a way that they never had before. I looked catlike. I looked feral. My lips shined in the light as a bright cherry red coated my lips, and I couldn’t stop looking at myself.
I felt like a vamped up version of myself. I was still me, but now I was sexy, sultry, and confident. I had never felt that way in my life.
The place was completely packed when we walked into Rock Bottom. It made pride bloom in my chest for both Tucker and Liam. It looked amazing too. They had elegant Halloween decorations throughout the space.
Black and diamond encrusted pumpkins. Black and white candles scattered throughout the space creating an even more sultry effect than normal. Black spider webs hung from the ceiling and little diamond spiders twinkled in the lights.
People were packed into the space dressed in costumes that ranged from slutty nurses to zombies. Their hands were holding colorful drinks that looked like they were Halloween themed, and everyone looked like they were having an amazing time. I searched the faces around me, but I didn’t recognize anyone. No Chloe. No Liam. No Tucker.
Sophie waved us forward and Brooke and I followed behind her, pushing our way to the bar. The very crowded bar.
We finally squeezed through the bodies and Sophie raised her hand trying to get the attention of the slammed bartender. When she saw that it was going to be a while before the bartender made it to us, she leaned her back against the bar and scanned our surroundings.
“Does anyone see him?” I chewed on my lip as I tried to peek behind each mask to see if they hid Tucker.
“Not yet. He’s here though.” Sophie held up her phone. “He just texted me a little bit ago.”
“You didn’t tell him I was coming though, right?” I didn’t know why it mattered so much to me, but I worried that if he knew I was here he wouldn’t show his face.
“And miss his reaction when he sees you? Hell no.”
Fingertips trailed across my back and I held my breath. Shit, shit, shit. I wasn’t ready for this. I was going to hyperventilate.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
I turned my attention over my shoulder and stared into the bright blue eyes of Jase. Fuck, he was hot.
His chest was completely bare, and I worked my gaze down his impressive ridges of muscle to see he was wearing nothing but a pair of black Calvin Klein underwear and a pair of Chuck Taylor’s.
“What the hell are you supposed to be?” Sophie’s voice worked its way through my brain and reminded me that I was standing there staring at a half-naked Jase with my mouth hanging open.
“I’m an underwear model. Isn’t it obvious?” He put his hands on his hips and it made his abs constrict under the movement.
Sophie snorted a very unladylike sound, and he turned his sharp eyes on her.
“Very original there, Jase.”
He put his hand over his heart. “Wow. A compliment from Sophie Moore. I thought I’d never see the day.”
Sophie rolled her eyes but didn’t reply.
“Well, Cat Woman,” he brought his attention back to me, “are you here to get my boy back or do I get my chance to sweep you off your feet tonight?”
“Sorry, Jase. I’m here on a mission.” I winked at him. I felt so much more powerful in the costume.
“I would tell you knock him dead, but he’s going to die when he sees you. You look smokin’.” With that, he kissed me on my cheek and was gone again, disappearing in the sea of bodies.
“I seriously can’t stand that asshole.” Sophie was staring daggers in the direction that Jase just disappeared.
“What’s the story there?” Brooke nodded her head in the same direction.
“Not one I want to get into tonight.”
Sophie’s face looked flushed, and I knew that there was something going on between them. I just wasn’t sure what.
After thirty minutes of not seeing Tucker, I was getting frustrated. My heart raced any time a guy would walk by me that had a similar build to Tucker, but as soon as I saw that their eyes weren’t chocolate brown ones with a small fleck of gold, I got even more irritable.
I excused myself from the girls to run to the restroom to give myself a moment to breathe. The body suit seemed to be getting tighter and tighter as the night went on, but I knew it was due to my own anxiety and the crushing feeling that tonight wouldn’t work out.
I stared at myself in the mirror and really looked into my own eyes. I could see my fear staring back at me. It was taunting me, letting me know that it was in charge. It was always in charge. I quickly looked away.
The urge to run out of there was overwhelming. The thought of being in my apartment surrounded by my things was comforting, but it hadn’t felt right in quite some time. It hadn’t felt right to be alone in my space without Tucker since I met him. Damn him for destroying my comfort zone. He obliterated it.
Not tonight. I wouldn’t run tonight. Tucker deserved more than a girl who was willing to run. He deserved a girl that would fight for him. He deserved more than I could ever give him. He deserved a girl who was braver than me, but tonight I was Cat Woman. I stared at myself in the mirror again. Tonight, I wasn’t the scared girl who ran from her fears. Tonight, I was a fucking super hero.