by Rachel Lacey
“I’m not.”
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“Thanks. Appreciate that.” He nodded, wondering at the sudden tightness in his chest. He had an inexplicable urge to give Ryan a hug, which was so completely foreign to him that he instead waved good-bye and headed up the steps to his condo as fast as his legs would carry him.
Bear waited inside, her tail swishing enthusiastically. She’d need a walk before the party. A jog maybe. Mark could use one as well. He went into the bedroom to change into jogging shorts and a T-shirt and then sat on the bed to pull on the compression sleeve he wore over his right knee when he exercised. It didn’t do a whole lot for the discomfort he felt when he ran, but it kept his knee stable, and since he was a few ligaments short of whole, that was a good thing.
With Bear at his side, he pounded out a solid three miles through the mountains, releasing the stress and tension that had been building up inside him all afternoon. He showered and fixed sandwiches for himself and Bear, and then it was time to get ready for the damn party. He’d rather tango with a grenade than go mingle with the locals at this Halloween party.
But Jess would be there. And he needed to see her, needed to make sure she was okay. Hell, he just needed her. Period.
* * *
Jessica eyed her reflection in the mirror. “This makeup’s not right.”
“It is right. I’m following a tutorial on Pinterest. Have faith.” Nicole frowned in concentration as she swept more white makeup across Jessica’s face.
“I look like a clown.”
Her sister swatted her arm. “Relax, will you? This is not my first time.”
No, Jessica and Nicole’s Halloween costumes often included elaborate makeup, and they’d both gotten pretty good at painting each other’s faces for the occasion. Tonight, Jessica would go as the Corpse Bride from Tim Burton’s 2005 cult classic. Nicole was going as one of the title characters on The Walking Dead—and Jessica’s handiwork was evident all over her sister’s garishly “undead” face.
“Almost there.” Nicole pursed her lips as she painted Jessica’s eyebrows an exaggerated black, with an upward twist like Emily, the Corpse Bride.
When Nicole had finished, Jessica had to admit she was looking rather corpse-like. Careful not to disturb her makeup, she stepped into the simple white wedding gown she had accented with gray lace to imitate Emily’s dress, complete with plastic ribs poking through the bodice. Nicole pinned a gray veil in her hair, and then Jessica reached for her gray-painted bouquet of flowers.
“Wow,” Jessica said as she spun before the mirror.
“You look stunning…in a creepy, ghoulish way.” Nicole beamed from behind her zombie makeup. “Dennis, come and see!”
Her husband poked his head into the bedroom. “Wow, babe. This might be your best work yet.”
“Thank you.” Nicole’s smile grew even wider.
Dennis was also outfitted as a zombie, in dirty, ripped clothing and similarly disgusting makeup. “You ladies ready?”
“Just about.” Nicole turned to give herself one more touch-up in front of the mirror. “How’s the head, Jess?”
Jessica flinched, reaching for her forehead reflexively before remembering she’d ruin her makeup if she touched her face. “Much better.” The headache came and went, but she’d taken a pill earlier so she was feeling optimistic about tonight.
“Did you make that appointment?” Nicole turned deadly serious, leveling Jessica with a look that would have made their mother proud.
“Yes. I go on Monday.” She’d met her mom for lunch a few days ago, and among other things, her mom had written down a list of doctors for Jessica to visit to get to the bottom of her current health problems. So far, she’d seen her general practitioner, who’d ruled out a few basic things like mono and meningitis. Unfortunately, this left her no closer to figuring out what was actually wrong with her.
Was it one of those invisible illnesses that were so difficult to diagnose but could cause unexplainable pain for a lifetime? The very thought made her shudder. On Monday, she would go for an MRI to make sure she didn’t have a brain tumor or something similarly horrifying. And as for being put inside that tube for the test? Well, she wasn’t letting herself think about it. Not yet.
“Good.” Nicole touched her shoulder. “Look, I know this party’s a big deal for you, but if you’re not feeling well, just tell me, okay? Dana and the other girls from the spa can totally hold down the fort if you need to rest.”
“I’m fine, Nic, honest. There’s no way I’m missing my own Halloween party.” Jessica had spent the whole day at the spa getting things ready, coming home only long enough to get dressed, and now she was itching to get back there and oversee the final details.
“Let me just get my purse,” Nicole said as she bent to pick up a bag that looked like a severed arm.
“That’s disgusting,” Jessica said with a huge grin.
“I know.” Nicole pretended to gnaw on the arm as they walked out to the car.
“First time I spent Halloween with your family, I knew Nic and I were meant to be,” Dennis said as he slid behind the wheel. “Y’all are seriously disturbed, and I love it.”
That Halloween had been the moment when Jessica was sure her sister had found the right man too. Any man who jumped so enthusiastically into the Flynn Halloween festivities was definitely a keeper.
Her mind flitted to Mark and his hesitance—even as a teenager—to join in the fun. Would he show up tonight? She had a feeling Ethan and Ryan might force him to put in an appearance, but would he dress up? She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him in a costume.
They pulled up outside the spa, and Jessica smiled at the sight. From the grounds behind the building, orange and purple lights filtered through the trees and stage smoke billowed.
Perfect.
Dennis parked, and Jessica hustled straight toward the back patio. Her mom was already there—dressed as Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter—while her dad wandered through the woods in purple robes and a long white beard as Dumbledore.
“Oh! The Corpse Bride—I love it!” her mom said as she caught sight of Jessica. “And…a zombie? That’s rather unimaginative by your standards, Nic.”
“Not just any zombie,” their dad said as he walked over. “She’s obviously Sophia from The Walking Dead after she’d been bitten in season two.” He gestured at Nicole’s tattered blue T-shirt with a rainbow on the front.
“Thank you.” Nicole looked vindicated.
Jessica left them to make sure everything else was in place. They had various scares staged throughout the surrounding woods, for those brave enough to take a “romantic stroll” through the grounds, and the witches’ brewing station was bubbling up plenty of green beer with dry ice smoke billowing.
“I’m here!” Carly announced, crossing the patio with a large white bakery box in her arms.
“Perfect timing.” Jessica led her to the dessert table.
“I’ve got ghost truffles, spider cookies, zombie brain cupcake bites, pumpkin cupcakes, candy corn Jell-O shots, and witch’s fingers. Sam’s bringing the rest of the boxes.” As she spoke, Carly was already placing desserts onto platters on the table. A Piece of Cake had provided the desserts every year since Jessica had turned the party into a charity event.
The deli would be providing finger foods. It saved her a lot of time and expense on food prep and helped draw a larger crowd at the same time.
“This looks amazing. What are you dressed as?” Jessica asked.
Carly wore a hot pink halter top that accentuated her cleavage and a black miniskirt with fishnet stockings and leather boots. “I’m a groupie. Sam’s a rock star.”
“That’s not a costume,” Jessica protested.
“Oh yeah?” Sam said from behind her. “Would you rather I was incognito?”
Jessica turned, and her breath caught in her throat. In jeans and a black leather jacket with his guitar slung ov
er his shoulder—sunglasses in place despite the evening hour—Sam looked every inch the rock star, and no, she didn’t want him to change a thing. Having him here dressed like that…well, it was the best publicity her party could ever receive.
Things got busy after that. She checked on all the refreshments and made sure Maritza was in place at the front door to sell raffle tickets. The prizes had been donated from local businesses, and all proceeds went to the children’s ward at the hospital.
By seven thirty, the party was hopping. Music was pumping, and people filled the patio, decked out in costumes ranging from a dancing chicken to Emma’s disco ball getup. Jessica’s headache still pulsed dully behind her eyes, but thankfully it hadn’t gotten any worse. With the adrenaline of the party, she could almost forget she didn’t feel well.
She poured herself a cup of punch—the alcohol-free version because of her medicine—and took a sip. On the other side of the patio, she spotted a tall man in a mask, dressed all in black. The Phantom of the Opera. But she didn’t need to see his face, or even the smooth brown skin of his hands, to know the identity of this Phantom. She felt it in the tingle at the pit of her stomach when they locked eyes. Mark.
Unlike the bitter, brooding Phantom of opera fame, this man was kind, warm, and passionate. And just the sight of him made her heart flutter like a hummingbird.
She crossed the patio to him. “You came.”
“You recognized me.” He sounded faintly surprised, as though hiding his face could disguise his powerful, masculine presence.
“Of course.” This close, the warmth from his body offset the chill of the air around her and made her want to burrow even closer against him.
“You look beautiful.” He tipped his head to the side. “And…dead.”
“I’m the Corpse Bride.” She tugged at the bodice of her ghastly gown, realizing the irony of her costume choice, considering she’d be undergoing an MRI in two days to check for tumors or other awful—and potentially deadly—things in her brain.
Mark reached out and touched her hair. “Well, you’re a beautiful corpse.”
“Thank you.” Her skin tingled beneath his touch.
Mark seemed to feel it too. He didn’t move for a long moment, his fingers still tucked into her hair, his eyes blazing into hers from behind the mask. “How are you?”
“Fine,” she answered automatically, but she didn’t need to see his face to know he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She blew out a breath, which somehow seemed to bring her even closer to him. “I’m having some tests run to see if anything’s wrong.”
Mark went very still. “That’s good.”
“It’s really not. I hate being poked and prodded.”
His hand slipped from her hair to cup her cheek. “Sometimes it’s necessary.”
“I know.” A shiver ran through her. “But the MRI…I’m claustrophobic.”
Mark dropped his hand to her arm, drawing her subtly closer against him. “Bring one of those sleep masks to use as a blindfold, and you can listen to music through headphones too. It’s loud in there, and the music helps.”
Something inside her chest loosened at his words. “That…yeah, that does sound much better. You’ve had one then?”
He nodded. “Several.”
She thought of his scars—the ones she’d felt beneath his shirt—and the way he sometimes limped. She wanted to ask, but now wasn’t the time. “Thanks for the tips.”
“Yo, the Phantom of the Opera’s here!” Ryan announced loudly, sliding in beside Mark and clapping him on the back.
Jessica stepped back to a more respectable distance.
“And…don’t tell me.” Ryan eyed her up and down. “That Tim Burton movie, right?”
“The Corpse Bride.” She nodded with a smile, suppressing a laugh to realize he was dressed as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever to match Emma’s disco ball.
So many couples’ costumes tonight…
Jessica wanted that. She wanted to be part of a couple and wear themed Halloween costumes together, and she wished like hell it wasn’t the masked man in front of her that she was imagining as the Victor to her Emily, the Phantom to her Christine. Because it would never, ever happen, no matter how much she might wish for it.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother walking toward her, wearing jeans and a leather bomber jacket, and…“Oh my God, are you Tom Cruise from Top Gun?”
Brennan grinned. “I sure am.”
“Holy crap, that’s fantastic. And oh!” She let out a little shriek as she caught sight of Brennan’s husband, Patrick, in a flight suit. “Please tell me you’re Iceman.”
“Of course.” Patrick threw his arm around Brennan’s shoulder and grinned.
Ryan fist-bumped them both. “Yo, best costumes of the night, right here.”
Even Mark was smiling…or at least she was pretty sure he was. It was hard to tell behind the mask, but his eyes were crinkled, and his posture had relaxed.
Brennan held up his cell phone. “Vlogging the party for my viewers too.”
“Seriously?” She gave him a mock-annoyed frown. Her brother was constantly videoing stuff for his YouTube channel, and while she liked to give him a hard time about it, she was also ridiculously proud of him. Bren had recently surpassed one million subscribers, which was a pretty awesome milestone. He mostly made gaming videos, but his vlogs—or video blogs—were gaining in popularity too.
“Why would we bother to dress up and go out if we didn’t record it for YouTube?” Patrick raised his eyebrows dramatically, grinning the whole time.
“I’m donating all my earnings from this episode to the children’s wing,” Bren said.
“And now you have my blessing,” Jessica told him with a wink. “Film away.”
Brennan handed his cell phone to Patrick, and they walked off toward the smoking cauldron of witches’ brew with Patrick recording while Brennan talked to the camera, gesturing to the party around them.
“I’ve watched some of his videos,” Ryan commented. “Your brother’s a trip.”
“He’s something, all right. I’d better go check on things. See you guys around.” She gave Mark and Ryan a smile and headed back toward the party.
And she felt the heat of Mark’s stare as she walked away.
* * *
“Yo, what’s going on between you and Jessica?”
Mark gave Ryan a look, stymied by the stupid mask. “Nothing.”
“Please. You two are so hot for each other I could roast a marshmallow in that fire.”
Mark choked. “That is the weirdest analogy I’ve ever heard.”
“Never claimed to be a poet, but I know sex when I see it, and you and Jessica are sending up all kinds of smoke signals. For the record, I think it’s a great idea. In fact, she’s headed into the woods right now. Maybe you’d better go after her and make sure she’s okay.” Ryan was grinning like a fool.
Mark scowled, his eyes tracking automatically in the direction Ryan had pointed. Jess was indeed headed into the woods by herself, and fuck it. He headed after her.
By the time he caught up to her, she was standing in front of a tree near the back of the spa’s property, glaring up at a busted light mounted about ten feet up its trunk.
“Need some help?”
She yelped, spinning to face him with a hand clamped to her chest. “Jesus Christ, Mark! You really need to learn how to make some noise when you walk.”
He leaned closer, fighting a smile. “But I thought the whole purpose of tonight was to be scary?”
At that, she grinned. “True enough. For tonight, you get a pass. But next time…seriously, don’t sneak up on a girl like that, okay?”
This wasn’t the first time she’d accused him of sneaking up on her, and honest to God, he didn’t do it on purpose. Didn’t like feeling like he’d scared her either. “I’ll do my best.”
She offered him a pinched smile. “And yes, since you offered, I could use some help.
This light’s not working.”
“Let me have a look.” He took off his mask and hung it from a nearby tree branch. Then he reached up and grabbed the branch, swinging himself up into the tree to get a closer look at the light in question. “Bulb’s blown,” he called down to Jess a few seconds later.
“Hmm, I might have another one in the spa. Mind waiting while I check?”
“No.” On the contrary, he was much more comfortable up here in a tree in the darkened woods than he’d been in the noise and commotion of the party. He leaned back against the trunk of the tree and watched her walk away.
She looked hauntingly beautiful tonight in that costume, with her face painted white, her eyes exaggerated with heavy makeup, and her lips a kissable pink. It took every ounce of his self-control not to haul her into his arms and kiss her until they’d both forgotten every stupid thing that stood in their way.
She disappeared into the crowd on the patio, and it was like someone had just turned out all the lights. She lit up the whole room, for him anyway. He had eyes only for Jess, and even if he couldn’t have her, he didn’t mind.
One minute stretched into five before he spotted her heading back into the woods, empty handed. “No luck?” he asked when she’d reached the tree where he sat.
She shook her head. “Looks like this one is out for the night.”
“’S okay,” he said as he swung out of the tree. “Don’t really need it.” On the contrary, it made this corner of the woods nice and dark, which suited him just fine as he stepped closer to Jess.
“Kind of goes with the mood of the party, I guess.” She stepped closer too.
All he had to do now was reach out and pull her into his arms, and he just couldn’t help himself. He wanted her, needed her, and the thought of her going into that MRI machine on Monday morning was driving him ten kinds of crazy. The thought of what they might find…
He slipped his hands around her waist, drawing her up against him. She felt so warm and vital in his arms. He didn’t even know what he was doing until his lips were on hers. With a soft moan, her hands went around his neck, and she was kissing him back.