Chapter 9: Unmasked
It always rains on Halloween. The children outside wore coats over their costumes as their bedraggled parents trudged from house to house with them. I used to be so frustrated when I had to destroy the illusion of being a princess or a cat or a clown by covering it up with the cold, pungent vinyl of a raincoat. But this year, I had other broken illusions to deal with. At least I had a vat of mini chocolate bars, tangy fruit candy, and licorice to console me. I debated locking the door and eating all of it myself instead of handing it out. The Nightmare before Christmas would probably be even better with a sugar rush.
But that wouldn't bring him back. Zack was gone, and I was the one who had sent him away. My heart beat sluggishly as I remembered the way he had looked at me when I told him he had to go. He was my former student, fresh out of high school, and our separation was inevitable. It was best. He is so young, and while it's true that at eighteen, he's only eight years younger than I am, those years are a huge space between us. I did the right thing when I told him to go to college in Arizona, where he'd always dreamed of going.
So why couldn't I stop thinking about the way his hair brushed over my skin like silk? Why did it seem like his scent was everywhere? And why did I crave the heat of his body in a way that put my chocolate addiction to shame? My skin flushed at the memory of him inside me, and a slow shiver uncurled through my body.
Childlike laughter erupted on my front porch, and I reluctantly heaved myself to my feet to answer the inevitable ring of the doorbell. I dropped a silver and gold cascade of chocolate into an orange jack-o-lantern pail without even looking at the child it belonged to. She giggled again, an uncanny sound that seemed to resonate through my house. I looked at her. I couldn't tell how old she was, but with her softly curling dark hair and lilac eyes, she perfectly fit the costume she had chosen: a flower fairy. The flowers in her hair were wilted from the rain except for the plastic ones, which were almost eerie in their pristine beauty.
She giggled again at the expression on my face and handed me a violet. "Thanks," I said.
She dropped her smiling demeanor and she beckoned me to lean in so she could whisper something to me. Her voice was silver in my ear. Before I could process what she said, she flashed an enigmatic smile at me and scampered away, leaving her words to echo through my head: "Don't thank me until you've gotten your trick."
I suddenly lost interest in handing out candy. That creepy little girl was just too unnerving. I locked the door firmly behind me and sank onto the couch.
That was when my television came on. The violet slide through my fingers and fell soundlessly to the floor as I stared at the screen. A young blonde cheerleader was sitting on her coach's lap as he exposed her shaved pussy to the camera. She squirmed against his hands as he murmured in her ear about what a naughty girl she was. I fumbled for the remote, assuming I had sat on it. Then I saw it on the coffee table in front of me. I blinked. Then I decided to be annoyed instead of afraid. Seriously? A blonde cheerleader and her coach? So cliché.
Impatiently, I reached for the remote and pushed the power button, knowing it wouldn't work but needing to try. To my relief, though, the scene vanished. And then it came back on. I tried to turn it off again, but the same thing happened. There was only one thing that could stop it, but I was afraid to try. What if I pulled the plug, and it didn't go off, or it came back on? My heart thudded in my chest as the girl on the screen slid to her knees and began sucking her coach's cock.
The combination of his thickness sliding between her lips and the gratified sounds he was making did absolutely nothing to slow my pulse rate down. I suddenly missed Zack with a desperation I never thought I would feel.
"Fuck, Chloe," the coach growled. "Fuck, that's good. Suck it, baby."
My thudding heart hammered to a stop, and it wasn't because of the riveting dialogue. Chloe is my name. So when the coach pulled his dick out of her mouth and bent her over the desk, my whole body tightened in anticipation.
The screen went dark.
I blinked as I stared in confusion at the black screen. Had I dreamed the whole bizarre thing? I tried to psychoanalyze myself, wondering if it represented my desire to be dominated. A luxurious ripple rolled across my nerves as I imagined Zack taking control. Maybe that's all it was. Of course, it was the kind of fantasy I shouldn't indulge in. He was gone. It was for the best.
I had almost convinced myself when a girlish giggle chimed through the air, seeming to originate just behind me. The giggle seemed to awaken a chorus of unintelligible whispers, whispers that were just loud enough to hear but soft enough to dismiss as imagination. I was petrified with fear, the kind of fear that convinces you that the only thing that will stop you from getting killed is your complete immobility. A kind of scuttling shuffle rustled across my floor, a sound that reminded me of claws.
My cell phone rang with a sudden ferocity that silenced the whisperings. I was so startled that I squealed. With a sense of dread, I picked the phone up to check who was calling. Relief flooded through me when I saw Zack's name.
"Zack?" I said into the phone. He hadn't called me since he left, so even though I was incredibly happy to hear from him, I was also confused.
He didn't answer. Instead, the same silvery laughter I'd been hearing all night trickled through the receiver. Something brushed across my skin as I shut the phone with slow horror. It was a violet petal. They began to fall on me like purple snow, carpeting the floor. I don't remember doing it, but I got up and ran into my room, slamming the door behind me.
And then I smelled Zack, the soft, warm masculine smell of sunshine. I swallowed and slid to the floor, my back resting against the door, suddenly missing him unbearably. I rested my head on my knees and just wanted him. It was a completely ridiculous thing to do, considering the fact that my television had been hijacked by a cheesy porno, there was a violet blizzard in my living room, and Zack's phone had apparently been confiscated by a creepy little elf girl, but it seemed like the only thing I could do.
Someone knocked on my bedroom door, hard enough to make the wood vibrate. I screamed, pushing harder against the door. The doorknob began twisting violently. Then laughter came again, accompanied by a few violet petals blowing under the door. "Open up," a singsong voice murmured. "We're waiting for you."
This was insane. Either I was hallucinating or there was a psychotic fairy in my living room. Hallucination or not, one thing was certain—I couldn't wait in here forever. So I opened the door. The first thing I saw was exactly what I expected. The little fairy trick-or-treater was standing in a small pool of petals in the middle of my living room. "What do you want?" I asked. My voice only trembled a little.
She giggled. It was the same laugh that had seemed completely psychotic just a moment ago. But something was wrong. She didn't look psychotic, I realized suddenly. She didn't even look ageless or mystical. She looked... Well, she looked like a regular kid.
The second thing I saw was Zack's leather jacket in my chair. My intuition understood what had happened before my mind could, and I heard myself growling, "Zackary Travis Lancaster, I am going to kill you."
The girl giggled for the millionth time. "You're in trouble now, Uncle Zack," she said.
Zack wandered into the room from the kitchen, looking completely nonplussed. His brown eyes were the picture of innocence. He tilted a bottle of Dr. Pepper up, keeping his eyes on me as he let his lids drop into a smoldering gaze. It had the desired effect, turning my insides to putty, but it did nothing to appease my anger. I wasn't sure of the exact mechanics, but he had scared the crap out of me. And now he was using my own soft drinks against me?
I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes. He sighed and put the drink down. "I'm sorry that we scared you, okay? We didn't mean it, did we Victoria?"
Victoria smiled angelically and shook her head.
"I was in charge of taking Victoria trick-or-treating while I was in town, and she wanted to pull a prank on someone. I knew you would be a good sport. We just got a little carried away. It will never happen again," he added, blinking innocently. And holy God, he was hot. Was it possible that he had gotten even hotter than he used to be?
Victoria gasped suddenly and ran to my collection of DVD's. "She has The Pirates of the Caribbean!! Can I watch it, please?? PLEASE ZACK??"
He raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I sighed. "Sure, sweetheart," I finally answered. "You can watch it. There's some candy, too. That was a very good trick, and you deserve another treat."
I had barely gotten the DVD into the DVD player when Zack pulled me into the kitchen. I opened my mouth to ask him what in the hell he thought he was doing, but he crushed his lips against mine before I could say anything. My body melted against his as his mouth moved urgently on mine, and my anger transformed into hunger. I succumbed to his kiss, and his soft hair twined around my fingers as I gave myself the luxury of touching it.
"Shit," he said breathlessly, breaking the kiss. "I missed that so much."
I traced the line of his cheekbone, savoring this moment. "Me, too," I admitted.
He brought his hands up to gently massage my breasts through my shirt, the slow heat of his palms igniting a fire inside me. My back arched and I pulled his head down for another kiss. The tension of fear he had raised in me earlier began to dissipate under his lips and hands. My body screamed for release as we lost ourselves in each other.
Victoria's clear voice came from the living room, slicing between us. "Where'd you go, Uncle Zack? You're missing the best parts!" The chatter of the television hummed in the background as Zack and I stared at each other.
"We're just getting some popcorn," he finally said, sliding his hands around my waist and under my shirt to caress the small of my back. "We'll be there in just a second."
I tried to look like I wanted him to stop. "We can't do this now," I said, ineffectively pushing against his arms. He didn't stop moving his hands over my skin. He dragged my earlobe into his mouth, which rendered me speechless. Before I could stop myself, I had tangled my hands in his hair again. He flicked his tongue against my earlobe, making my nerves dance giddily. "Zack," I gasped. "We have to stop."
He pulled me tighter against him, finally pressing me between him and the refrigerator. Then he released my earlobe and murmured into my ear, "I want you so much. I can't stop thinking about you."
Which would have ordinarily been pulse-quickening. But I couldn't help giggling internally. Something was poking into my hip—something that was plastic and rectangular. I took advantage of the opportunity to slide my hands under his shirt, feeling his skin gliding beneath my fingertips. A slow shiver went through his body. "I just have one question for you," I asked, my voice husky with the pleasure of touching him.
He moved his hands restlessly over my arms as he straightened to look into my eyes. "Yeah?"
I watched his eyes darken as I lowered my hands, tucking my thumbs into the waistband of his jeans. "Are you just happy to see me, or is that a remote control in your pocket?"
He blinked in confusion for a second, just long enough for me to grab it out of his front pocket and twist away from him with a playful smile. He grinned back at me. "Umm. I guess I should have let you know that your television isn't actually possessed. I just have a universal remote."
