“That was my first kiss,” I whisper to him.
He smiles. “I know.” His eyes dance around me, trying to read my body language. I wouldn’t even be able to translate it for him. “Did you like it?”
“Yes,” I say, my body heating up from truth. “A lot. I think…I think we should do it again sometime.”
“Definitely. But later,” he agrees. “When we’re not in a room with your brothers.”
My brothers.
Oh shit.
I forgot about them. In fact, I forgot all about the other six people in the kitchen. I glance past Garrison’s chest. Daisy and Ryke are lost in each other’s eyes, swaying to invisible, nonexistent music. Cake stuck in their hair and covering their arms.
Lily and Lo are MIA.
Connor and Rose have migrated to the couch, backs turned to us.
No one was watching us.
I’m not sure if that’s the real truth, but I’m going to the grave believing it.
october
36
garrison abbey
We’re huddled near the back of Connor Cobalt’s limo, my laptop propped open on the trunk. Water slowly trickles from a fountain in the yard. The Cobalt Estate is made for royalty. If their mansion could talk, it’d be calling all the other houses on the street “peasants.”
Cold bites my bare skin. My costume for this lovely Halloween: a red T-shirt, red slacks, and a red-horned headband.
I’m the devil.
All thanks to Loren Hale.
Halloween happens to land on his birthday. And yeah, I phrased it like that because after knowing the guy for this long, I don’t think the universe put his birthday on Halloween. It’s definitely the other way around.
As a present to Lo, we’ve all let him decide our costumes for the night.
Willow tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.
A circular gold wreath hovers over her head. Knee-length white dress and matching wings round out the outfit. An angel to my devil. I’m shocked. Not that Lo would choose something pure and perfect for Willow, but because he picked matching costumes for us.
It looks like we’re a couple.
We are.
But I didn’t think Loren Hale wanted to announce the fact to the world. Not like this. He still glares at me anytime I get within three inches of her lips. I get it. He’s overprotective of his sister, especially now that I’m dating her.
Willow and I are doing well, and that’s all that matters to me.
She glances at the opened laptop, an email server popped up next to a hacking software. But we haven’t been talking about that.
I’m stuck on news that recently came out. “I don’t get it. The artists and creators of The Fourth Degree must have smoked one too many joints. None of it makes sense. I shouldn’t have won.”
Willow moves closer to me to whisper, “You deserved to win. Your superhero was the best.” She says it like it’s so simple.
A while ago, Lily and Lo gave every Superheroes & Scones employee a chance to create a new superhero in The Fourth Degree universe.
The Fourth Degree is a wildly popular comic book series from Halway Comics. Vic Whistler (Extent) is the main character, but they’re diverging to new lines and opening up the entire world for more heroes, antiheroes, and villains.
The whole thing has been plaguing me ever since the winner was announced. I just…I don’t see how I won out of everyone who works there. People were making flow charts for this shit. It was a big deal.
If Lily was the judge, maybe I’d think she was taking pity on me, but no one in the store has ever talked to Belinda and Jackson Howell, the artists and creators of The Fourth Degree. It’s not like they could have played favorites.
Compared to the other employees, I shouldn’t have won. I barely read comics. Barely know the lore. I’m doing better than when I first showed up, but I’m not a walking encyclopedia like most of them.
My throat is dry. “I don’t know. Carter had a cool superhero.”
Willow’s face scrunches up. “His was basically a rip off of X-Men. And Maya was right when she called it a Walmart Pyro. You know, Maya even said if she had a vote, it would’ve been for Sorin-X. So it must be good. If you don’t believe anyone else, you have to believe her taste at least.”
Maya Ahn would have voted for my superhero…
Damn.
That hits me. Because Willow’s old roommate is the last person to feed you bullshit, and she probably has the most comics knowledge at Superheroes & Scones. More than anyone.
Sorin-X.
My creation is going to be an actual superhero. Or…more like an antihero. At least, that’s how I pitched him. He has teleportation powers linked to the proximity of the girl he loves. He can’t teleport more than four miles away from her. And he’s a recovering alcoholic.
Lo never gave me shit for it, since it’s kind of obvious I drew my inspiration from him. So that’s something.