After hefting Raj off the ground, the two medics moved his limp body toward the nurse station near the fairgrounds. As they were able to use a golf cart, and Adam had to rely on his feet, it took him an extra ten minutes to get there. And so he stood outside the tent, nervously watching the people celebrating Halloween, uncertain of what to do.

  “Hey, aren’t you the Pumpkin King guy?” a younger man called out, then he mimicked having the huge pumpkin on his head.

  “That’s me.” Adam forced on a smile while doing his best to not panic.

  “Where’s your hat?”

  Probably trampled by hundreds of tourist feet. The Jaycees were going to drain him dry once they found out. We managed to keep that head for over ten years. You destroyed two of them in one month! Rabble, rabble, rabble.

  Adam glanced through the white canvas. There was no door, so he could just make out a privacy screen and a silhouette of people crowded around the bed. What if I killed him? What if he was so mad at me that he had a stroke right in front of me?

  He hadn’t even been sure his plan had worked. He’d been bracing for either an angry or ecstatic call from Raj for a week. But time kept passing. He was always busy, and nothing really changed.

  “I missed you. Help me, it sounds so trite to be this needy, but my world was empty without you. Just…be okay. Please. I don’t care if you hate me as long as you’re okay.”

  “Mr. Stein?”

  He jerked up, shocked to feel moisture lingering on his eyelashes. “Yes?” Adam blinked, and a dark-haired woman came into focus. It took a few more seconds before he recognized her as one of the nurses who’d helped with his dad in the end. “Sorry, hi, Poppy.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yep. I just, was worried about the guy who came in here. Is he…? That was a hard fall.”

  “I’m sorry, Adam, but that’s—”

  “I know, you can’t tell me anything. I was just hoping…”

  She smiled, then pulled on the gap in the privacy sheet. “Why don’t you go on in and say hi?”

  Just say hi. Like it was that easy. How could he be so stupid? Raj told him not to help. He knew better. Private people didn’t like others getting involved in their business.

  Adam took another peek through the curtain. The nurses had all left. With no one by his side, Raj looked as lonely as a polar bear on a floating iceberg. “Thanks,” he said to Poppy.

  “How’s your mom?”

  “Active in everyone’s business as always,” Adam said with a laugh.

  “Her mission always seemed to be to make everyone’s day brighter. I guess that’s where you get it from.”

  Do I? If anything, Adam was an instigator, a troublemaker, a man of mischief who couldn’t stop prying where he wasn’t wanted. He’s gonna be so mad at me.

  His steps were so heavy that he nearly dragged them on the ground. No ominous beeps or an intercom were cutting in with a threat of someone coding, but he still felt the same throat-clenching fear of a hospital. So help him, if Raj had hurt himself, he’d…he’d stew for days, then call him a name.

  At the curtain, Adam raised his fist and took a deep breath. What do I do now? Should I knock? There isn’t a door, so…

  In his most determined voice, Adam said, “Knock, knock.” Then he walked around the corner.

  Raj sat up. There weren’t any comical bandages around his head, though he held an ice pack to the back of his skull while wincing. His narrowed, pain-filled eyes drifted up to Adam.

  Panic set in. “I just… I wanted to stop by and see if you were okay. And you seem to be, so I should let you heal. Or do you need me to call your partner to pick you up? No. You can do that. It’s fine.” With that, he spun in place, ready to bolt.

  “Adam.” Raj grunted, and he swung his legs off the bed. “Wait.”

  “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be up? Should you be up?” Dear lord, he was acting more flustered than a newborn father.

  Raj clenched his jaw as he put his weight down, but he got to his feet without tumbling backward. “It’s fine.”

  “You passed out. You hit your head.”

  “I know. I was there.” He lifted the ice pack, then returned it to his head. It was hard to make out the goose egg under his thick hair, but the wince from Raj told him enough.

  “Do you need to go to a hospital?”

  “No. I’m good. Sore, but a few Advil will help.”

  “You passed out,” Adam repeated. “They need to figure out why, so it doesn’t happen again.”

  “I didn’t pass out.” Raj fiddled with the top of the ice pack, his breathing heavy. “I fell asleep.”

  “You fell asleep mid-berating me?” Adam scoffed. To his shock, Raj winced.

  “I knew I’d been working myself ragged to get the hotel working, the haunt running, the dance…dancing. I thought a few missed nights here and there were normal. I’d done it before. I could do it again.”

  Raj took a shuddering breath, and it took everything in Adam to not run over and take him in his arms. “The crunch is different when you’re sharing the stress of failure.”

  “I’m sorry,” Adam said.

  “No. I…I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Certainly not in the middle of the parade.” Raj pulled a face. “Your big moment.”

  “It’s fine. We have them all the time. It’s like Disney World but with literal instead of economic vampires.”

  Raj’s triumphant rise to his feet ended in him swaying, then buckling right back down to the cot. “I thought I could do this. On my own. Prove myself, make something of myself that a random exec in a C-suite couldn’t destroy with a slice of his pen.”

  “But you did,” Adam exclaimed.

  Raj swung his head up and stared at him. “We’re booked through March. We’re getting summer weddings out of nowhere. That’s not me. It’s you.”

  “No, it isn’t. Raj, all I did was show a couple of people your website. Mention the ballroom, talk about the haunt, your props.”

  “You’re telling me none of those people expect a fifty percent discount on costumes because they stayed at my hotel?” he damn near scoffed.

  “Okay, maybe ten percent, but only on masks and wigs. They have some of the highest markups.”

  Raj chuckled to Adam’s bewilderment. Uncertain where to go, and feeling more awkward the longer he stood, Adam perched on the cot near Raj but not close. “I didn’t even think it worked.” He’d spent days traveling not just across Anoka but down to the Twin Cities, using all the people he’d worked with over the years to gas the place up. Raj glanced over at him, and Adam shrugged. “You never texted to thank or yell at me.”

  “I was so busy…” he muttered, massaging his forehead.

  “I guess, maybe I hoped that if I took enough pressure off, you might…want to see me again. That if your hotel survived, you wouldn’t leave. If I got enough people to go and see how wonderful it was, I… Anoka wouldn’t lose you.” Adam gritted his teeth and turned to face the wall. “That was so fucking pathetic.”

  “Adam…”

  Warmth glanced across his fingers, but he couldn’t face the man touching him. Though he did curl his pinkie around the touch being offered. Those damn tears rose, and he started to shake.

  “It’s fine.” He swallowed, fairly certain he could keep himself from crumbling to ash until this was over. “You wanted casual. I don’t expect anything more. Just two guys touching…base whenever they get a second. Easy. Nothing more.”

  Raj clenched around Adam’s hand, holding it tight, but he still couldn’t face him.

  “Just because I missed you. Because I liked being around you, being with you beyond...fucking in the electric chair.” He was losing his battle fast. “I’m not foolish enough to expect you to feel the same. Or anything.”

  “Adam…”

  “I don’t even know where you live. Which is fine. It’s normal. And fine. So fine.”

  Cool fingertips glanced against his jaw. The hand started to pull him around. Rather than fight it, he tried to shake away the tears before Raj lost any lingering respect for him. As he pivoted to face the man guiding him, Adam nearly flopped onto the floor.

  Rivers rained down Raj’s cheeks. He’d pulled his lips into a rictus as if about to scream. Wrapping his fingers around the back of Adam’s head, Raj closed his eyes tightly. A moan slipped out, and he confessed, “I live in a trailer.”

  “In an RV? Is it at the park with the goose pond?”

  “No. Not in an RV. It’s a trailer for hauling around equipment, junk. I parked it at the back of the hotel behind some trees, and I live there. Every night I sleep on a freezing cot under every coat I own—which aren’t enough. My back aches. I get a few hours at best. I can’t feel my toes when I wake up. It’s horrible.”

  Adam slipped his arm around Raj’s shoulders as if to pat him on the back. His body jerked as Raj dove in, crushing his cheek to his chest. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They found water damage, so my down payment went to that. I thought to save some money with the temporary trailer. A week, at most. But money kept funneling down this black hole, and I didn’t know what to do.”

  “It’s okay. Everyone has their lows. You’re going to be all right.”

  “No. I’m not.” Raj yanked his head off of Adam’s chest. His eyes were red but laser-focused. “Because of my crippling fear of failure, I hurt you.” He cupped a hand to Adam’s cheek and began to plead. “I made you think you’re not special, or wonderful, or perfect.”

  Air gulped down Adam’s throat. He clung to the back of Raj’s hand. “Raj.” Shuddering, Adam slipped closer, his forehead resting against Raj’s. “I like you, and…” His lips warped, fighting against what was in his heart and the fear of it breaking. “I want you…to sleep in my bed.”

  “What?”

  “Every night. I need you there on my soft mattress under the warm blankets. Breakfast every morning and a free wash.”

  “Adam…”

  “It’s selfish, I know, but…” Adam drew his thumb over Raj’s cheeks. “I don’t want to wake up without you by my side.”

  Raj’s hand slipped off of Adam’s cheek and caressed down until curving over his chest above his heart. “I mean, if it’ll make you feel better.”

  “Oh, it will. I get scared all alone in that moderately-sized house.”

  “How can I say no?”

  They kissed together. No one led the dance. Two men moved in sync for the first time. Lips parting, tongues meeting, heat spiraled from one mouth to the other, both of their hearts casting promises they could barely understand.

  “Ahem.”

  Adam pulled back, guilt on his face as he whipped around and shot to his feet. His pumpkin head greeted him. As he stared past it, he found Poppy holding out the old gourd. “Someone turned this in to the lost and found,” she said.

  “Thank you. I did not need that tar and feathering.”

  “I think the smashing contest is about to start soon, and they’re looking for their emcee.”

  Right, his duties as king. Adam nodded his thanks and Poppy slipped away, but not before she cast a quick look at Raj. Adam tapped the head before remembering how fragile it was. “I should…”

  “Go on. Your subjects await.” Raj said with a laugh.

  “What about you?”

  “I think I’m going to take a much-needed nap here. Then, how about dinner?”

  Adam grinned madly. “There’s this diner I know that has the best blueberry pie.”

  “Isn’t pumpkin more in season?” Raj asked with a jerk of his head to the gourd in Adam’s hands.

  “Nah. It’s always blueberry.”

  “Okay?” Raj didn’t understand, but he leaned back onto the cot and stretched out. “I’ll see you later, my liege.”

  Adam slipped the pumpkin head on. He could only see a triangle of Raj, but it was enough. Lifting the head so he could take in Raj’s face, he placed his fingers to the jack o’lantern’s lips and tossed Raj a kiss. With that, he turned to face his public.

  “Oh, Adam. I know it’s late notice, but would you be my date to the masquerade ball?”

  With the goofy head bouncing off of his, Adam called out, “With all my heart.”

  ​CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  ​

  “TRICK-OR-TREAT!”

  Under the bright store lights, monsters shook their buckets and pillowcases for candy. Adam snickered to himself, then whistled. “Hey, kids. Over here.”

  One by one, the ninja fairies and zombie astronauts turned to find him sitting on a folding chair next to a mysterious treasure box. The whole street was lit up, Halloween here at last. Spooky music piped through the speakers hanging off the lampposts holding witches, bats, and moons. Best of all, it wasn’t the Monster Mash. Finally. Every shopkeeper from the soap emporium to the insurance agency was outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather to greet the kids.

  Despite the obvious man in a giant pumpkin head sitting by the door, most kids homed in on the door to his costume shop. Must be a Pavlovian response. Find door, ring bell, trick or treat.

  “Now, you’ve got to be real quiet about what I’m going to show you.” Adam started to crack open the old trunk he’d glued brass buckles to for that sea-faring look. The kids gathered around, eyes wide and mouths drooling. At the last second, Adam slammed it shut, and he spun the box away. “We don’t want anyone finding out about these.”

  Like an eccentric candy maker showing off his financially unstable chocolate waterfall, Adam brandished his haul. Golden light streamed out from LEDs stuck inside the top. The kids approached, their eyes wider than their mouths.

  “Is that…?”

  “Holy crap!”

  “Full bars!” the littlest vampire shouted, grabbing a six-inch Snickers. He didn’t put it in his pail, but extended it like he’d found the holy grail. The others were less reverent, hiding their bars at the bottom of their bags as if they feared a sibling or parent discovering them. A few intrepid thieves tried to sneak out a second, but Adam closed it up tight.

  “Sorry. I’m afraid the box is sealed shut for another year. Happy Halloween.”

  They didn’t let their failure to bamboozle him sting for long. A few kids gave him a wave and responded with, “Happy Halloween.”

  “Oh, and if your parents ask who had the best house for Halloween, you say…?”

  “The costume shop!” a couple of squirts called out as they dashed for the old lady handing out ribbon candy from the Great War.

  “Close enough,” Adam said to himself.

  He turned around to lower onto the chair, and the metal bit against him. If he were smart, he’d have brought a cushion.

  It’d been a madhouse earlier. It always was. Churches and schools bussed in their younger kids before the sun set. Then the older ones would trudge down Main Street looking for whatever remained. He’d nearly broken into the third backup box.

  A flicker caught Adam’s eye. One of the shops turned off its light. Another followed across the way. One by one, Halloween was coming to an end in this part of town. Adam cracked open his treasure chest and fished out a payday.

  Filling his mouth with nuts, he watched the smoke twirling above the pumpkins as a cleansing and eerie quiet fell over the street. Without cars whizzing past or children screeching for sugar, it was easy to forget how lonely this life could be. The Monster Mash faded, and a clock bong carried across the speakers.

  Already?

  Adam tugged back his sleeve to find it was eight o’clock. The children’s time was over. Now to let the adults get their mischief on.

  With the folding chair tucked under his arm, and the treasure box in the other, Adam returned to his store. He flicked off the light so any stragglers would pass on by, then paused.

  He’d had every intention to attend the masquerade in his usual suit and Halloween King get-up. It was what he wore every year to encourage people to vote for him. Everyone loves an incumbent.

  But as he walked the aisles of his own store, it hit him how many pieces he had that weren’t just acceptable, they were good. Adam trailed his fingers through silken hair, feathered collars, and leather straps.

  He could spend the night doing what he always did—hobnobbing with people who had connections and getting in a dance or two alone. But this year was different. He wasn’t alone, for one.

  Adam pulled off the pumpkin head. Its welcoming grin and black empty eyes stared at him.

  He thought he needed this, to be welcomed, to be safe. Maybe…maybe tonight needed something different, something special.

  Light caught on a pair of silver rings, and Adam smiled.

  Something…naughty.

  ​

  He’s coming.

  Okay, not like that. He better not be. Unless he’s pregaming, then… Damn it, why am I picturing him stroking himself while in his full suit?

  The fact that he has the pumpkin head on means I’m doomed, right? Glad I know.

  Raj knew he should be focused on the ball. It’d been a madhouse for the last twelve hours to get everything working and close enough to ready. Even with his skull pounding in the back of his head, that full night of sleep did him wonders. He flew through what’d been a struggle for weeks.

  It might have also been that lanky man lying beside him in bed, casually tugging on Raj’s cock while he whispered everything he had planned tonight in his ear. They were gonna need a lot more lube and maybe a pull-up bar.

  The DJ booth screeched, and a spotlight swung to the door. “What what!” some kid in a rat costume shouted from above him. “Look who’s in the house!”

  Everyone paused, turning to take in the newest entry. This had to be him. Raj adjusted his shirt, the ruffled blouse left open down to his navel to show off as much of his chest hair as he could. The cummerbund constricted his midsection, but the red and white striped pants hugged his ass. He’d finished his dangerous and erotic man of the seven seas outfit with a domino mask, a sword at his side, and the requisite pirate hat. It wasn’t anything game-changing, but he hoped Adam would like it.

  Raj stuck his chin out, then he rested his hand nonchalantly on his sword, waiting for his pumpkin prince to come.

 

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