count evaluated."
"Bruised balls," Sam murmured. "Urologist."
"A pillow for his sack," Patrick repeated.
Will looked up at me. "Only your family."
I nodded. "I know."
"Now what about that due date?" Nick asked.
I tried to respond, but I couldn't get the words out. Something was squeezing my shoulder, and there were sounds in my ear, but I didn't understand them.
"Shannon," I heard. "Peanut. Wake up."
Blinking in the darkness, I realized sheets were tangled around my legs, sweat covered my chest, and Will was leaning over me.
"Shannon, honey, you're making me nervous. What's wrong?"
I sat up and reached for the bottle of water beside the bed. After guzzling half the bottle, I turned back to Will. "I had this dream, I think. Riley got hurt at a the Mount Vernon property...there was an ambulance...you were yelling at a security guard...I puked on a sidewalk...and Riley bruised his balls, and he needed a pillow to elevate his nuts, and....and everyone kept asking me when Froggie was due. Everyone was asking, over and over."
Will nodded and pulled he against his chest. "Everything is going to be fine, Peanut. Even Riley's balls."
10
The Costume Party: An Alex and Riley Halloween Bonus Chapter
Alexandra
"This might not be a good idea," I murmured to myself, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
This leather bodysuit, it was unforgiving. And I didn't mind that, not really, but I couldn't find a stance that didn't involve propping my hands on my hips. No pockets, no layers, nothing. Just me and the leather.
And the bullwhip.
"This might not be a good idea," I repeated.
I frowned at my makeup bag. This costume wasn't going to be complete without a proper cat's eye. I could manage a great many things requiring a steady hand, but eyeliner wasn't one of them. I always came out looking like one of Macbeth's witches after a long night at a cauldron.
But this was the plan. I was decked out as Catwoman—complete with the kitten ear headband—and my Batman was due in any minute. Since agreeing to attend this event, we'd had several spirited discussions of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. Their complicated love/hate relationship. The conflict between the original comics—where Catwoman was more supervillain than anything—and recent films that painted her as a salty antiheroine, forever compelled to do the right things for the wrong reasons.
Maybe it wasn't the perfect fit for us, the Selina to his Bruce, but I wasn't worrying on that tonight. The specifics of it all—how my edges fit his curves—were business best left for another day. I didn't know when that day would arrive, but I knew we didn't have to decide anything right now.
I was tucking the headband into place when the front door buzzer sounded. I clicked the lock, and then opened my apartment door, knowing Riley would make his way upstairs and inside. That boy didn't require special invitations. Actually, he was probably due for a key of his own.
I returned to the bathroom, not convinced I'd perfected my cat's-eye or hair. Leaning over the sink, I studied the thick, dark lines on my eyelid. I couldn't tell whether I needed more or less.
"I gotta tell you," I heard from the other room, "I've gotten a lot of strange looks tonight. As if it's not Hallo-fucking-ween and everyone isn't out in costumes." There was some mumbling and stomping. "Where are you hiding, Honeybee?"
"Bathroom," I called. "Come tell me if I look like a witch."
"A witch?" he repeated. "You're not supposed to be a witch. I didn't sign up for witch. I signed up for sexy cat. Why the fuck are you a witch?"
Riley rounded the corner into my bedroom and stopped at the attached bathroom door. And there he was, in all his Batman glory. His hands were on his hips, his fingertips tapping impatiently and his waist looking impossibly lean. It made me think about wrapping my legs around that waist, curling into it in the night, pinching it, tickling it, licking it, biting it.
"Oh, Honeybee," he said on a groan. "This might not be a good idea."
"I know, I know," I replied gesturing to the mirror. "I have no restraint. I just can't stop with the eyeliner. I was trying to even it out, but I think I made it worse. I just keep adding a little more to both sides, but soon enough, my eyelids will be entirely black. It's like I was shooting for Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle but ended up with Amy Winehouse as herself."
He shook his head once,