Hardwood - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,32
you. Mia is Danny, you should see how well she rocks the leather jacket and pompadour hairdo. And Jordy is Rizzo. It’s too bad I didn’t invite you until the last minute, you could’ve been Frenchie.”
“Ah, well, maybe next year we can do West Side Story. I call Maria if we do,” he suggests.
“Deal,” I agree. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yup.” He steps outside and turns around to lock his door before following me to my car.
The heavy clomp of his boots as he follows me is oddly arousing, and I so need to pull it together. It’s going to be a long night if I can’t get my dick under control. Okay, fine, just one more quick fantasy…Ev grabbing me and tugging me around to face him, pulling my body flush against all of those hard muscles and bare flesh, his nose brushing against mine as his eyes dart to my lipstick-painted mouth. The fantasy is so vivid, I swear I can smell the scent of his woodsy deodorant surrounding me, feel his heart beating against mine with our chests pressed together.
“Wats,” imaginary Ev murmurs in a low, hungry voice.
“Wats?” The jarring sound of real-life Ev yanks me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, got lost in my thoughts there for a second,” I apologize, unlocking the car and slipping inside.
While we drive to the bar, Ev tells me about him and Val taking Livi trick or treating earlier in the night and all about the last-minute costume drama they had when she nearly changed her mind yesterday about what she wanted to go as. I laugh as he talks about his daughter, my heart feeling a little mushy at the love in his voice.
I’ve always been a sucker for men who are good with kids, for obvious reasons. It’s starting to feel like a little bit of a cosmic joke that he checks off every last item on my perfect man list when I know I shouldn’t touch him.
If he’d dated literally anyone before, I might say fuck it and make a move, but I know where he’s at. Anything that happens won’t be anything more than the first step on his own road, not the foundation of a relationship. He should play the field, slut it up with as many men as he can manage, make up for lost time. Which is why I am not going to do anything stupid.
Jack’s is packed when we get there. I end up having to park in the parking lot next door because there are so many cars crammed in at the bar.
“Wow, this is crazy,” Ev says as we get out of the car and make our way over to the bar.
“Didn’t you know that Halloween is basically gay Christmas?” I joke. “This is the busiest night of the year at Jack’s.”
“The guys have invited me to Wooley’s for the Halloween thing almost every year, but I always told them Livi was too much of a handful, all hopped up on candy and everything.”
“You didn’t want to go?” I ask.
“I was afraid to want much of anything for a long time,” he admits. “I felt like I was just barely holding the floodgates closed, and if I cracked them open at all, everything would come gushing out.”
“Well, you know I don’t mind you gushing all over me,” I say, and then cringe as Ev laughs. “You know what, I’m just going to own that one. Don’t you hate it when people say, ‘no pun intended’? Intend your puns, you cowards.”
“That’s an odd thing to feel so strongly about, but I’m not going to argue.” We reach the door, and he holds it open to let me walk through.
“Best not to,” I agree.
We’re hit with a wall of noise and exposed flesh as we step inside, the music blaring as people dance and mingle everywhere. Every single year I wonder how the bar avoids getting shut down for violating the fire code, but as far as I know, there’s never been an issue. “The Monster Mash” plays loudly as we snake our way through the crowd. A gorgeous man dressed as a fireman winks at me as I slide past him.
“Nice hose,” I flirt with a grin.
“You can play with it if you want,” he says back, suggestively petting the large hose slung over his shoulder.
“Maybe later.”
I spare one last glance at his chiseled body before continuing on in search of my friends, Ev right behind me.
People jostle around us, and Everett