Page 133 of Trick or Tease

“Gross!” Billy made a face like he’d bitten into something rotten. “Shit, Garrett. You should have let me think it was ghosts. That’s so much better than knowing my brother was⁠—”

“Dude, like I don’t hear you and Lucy all the fucking time. Why do you think we had to go up there? She lives with her parents and I live with you. I’m long past hooking up in my bedroom with roommates listening in.”

He grinned. “Good point. But a little weird, man.”

“Moving on,” I interrupted quickly, desperate to change the subject. “The only spooky thing I’ve actually noticed is this black cat that keeps showing up whenever things are about to go wrong. It’s been freaking me out.”

Billy started laughing, nearly spitting out his beer.

“I’m not kidding, man,” I said, getting irritated. “This cat has appeared before every major disaster in my life recently. Right before Ron showed up, before that whole mess with the contract. I’m starting to think I’m cursed or something.”

“Dude,” Billy said, still chuckling, “there are like thirty black cats living behind the barn. They’re everywhere. Mom’s been feeding strays for years, and they just keep multiplying. I doubt it’s even the same cat.”

I stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. We’ve got a whole colony back there. Mom has been trying to trap them and take them to get fixed and release them, but you know how she is about animals. She fixes them and they go find their friends and bring them back for the free meals. She’s got all kinds of little cat huts back there so they stay warm in the winter.”

I thought back to all my supposed supernatural encounters. “Are you sure I’m not cursed? Because I swear I saw one back in the city too, right before everything started falling apart.”

Billy shrugged, his grin widening. “Well, I don’t know about that. Maybe you’re cursed. Or maybe there are just black cats all over the place and you never noticed before.”

“Come to think of it,” I said slowly, “that cat in the parking garage might have been dark gray.”

“There you go. Mystery solved. You’re not cursed, just paranoid.”

I shook my head, feeling both relieved and slightly stupid. Leave it to my little brother to completely deflate my supernatural concerns with basic logic.

Lucy’s family was having a great time. They were a big part of the community. The coming marriage between Lucy and Billy was about as much of a surprise as Christmas coming on December 25th. Granny Mae had set up a dessert table that looked like something out of a magazine, and the high school kids we hired for the Halloween festival were helping serve drinks and keep things organized.

I spotted Sabrina in the kitchen, talking animatedly with Lucy’s mother about something that had them both laughing. She was wearing a deep green dress that hugged her curves in all the right places, and her hair was pulled back in some kind of elegant twist that made me want to mess it up with my hands.

“Go dance with your girlfriend,” Billy said, nudging me with his elbow. “She looks incredible tonight.”

“She looks incredible every night,” I said, but I was already moving toward her.

I approached just as Mrs. Beaumont was saying something about wedding plans, and I caught the tail end of Sabrina’s response.

“Well, we’re not quite there yet, but who knows what the future holds?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said, slipping my arm around Sabrina’s waist. “Mind if I steal her for a dance?”

Mrs. Beaumont beamed at us. “Of course! You two make such a lovely couple.”

I led Sabrina toward the makeshift dance floor set up in the backyard under a tent with big heaters in the corners to keep people from freezing. Several other couples were already swaying to the music from the speakers we’d strung up in the trees.

“Having fun?” I asked, pulling her into my arms as a slow song started playing.

“The best,” she said, settling against my chest like she belonged there. “Your brother looks so happy. They both do.”

I looked over at Billy and Lucy, who were in their own little world despite being surrounded by dozens of people. Billy was whispering something in Lucy’s ear that made her giggle and blush, and the look of pure adoration on both their faces made my chest tight with emotion.

“They deserve this,” I said. “After everything that almost happened, seeing them get their happy ending, it’s everything.”

“What about us?” Sabrina asked quietly, tilting her head back to look at me. “What’s our ending going to be?”

I spun her slowly, buying myself a moment to think about how to answer that. We had been taking things day by day since the night I’d groveled in the corn maze, rebuilding trust and learning how to be partners in every sense of the word. But lately, I had been thinking about forever more and more often.

“I don’t know about endings,” I said finally, “but I know what I want our beginning to look like.”