Chapter 8

Before Mike could answer,Eric muttered,“Damn it!Where are my teeth?”

Mike glanced at the console between the seats where Eric was rifling through napkins and fast food bags,obvious remnants ofa dinner eaten on the drive to pick her up,and Jenny felt the connection between them snap.“Didn’t you take them out to eat?”

“Yeah,but I can’t find them now!”Eric started balling up trash,cleaning out the console.Over his shoulder,he asked Jenny,“Where’s your Dumpster?”

“Over there.”Jenny stepped back to let Eric stand.“Did youlook in the bags first?”

With his hands full,Eric asked,“What?Why?Let me just toss these out and—”

“Let me see.”She grabbed one of the bags before he could object and squeezed,but didn’t feel anything other than napkins and plastic wrap inside.Quickly she grabbed another bag,working it over,trying to feel through it.

Eric sighed.“We’re going to be late—”

“Here.”Finding something,Jenny took the bag from him and opened it,reached inside,and extracted a pair of fake vampirefangs.They weren’t nearly as white as his natural teeth,and the red streaks on them really were ketchup this time.“Look familiar?”

From inside the car,Mike laughed.“Just for that,honey,you can sit up here with me.”

Jenny wiped the ketchup off on a napkin and told Eric,“Open wide.”

“That sounds so tempting,”he said with a grin,but he obeyed.She popped the teeth between his lips and he bit down onthem,the fake fangs not really making him look much more vampiric than he did before.“Have I told you how good you lookyet,by the way?”

He sounded like he was talking through a mouthful of marbles.But Jenny would take any complement she could get.With a swirl of her skirt,she flounced down into the passenger seat.“The cat thing was your idea,remember?”

Mike’s hand drifted from the gear shaft to her knee.“Good call.Me-ow!”

Jenny patted his hand with hers.“I think I’m going to like you.So,are we going to this party sometime tonight,or what?”

Leaning over her to look out at his lover,Mike grinned.“Yeah,Eric,or what?”

Eric hurried to toss away the fast food containers,then climbed into the back seat.“Don’t know why I have to be the one to sit back here,”he groused.

As Mike put the car into reverse,his hand brushed Jenny’s leg again.The touch sent a thrill through her,and she didn’t pull away.Glancing in the rearview mirror,Mike blew Eric a kiss.“Aw,babe,you like it in the back and you know it.”

Sitting forward,Eric leaned against Jenny’s seat and asked,“What was it we were talking about at lunch the other day?Something involving Mike…”

Jenny frowned.“Labor compliance?”Really?He wanted to talk about that now?How boring.

But over her shoulder,she saw the smirk on Eric’s face and knew he was teasing.“No,something else…what was it?Oh,yes.Threesomes.She asked if we’d ever done that.”

Jenny felt her face heat up.“I didn’t—”

“You did,”Eric insisted.

Mike laughed.“Done it?No.”

“I told her we could,”Eric said.

“Wait,was she asking?”Mike wanted to know.“Like just out of curiosity or because she wants in?”

“God.”Jenny hid her head in her hand,blushing furiously.“Are we there yet?I need a drink.”

With a laugh,Eric told her,“That’s what you get for stealing my seat.”

Jenny groaned.“You can sit up front on the way home,okay?Or hey,stop the car,we can switch now.Just please stop trying toembarrass me.”

“Trying?”Eric snickered.“I think I succeeded.Mike?”

Mike grinned as he looked over at her.“Oh yeah.She’s beet red.”

A stiff drink,Jenny corrected silently.One beer probably wouldn’t be enough.

****

Mike’s coworker lived out in the county,and even though they took the interstate,it still took a good half-hour to get to the party.The neighborhood was made up of large,acre-lots with houses set back off the road reached by narrow,gravel driveways winding through fenced-in farmland.The sun had set,and Mike had to turn on his high-beams to be able to see the house numbers,half-hidden by overgrowth and hanging branches.

“Don’t you guys come out here every year?”Jenny asked when Mike realized he’d missed his turn and had to circle back in someone’s driveway.

Eric squeezed her shoulder.“Yeah,and we miss the turnoff?Every year.”

“Damn asshole could put out a fucking sign or something,”Mike groused,the car throwing gravel as the tires spun seekingpurchase.

“Calm down,we’re almost there,”Eric told him.

Finally they took the right turn,and through the trees Jenny could see this was the right place.The house ahead was lit up through the trees,every window ablaze with light.The porch was obviously a popular hangout,and several people leaned on railings or sat on chairs or the porch swing,drinks and small plates of finger food in hand.Kids dressed in costumes chased each other around the cars parked any which way all across the front lawn.A few girls held fairy wands in their hands,the star-shaped tips winking with LED lights,while others held sparklers or glow sticks,trailing like firelights in the night.Mike slowed the car as he approached,and Jenny could hear pounding music from inside the house—not the spooky soundtrack she was expecting,or even the old standard“Monster Mash,”but rather a thumping dance floor backbeat straight out of any nightclub that had some feet tapping and heads bopping,and one couple jitterbugging in the driveway.

“Quite the scene,”she said as Mike found a spot to park.

Eric laughed,already clambering out of the car.“You have no idea!Come on!”

She let the two men lead her up the porch steps and into the house,where they were greeted at the door by a woman dressed asa zombie in a bridal gown.“Mike!You made it!”the woman shrieked.She was shorter than Jenny and had to stand on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around Mike’s shoulders for a fierce hug.When she was finished,she snagged Eric,reeled him in,and hugged him,too.Before Jenny could react,she also got a tight squeeze that almost took her breath away.In a loud voice that pierced Jenny’s eardrum,Zombie Bride cried,“So who’s Catwoman?”

“I’m Jenny,”she offered but it was lost in the noise of the crowd and the music and the party inside the house.