Red Hot Night (Trick or Treat Collaboration)

“Give me two Haunted House shots, cousin,” Greg says, holding onto a petite woman close to his side. She looks too young to be here, and I wonder if she’s the one who came with my future wife. “ID, please.”

“Come on, Rett. Don’t be a dick. My woman came all this way to surprise me.” He’s supposed to be helping, but he’s about as useful as a piece of paper in the ocean. When I saw him walk in tonight, I was shocked because he said he wasn’t going to bartend. The fucker meant it. He’s had four drinks and hit on every single chick in this place since he arrived in his stupid Dracula costume. He copied me at the store, and I know why. We resemble each other to an extent, so if he gets in trouble, he can claim it was me.

“I came all this way because you’re a fucking lazy shit.”

“Fine, I’ll get them myself.”

I walk away and help two females who are smiling up at me with bubbly expressions on their faces. “Dracula, do you want a taste?” She pulls her top a little out of the way to try and entice me, but I don’t bite.

“No, thanks.” I intentionally pull off my fangs because I don’t want any more women hitting on me. Besides, for what I have planned for Lena, I don’t want to hurt my woman’s pussy. “What can I get you two ladies?”

“Um…two Haunted House shots and two Gummy Worm shots.”

“Okay. Coming up.” I turn around and grab the bottles, pouring them into glasses. “That’s twenty dollars.” One woman slides a twenty along the bar top with a phone number written on it. I slip it into the drawer without even looking at it twice and then walk down to the next customer. It’s a guy, thankfully. These women are either looking for free drinks or a quick hookup, but I’m not that kind of man.

“Smile—you’ll get more tips and maybe get laid,” the guy says.

“Not interested in anyone in this room. What can I do for you?”

“A Jack and Coke.” I make the drink and put the money in the drawer. I don’t need the tips, so if there are any, I leave them to the other two bartenders. The entire time I’m serving, my attention goes toward the back room, hoping she stayed put. For the next two hours I pour and ring up the guests until the next bartender comes in. She’s my cousin, and her outfit’s about as skimpy as my woman’s.

The crowd seems to be dying down after the contest. I didn’t participate in that because I’m not interested in it. The Freddy Krueger costume took first place. “Hey, I’ll be back to help close, but I have to do some paperwork.”

“Okay.” She winks, knowing damn well I don’t have paperwork to do. I shrug off her suspicions and take a soda over to the back door and enter the office. She’s still there. My sweet girl is sleeping on the sofa with her phone in her hand. It lights up, catching my notice, and I wonder if it’s her friend.

I snatch it up without waking her up and see a string of texts between her and someone named Merrick. I want to fucking kill the bastard. I read through them and want to break his neck.

Hey Lena, this is Merrick from Bio.

Hey Merrick. How did you get my number? Good. She didn’t give it to him. That eases some of the jealousy raging through me. I know I don’t have a right to get mad about the past, but I don’t like any of this.

Briana gave it to me. So what are you up to tonight? There goes feeling sorry for her.

I’m out at a party just outside of Peoria.

What the hell are you doing all the way out there? I release a low growl. None of his fucking business where she is.

I’m in one of those escape rooms. Fuck, she’s got a sense of humor.

Nice. I wish I was in there with you. I’d find every reason to stay inside close to you. And now my humor disappeared.

Oh please. Have a good night. See you in class. Good girl.

It would be a better night if I were with you. Suddenly thoughts of murder and how to get away with it cross my mind.

Don’t you have a girlfriend?

No. I’m single and waiting for you.

Sorry, I have a boyfriend. She better be talking about me.

Who?

You don’t know him. He doesn’t go to school with us.

Dump him. I’m sure he doesn’t know what to do with you. I sure as fuck know what to do with her. This guy really wants an ass-whooping.

Bye. Merrick.

Come on, Lena. The motherfucker doesn’t know when to quit.

I take the phone and walk back out of the room and through the back exit to the bar. I need some air before I decide to do something dumb like hunt this fucker down. My blood’s boiling. With every message between them, I get more and more jealous. I don’t understand how she’s doing this to me, but I’m losing my mind. I’ve never been possessive of any woman, and here I am committing crimes. Either way, I don’t give a fuck.