Secrets & Sin (Surrender to Them 3)

1

Brianna

“What about this one?” My best friend, Jackie, pulled a Halloween costume off the rack and turned towards me.

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes at what was supposed to be a sexy superhero costume. “I bet the men’s Thor costume doesn’t come with a bare midriff and hooker shorts.”

“Those movies might be a lot more interesting if it did!” Jackie giggled and put the costume back on the rack.

“Tell me about it. I love Chris Hemsworth as much as the next girl, but I’d like to see him put that hammer down and make some chick flicks.” I giggled alongside her and looked up at the wall of costumes.

“Maybe you should write one and see if you can get him to play the lead.” She picked up another costume and sighed. “I still can’t believe you’re moving to California next year.”

“The closest I’ll get to a screenplay is bringing coffee to the real writers. It’s just an internship at a company that writes television shows.” I shrugged and pointed at the wall. “What about that costume?”

“Which one, Brianna? The witch or the princess?” She followed the direction my hand was pointing.

“The princess, obviously. You can practically see the witch’s nipples!” I leaned up to pull the costume down.

Shopping for Halloween costumes with Jackie was an annual tradition. When we were kids, our parents used to bring us. After we were old enough to drive, we carried it on without them. There was a little bit of melancholy between us, because it was probably the last year we would get to spend Halloween in our small town of Bakersfield. Jackie had put off college for a couple of years and was trying to save money so she could finally go. I had almost completed two years at our local university and had a scholarship offer to transfer to a college in California. My dream was to one day write for a living, and when I got offered an internship on top of the scholarship, I took it as a sign.

“We should dress up as something sexy this year.” Jackie held up the princess costume and shook her head. “It’s our last Halloween together—let’s have fun.”

“So, you go as sexy girl Thor and I’ll go as sexy Princess Buttercup.” I took the costume from her and nodded.

“I’m pretty sure her costume showed more cleavage than that.” She giggled and shook her head. “No, I mean—really sexy.”

“You’re not talking about…” My eyes got wide as she pointed towards the back room of the store, where the adult costumes were hidden behind a curtain.

“Come on, let’s at least go peek.” She bit down on her lip and started walking towards the room.

“Jackie, wait!” I held up my hand to stop her, but she disappeared behind the curtain without looking back.

I put the princess costume back on the wall and groaned. Jackie and I had walked behind the curtain once when we were kids, and I remembered the costumes being very dirty. We saw things no young eyes should have ever seen, and got quite a scolding from our parents when they found out where we were. There was nothing behind that curtain I would ever try to leave the house in, even if I was old enough to buy one of them. When Jackie didn’t immediately reappear, I decided that I was going to have to at least go behind the curtain to retrieve her if we were going to find our actual costumes. I walked over and pushed the curtains apart, finding Jackie holding a leather outfit with a large black dildo hanging from the crotch.

“I could go as a dominatrix!” She batted her eyelashes and smiled.

“Oh my god, Jackie. Put that back—it’s vulgar!” My jaw fell open and I shook my head.

“What? If you’re a good girl and give me all of your candy I might use this dildo to pop your cherry.” She wrapped her hand around the enormous black dildo and shook it at me. “I’ll dress up as a dominatrix and you can be my candy slave.”

“You’re not my friend anymore.” I glared at her and grabbed the curtain. “Come on, let’s find something we can actually wear.”

“Fine, if you don’t want to be a good girl and give me all of your candy, you can be a bad girl and I can spank you.” Jackie put down the dominatrix costume and picked up a leather paddle.

“What is wrong with you today? Seriously, let’s go back to the regular costumes.” I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest.

“I’m sorry.” Jackie sighed and put the paddle back on the shelf. “It’s just… this is it, you know? It’s the last year we get to do this, and I want to have fun. I don’t want to spend our last Halloween together handing out candy at the church. I want to go to a party or something.”

“In order to go to a party, we have to get invited to a party.” I took a step closer and put my hand on her shoulder. “We’re still going to be friends. We might not have Halloween together but—hey, we could FaceTime each other next year while we shop.”

“Yeah.” She sighed and tried to force a smile. “I guess that would work. Okay, let’s go find something we can actually wear.”

My heart was aching just as bad as Jackie’s was, even if I didn’t wear my emotions on my sleeve like she did. I knew we were saying goodbye to our childhood. Halloween really was the last remnant of it that we had left. The days of slumber parties and staying up all night watching scary movies ended after high school. Between her job and my college classes, we really only got to see each other on the weekends as it was. Our friendship would last forever, but it was inevitable that we would become friends that only got to see each other on social media once I left Bakersfield.

“You know I’m going to miss you, right?” I tilted my head to the side. “I wish we were moving to California together like we always talked about.”

“Yeah.” She nodded with a solemn expression on her face. “I was going to be a movie star and you were going to write all my screenplays. Childish dreams, I know.”

“They weren’t childish.” I furrowed my brow and shook my head.

“Not for you, I guess.” She forced a faint smile.

I pulled back the curtain and looked over my shoulder at Jackie as I stepped through it. Before I took more than a couple of steps, I collided with something—no, someone. I turned my head and saw a pair of amazing steel blue eyes looking down at me in shock. The man was practically a giant with broad shoulders and a very wide chest. He had a chiseled jaw that looked like it could cut through steel and sandy blond hair hanging low enough to tuck behind his ears. He wasn’t just attractive, he was hot. Hot enough to give Chris Hemsworth a run for his

money if they were standing side-by-side.

“I’m sorry.” He took a step back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, that was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” I sheepishly blushed and looked down for a moment.

Those eyes—how in the world does anyone stare at them without melting?

“Hi, I’m Jackie—this is Brianna.” Jackie nudged me out of the way as she tried to introduce herself.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Shane.” A stupidly sexy smile spread across his lips. “Find any good costumes behind the curtain?”

Oh god, he’s going to think we’re freaks.

“No.” I shook my head quickly.

“I found a nice dominatrix costume, but Brianna didn’t want to go as my slave.” Jackie grinned and twisted on her toes.

“No, no I did not.” If Shane wasn’t staring right at us, I would have given her the angriest look I could muster.

“Dominatrix? Slave?” Shane’s smile got wider. “You two girls sound like a lot of fun.”

“No, she’s joking.” I turned my head towards Jackie. “Right?”

“There you are.” A voice echoed from the aisle behind Shane. “The stuff we need is on the other side of the store.”

I looked past Shane and saw another man approaching us. He was just as big as Shane, but his hair was a lot darker and his eyes were almost onyx colored. Those eyes immediately locked on mine once he saw me looking, and I felt mesmerized as he continued walking down the aisle. He walked with a purpose—and a slight scowl on his face, but it made him even hotter. He looked like the kind of man that would hurt you and make you like it. I finally looked away from him once he reached Shane’s side, but he didn’t take his eyes off me at all. If anything, his attention became even more focused.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friends?” The dark haired man twisted his lip into a half smile.

“This is Brianna and Jackie.” Shane motioned to us with his hand.

“A pleasure. I’m Dante.” His voice was rough and rugged to the point that every word sounded like a growl.

“Brianna and Jackie are trying to figure out which one of them is going to be the dominatrix for Halloween and which one is going to be slave.” Shane smirked and chuckled.

“Interesting.” Dante narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“No, we’re going to find something a lot tamer than that.” I shook my head back and forth.

“Yeah, like sexy cheerleaders or something.” Jackie grinned and bit down on her bottom lip.

No—definitely not that.