by Samantha Bee
He affectionately pats my head. Anyone else would probably get their hand bitten off for such a condescending move but with Joe, it just feels comforting. “He’s trying to protect both his girls, don’t be too harsh with him.” I roll my eyes. He’s always so damn levelheaded and logical. I only appreciate it when it works in my favor not when it goes against what I want to do.
We stand in silence as we watch the kids as Peter Pan plays in front of them. Roe finally got over her Frozen obsession only to move on to Tangled. Which I have to admit I actually enjoyed even more than Frozen. Now we alternate between all three movies.
After a few minutes of silence, he asks, “How about after Halloween? You guys should spend her first holiday all together?” Oh shit. Halloween was in a week and I hadn’t even considered what we were going to do or a costume for her. Fuck. I’m already a shit mom.
I nod but before we can talk anymore, Callum’s head pops up from the pile and looks at us, “Halloween?” All four little heads turn our way with a million questions in their eyes.
I freeze. I freeze like a damn deer in headlights. I can feel my eyes widening as panic threatens to overtake me. Can we still get costumes? Do we take Roe trick or treating? Should we have a party? What other Halloween shit do kids like? Is four old enough for carving pumpkins? Scary movies are probably out, right?
Joe must notice my stricken expression because he takes over the conversation. “What are you boys going to be for Halloween?”
Kai, Cal, and Trevor trade looks, before Kai looks at Roe, “What are you going to be?” She looks at me and I can see the confusion clearly written all over her face. “Mommy, what’s Halloween?”
Oh god. I really am a terrible, awful, truly atrocious mother. How could I have not realized that she never would have had a proper holiday? Before I can even form a response, the boys are already filling her in. Not once putting her down for her lack of knowledge but instead drawing her into their excitement with every rushed explanation of the holiday.
I can see absorbing all the information they’re throwing at her in a way only five-year-olds could manage. She looks to me for confirmation, “So we dress up,” she hesitates, almost like she can’t believe it’s real, “and get candy?”
I nod, “That’s basically Halloween in a nutshell.” The conversation has drawn the attention of all the others, and everyone has migrated over to us.
“What do you want to be, Roe baby?” I ask her. Her whole face lights up as she gasps, “I get to choose?”
I lean over into the ring they’ve been hanging out in and pull her into my arms. I look her right in her pretty turquoise eyes, “Of course you can choose. You can always have a choice.”
She beams, “Wendy.” It comes out as more of a wistful sigh than anything else. I grin, I should have guessed.
Kai pops up, “Daddy, I want to be Peter Pan!”
Roe scoffs, “Mommy is Peter Pan!”
“Uh, what now?” I stutter before I can think better of it. I can’t recall the last time I dressed up for Halloween, I didn’t realize I was going to have to be a part of this. I search the faces around me for a sign of help, but all these fuckers just look vastly amused.
She points to herself, “Wendy,” then points to me, “Peter Pan!”
She’s so damn excited and we all know there is now way I’m going to be able to say no to her cute face. She’s too excited about this for me to not cave. I smile, “You got it, sweet girl.” We are going to be in trouble when she realizes I can’t say no to her.
Behind her Kai looks crestfallen that he isn’t going to be matching with her. “How about you boys go as The Lost Boys?” I offer, hoping to bring back their earlier energy. The three of them weigh my offer for a moment.
“The Lost Boys do have a set of twins,” Ian points out to his boys and all three of them are instantly on board with the idea.
I can’t help but laugh at the happiness radiating from all the kids. I put Rowan down and she instantly runs back to the boys to make more plans. A buzz is moving through my own body and for the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to a holiday.
“Wait,” Trevor gasps and we all stop to focus on him. “We need a Tinker Bell and a Captain Hook or it’s no good.”
Roe ponders this for a moment before looking back over her shoulder. She points at Luca, “Hook,” then swings her finger to Kade, “Tink,” and focuses back on the boys. Well damn. Girl is a boss little brat these days.
I look between the two guys’ perplexed faces and the amusement grows within everyone else because just like I couldn’t say no to her, neither will they. I start cackling trying to picture Kade as Tinker Bell. This is going to be legendary.
Not wanting to leave anyone out, the kids all decide what everyone is going to dress up as and not a single adult turns them down, not even Ty or Jade. Even Noah and Britt get assigned costumes and they aren't even here. Children are dictators. Anyone who tells you otherwise is in denial.
Luca agrees to host a Halloween party at our house and I’m not quite sure who’s costume I am most looking forward to. I wipe tears from my eyes and I’m not the only one struggling to get ahold of myself after the kids announced their list. Charlene diligently took notes and assured all of us, she would prepare our costumes for us.
I’m not sure if I should be relieved or terrified at the offer.
The holiday gets here faster than I could have expected. Charlene, like the amazing woman she is, has taken care of every small detail. She took care of things that I never would have even considered.
Luca’s house is all decked out in Halloween decor everywhere you look. Frames with changing photos line every surface. From one angle they look like portraits but as they move, they change to ghosts, skeletons, or faces contorted in pain. Cobwebs and fake spiders are in every corner. The kitchen looks like a witch’s dream setup, with potions and cauldrons everywhere. I don't even understand how she was able to pull off such a spectacular display in such a short amount of time.
She has spent all morning in the kitchen cooking and baking all sorts of Halloween themed snacks and treats. Cinnamon roll pull apart brains, pudding cup graveyards, shrunken head apple cider, spider pizza, finger sausages. I swear she’s thought of everything. The kids are going to lose their minds. The adults just might too.
I lean back against the counter as I watch her and eat one of the baked apples she didn’t use for the cider. “I want to be you when I grow up,” I tease as she bustles around Luca’s kitchen.
“You are grown up, Scarlett,” she titters. I smile at the use of my full name. She is probably the only person in the world to actually call me that. It feels weird from anyone else but with her, it feels almost motherly.
Just then Kade walks into the room and scoffs, “No, she’s not.”
I can’t really be offended because I just so happen to agree with him. I am however pissed when he steals my shrunken head for himself, all without ever looking up from his phone. He tosses the rest of the apple into his mouth before going back to typing on his phone.
I jab my elbow into his stomach in retaliation and I smirk when he grunts. “Fucking asshole.” He rolls his eyes but doesn’t even bother to respond, continuing to type on his phone. Charlene places a headstone brownie in my hand before I can use it to punch Kade again.
I nod in thanks before taking an angry bite while I continue to glower at Kade. Not that he can be fucked to notice. What the hell is so interesting on his phone? I let my curiosity get the better of me and can’t stop myself from asking, “What are you doing?”
“Research,” he answers cryptically. I roll my eyes. He’s been saying that more and more often lately and he’s always just reading some new book.
I peak over to see what he’s typing but only catch the first few words, “Hey Rah Rah…” before he moves the phone out of my line of view. I narrow my eyes at him, “How is Facebook research and what the fuck is a Rah Rah?”
“It’s
a Facebook group and they give the best recommendations,” he answers somewhat defensively.
I start to question him more but Luca walks into the room, his bad mood visibly hanging around him like a cloud of smoke as fire burns in his eyes. “What happened now?”
He looks up and seems almost surprised to me. I can tell he’s about to deflect from giving me a real answer, but I cut him off before he gets the chance, “Don’t even think about lying to me.”
He sighs, “Romano approached Adam offering money and protection as payment for information regarding us and the business.”
My brows reside somewhere in the middle of my forehead now as I take that in. Well shit. Never thought Romano would really have the balls to go quite that far but apparently, he’s getting desperate. Kade finally lowers his phone as his own expression mirrors my own. “What did he say?” he asks.
Luca sighs, “Gave a vague generic agreement and immediately came to me.”
“Do we trust him?” I can’t help but ask. I want to say yes because if he were going to go against us, he could have spied without us ever knowing. However, this could always be a move to gain our trust since he’s not privy to anything important.
Luca looks between the two of us as if in thought, “I think enough that we use him to give Romano false intel but not enough to bring him all the way on board.”
“That’s fair,” I agree. We can’t ever be too careful, and I think we’ve already brought enough people on recently. I don’t think I can start over the training. It tires me out too much. “I think we should go on the offensive with Romano now.”
I’ve brought it up countless times in the last couple of months. We are sitting on a mountain of intel right now that could majorly cripple Romano, but Luca insists on waiting to use it against him. Rowan will be moving in with Joe and Charlene tomorrow so his number one reason against it will be longer be applicable but somehow, I know he’s still not going to make the move.
His head snaps in my direction and I wince, already knowing what’s coming. “We’ve already talked about this and you know my answer.”
I roll my eyes and start to answer but he cuts me off, “I’m done talking about this, Scar.” His tone is demanding and final, leaving no room for arguments. Except, I don’t listen to anyone and that is not how this shit works and he should know that. If anything, it just makes me want to push back harder.
“Use that tone of voice with me again,” I threaten, my voice low and deadly, “and I’ll do this shit myself.”
“No, you fucking won’t,” he growls as he pushes me back up against the counter.
Instead of backing down like he obviously wants, I step more into his body and look up at his eyes, “Keep pushing, Bossman. You won’t doubt me for long,” I promise. Holding his eyes to make sure he sees just how serious I am about this. I don’t need them to do this part, not with all the evidence I have. He can take that tone with everyone else for all I care. But not me. I don’t fuck with that.
We stand there, toe to toe with our eyes locked, neither one of us wanting to be the first one to back down. Kade moves to get in between us and break it up before we start breaking things but is saved from having to when we hear Rowan waking up down the hall.
I shoulder chuck Luca as I walk out of the kitchen towards her, still silently fuming over his attitude about everything with Romano.
Roe’s eager face as she’s still clearing the drowsiness from her eyes shakes off the last of my foul mood, at least for now. She yawns, “Is it time to get ready yet?”
It’s still a little early but hey. Why not? It’s not like her costume will impede her from doing anything. I can use the distraction from Luca’s dickish attitude anyways. So, I smile, “We can get dressed, sweet girl.”
She squeals as she climbs out of bed and we pull out the costume Charlene bought for her. We slip the light blue dress over her head before going into my bathroom and I start on her hair. I curl it into tight ringlets before fastening it into a half up half down style, tied back with a large blue bow to top it off. She runs off and grabs her light blue, sparkly ballet flats. She puts them on and does a happy spin in the mirror.
She beams and giggles as she twirls, letting the dress fly up around her. I grab my phone and start taking a video to remember this moment of pure happiness that we were able to give her. “Mommy’s turn!” she exclaims as she turns back to me.
I grin and start putting on my own costume, green tights, a black tank top, with a homemade vest made up of different shades of green leaves. A brown belt gets tied around my waist and Charlene even added a spot to add a sword. She even managed to find the perfect brown shoes to complete the look. We debated about the do with my hair but in the end just decided that this Peter Pan can have a messy man bun and call it a day.
I can’t wait to see everyone else dressed up.
The two of us finish up and wander out of my room to see how everyone else’s costumes are coming along. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard as when I see the guys.
Ryder is dressed as Michael Darling, wearing a black top hat, glasses and a long sleep shirt that isn’t nearly long enough. He smirks at me and poses as I try to catch my breath. My eyes lock on Noah’s and I immediately lose it once again. I’m not sure when he managed to sneak in but, here he is as the youngest Darling brother, in a pink onesie, complete with a teddy bear in his hands.
They would be adorable if they were children but as adults, they honestly look ridiculous. Charlene really took no prisoners with her costume designations and I am living for it.
Luca walks into the room just as I manage to get my laughter under control. Damn. He actually kind of looks hot, the asshole. The long black hair and pirate hat are really working for him. I don’t even so much mind the hook on his hand. Luca as a pirate is a fucking look.
“Wish we’d gotten that reaction,” Noah mutters to Ryder.
Before I can retort Kade walks into the room and I’m once again speechless. It’s so absurd I can’t even laugh. He’s wearing pale green tights, his long blonde hair is pulled up into a bun on top of his head, but the real show stopping piece is the dress. It mimics Tinker Bell’s dress in the animation so perfectly it’s almost admirable that Kade could pull it off. He’s even wearing the green slippers with the poof balls on the toes.
He saunters into the room with as much arrogance as if he were wearing a three-piece suit instead of a tight green dress. He walks straight to me and uses his hand to gently nudge my mouth closed, “Like what you see, Ladybug?”
My eyes trace over his face and the shock starts to fade as the laughter bubbles over, “Are you wearing makeup?”
He grins, “Had to look the part.” There’s glitter in his hair and on his eyelids. He even has blush and highlighter on. Charlene must have helped him; it’s actually done surprisingly well.
I have to wipe tears from my eyes after I finally get the laughter out of my system. Rowan is ecstatic with how everyone looks and is bouncing around the room as she waits for everyone else to show up.
Ian and Holden bring their boys over early and all five of them are decked out in their costumes as well. Holden matches Luca, dressed as another pirate while Ian is dressed as the Chief. The boys steal the show though in their animal onesies like the cartoon Lost Boys. The twins wear matching gray ones while Trevor wears a brown bunny one.
Everyone else trickles in and each one who walks through the door decked out in a costume makes all of the kids’ smiles grow even wider. Every single person they assigned a costume put their all into it. I look around and feel an immense sense of gratitude for all the people here.
Even for something as silly as a party, they all put a hundred percent effort into showing up and making it perfect because the kids asked for it. I wonder if they realize what spoiled little shits they really are.
My gaze lingers on everyone as they eat and drink and talk. Jade is dressed as Tiger Lily. Even Britt came and was designated to be a me
rmaid. They both look stunning and I see that I’m not the only one to notice. I see a few sets of eyes lingering on the pair of them as they chat together. I smirk to myself and decide when I have the free time to play more matchmaker.
Mikey and Ronan had me howling when I answered the door for them earlier. Mikey came dressed as Nana, the big St Bernard dog while Ronan is dressed as a Crocodile. Tyler also made me cackle in his too small white and blue striped top. He doesn’t quite pull off Smee, he’s a little too hot for the fumbling pirate of the movie but it gave all of us a good laugh. Joe and Charlene dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Darling and look quite dashing. They pull off the classic look well.
I sigh as a pair of arms wrap around my waist. Noah presses a sweet kiss against the side of my neck. “I’m glad you were able to be here,” I whisper.
He squeezes me just a little bit tighter, “Nowhere else I would rather be.”
I tilt my head back to lean on him as we just enjoy watching everyone having a good time. After a few moments of silence, I whisper my fear to him. His calm presence gives me the courage to put words to the feelings that have been swirling through me all day and have only increased in the presence of everyone’s happiness. “I feel like this is going to be our last moment of happiness for a while.”
“Then we should probably enjoy it,” he whispers back before dragging me down the hall into a spare room that has turned into Noah’s when he stays the night. He quickly shuts the door behind us and pushes me up against the wall, his lips seeking mine out in the dark as his fingers pinch around my nipple through my shirt.
I let out a low moan and he chuckles, “You’re going to have to be quiet. Can you do that, baby girl?” I nod, not wanting him to stop touching me. He laughs again and I know he doesn’t believe me. To be fair, I do tend to be pretty loud.
He pushes me away from the door and bends me over the armchair. I lean over it and rest my face on a pillow as Noah quickly pulls my pants and underwear down, not even bothering to fully take them off.
He gets on his knees behind me and sinks his teeth into the fleshy part of my ass. I let out a breathy moan and he pulls away, “That’s not quiet, Scar,” he scolds. I bite my lip to refrain from responding back. He massages the place he just bit before praising, “That’s better.”
