It’s so fucking beautiful.
A few hours later, all the boxes have been unpacked and broken down, making my apartment feel more like home. I sit down with a much-needed glass of water and review my sales for the day. I’ve sold only one piece, which is fine, but I really want to keep up the momentum and stay ahead on my rent. I pull Ethan’s business card for Oddities and Eccentrics from my desk drawer and find his email. After sending him a link to my shop with a quick message, I browse Etsy for anything interesting.
A cool-looking long-nose plague mask pops up on my screen. I click on it. If only I could get Mastyx to wear it to hide his face when it’s not human-like. It certainly would make our encounters a little less terrifying.
It’s not that expensive. I really shouldn’t do any frivolous spending, but you know what? There’s a space between myheadboard and the wall where the mask would fit perfectly. I click ‘Buy Now’ and complete my purchase.
What the hell am I doing? Buying a gift for Mastyx wasn’t really something I’d ever expect myself to do, but it made sense to me in the three seconds it took my stupid brain to decide it was a good fucking idea.
My computer dings with an incoming email. I click on the icon and read the brief message from Ethan. He’s going to share my link and a few kind words with his email list and wants to know if he can send me a list of his subscribers.
Fuck yeah. This partnership will be golden. I attach the link to my people and send it back to him.
I stare at the date in the bottom right corner of my computer screen. The full moon is only four days away. It falls on a Monday of all days. My stomach tremors and my airway narrows, my anxiety trying to overwhelm me. I close my eyes, take a few deep breaths, and blow out a long-winded breath, fluttering the papers on the desk in front of me.
I’ve been racking my brain for several weeks, trying to figure out a way to make our encounters less frightening. Things didn’t go as planned the last time he came. Perhaps this time I can keep my insulting thoughts to myself. I stand, stretch my hands to the ceiling and enter the kitchen, the fridge rattling as I yank it open.
Nothing looks good, so I pull the bottom drawer of the freezer out and smile. My dad bought me Bomb Pops. They have always been my favorite. I peel off the wrapper and suck the tip of the red, white and blue popsicle. So juicy.
My computer pings right as I plant my ass down on the couch. It’s so hard not to look immediately whenever a sale comes in. It pings again seconds later, and I get up with a huff. When I wiggle the mouse, two emails are highlighted: one says I have a new sale, and one from Ethan says, “Did you see this?”
I click on his email and open the attachment. It’s a listing for an authentic ram’s head skull on Craigslist. The person only wants one hundred and fifty dollars for it.That’s worth way more, I think to myself. I grab my phone and call the number at once. The guy on the other end tells me he bought one, thought it was lost, and a free replacement was sent. Then the original showed up. He has no need for two, so he’s selling the extra. I talk him down to one twenty-five, and we agree to meet in an hour at the local Walmart.
My eyes light up as I end the call. Inside my head, I can already picture how the ram’s head will look when I’m done with it, and it’s going to be a masterpiece.
???
When I pull into the parking lot of Walmart, I spot the guy’s hunter green SUV right away. It has gold rims and tinted windows. I scan the parking lot for cameras, and when I find one, I pull beneath it and wave him over. I’m not taking any chances, not after what happened at the fairgrounds.
His SUV slows beside my hoopty, and he steps out, wearing black pants, a button-up long-sleeve black shirt, and nice dress shoes. He’s hot as fuck and not at all what I was expecting. His goatee is perfectly trimmed, and his eyes are light gray and kind. The scent of his woodsy cologne wafts into my nostrils as he opens the hatch of his vehicle and curls a lock of blonde hair around his ear. “So, what do you think?”
I blink several times, and my face flushes as I realize I’m staring. Oh my God, so embarrassing. My eyes dart around the lot, looking for a flame. If fucking Mastyx knows what I’m feeling or thinking right now, I’m as good as dead.
“You, okay?” he asks.
I pull the money from my purse and pass it to him. “It’s perfect.”
He slides the bills from between my fingers slowly, his eyes not leaving mine. “Hey, I’m going to meet a few friends at the bar down the road. Why don’t you follow me over so I can buy you a drink?” His eyes flit to my lips, and he licks his own. I feel like he’s already tasting me without touching me, and a twitch between my legs makes me giggle awkwardly.
Fuck. There’s nothing more I want right now than to follow this man to the bar and bang his ass in the bathroom, but I know it’s a death sentence. Fuck my life right now.
He slides his hands into his front pockets and tilts his head, his eyes drifting from my lips to my orbs. “Come on…just one?”
My mouth moves, but words don’t form. I break eye contact and stare at a paper straw wrapper sticking to the ground, the end of it fluttering slightly in the cool breeze. “I’m sorry. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
I feel his eyes scanning every inch of me like he’s undressing me inside his head, visualizing what I look like naked. A tingling sensation creeps up the back of my neck, raising my fine hairs.
“Boyfriend?” he asks, passing me the box with the ram’s skull and closing the hatch.
“Kind of.” I lie, keeping my eyes to the ground.
He spins his keys on his pointer finger before gripping them tight in his palm. “Maybe, another time then. You have my number.”
I lift my head and say, “Maybe,” with a sheepish smile.
He turns away from me, and I do the same, walking slowly to the driver’s side of my car. We exchange a last glance, smiling at each other, before he pulls away, leaving me standing in the lot, my loins starving for attention from a real man.
This fucking sucks. I climb inside the car, rest the ram skull beside me and turn the key. It clicks but doesn’t start. I try again, but get the same result. I try a third time. Nothing.
