She smiles, and plucks Milky from the ground, slipping it back onto the shelf. “For a second I thought my were-bunny had a vacuum kink.”
I follow her back to the living room, and Chelsey doesn’t point out that we’ve been gone for twenty minutes, and I love her for that.
The next time I have the urge to shift is when I kiss her goodnight. This time I embrace it, and run through the fields gorging myself on carrots, dreaming of gorging myself on her.
Soon. Easter is coming, and soon Esther Basquette will be mine.
7
I’ve gained eleven pounds in the last two days. Eleven. Do you know how many carrots I have to eat to gain eleven pounds? A lot. A basket load, I think, is the actual number.
“Are you sure?” Esther asks, standing in the doorframe in her gauzy white nightgown. Her blonde waves lift with the gentle breeze, and she tugs the silken strands away from her face, smiling.
“I have to, Esther. I won’t be able to leave you alone if I don’t.” Tugging, I try and force my plaid work shirt closed, but it’s getting too small.
She giggles watching me, and she loved when my jeans tore down the thigh when I struggled to put them on this morning. Her thigh peeks out of her nightgown, tempting me, making my nose twitch and my ears burn. I reach down and fill my fist full of baby carrots from the ground, and shove them in my mouth, dirt and all. That’s how gone I am for Esther.
She waves me off. “Go, go before you, you know,” she teases, cheeks turning pink.
I still told her I’d help, so despite needing to hop through the fields and gorge on carrots so that my cock doesn’t have quite as much drive for her, I am still going to set up all the banners and streamers downtown. I’m also marking trees and buildings for the scavenger hunt. The job will only take an hour, but in the state I'm in, I’ll have to make it take half a day, otherwise I’ll be shifted on her sister’s cottage steps, hopping on my hind legs to get in.
The last three days I’ve been setting up chairs for the big Easter brunch, only stopping for breaks to hop through the woods and snack when I think of her too much. Despite living in Carrot Creek for my whole life, only in the last few days have I felt at risk for being caught, for the town to discover I’m not just a hot handyman.
When I think of finally getting to mate Esther, my cottontail threatens to pop out of my ass, and that’s when I hop off and take a break, gorging on carrots, berries and anything else I can find.
Strolling through the street, saying hello to neighbors as I go, I’m stopped in my tracks when Mayor Goodall steps into the street, right in front of me. Peering around him, I try to see where he came from, but he bobs his head in front of my line of sight.
“Hello, Mr. Easter,” he greets, deadpan.
“Mayor Goodall,” I greet, dipping my head as I sink my thumbs beneath the strap of my toolbelt. I have no respect for a man who chooses for his reelection campaign to be on the same day that this town’s beloved Easter celebration takes place. He also just sucks. Last year I saw him take the last chocolate egg from a little girl’s basket and eat it, only to discover it was marzipan filled and then he just threw it away.
Wasting chocolate is a sin in Carrot Creek. It should be a sin everywhere.
“Do you know how you earned that nickname?” he asks, eyeing me head to toe.
I meet his gaze, my eyes narrowed as I force myself to look him up and down. “I don’t know, how?” I ask, not wanting to make a single thing easier for this Easter-hating monster.
“Because the town is calling your little girlfriend Mrs. Easter, and since you proudly stood by her side and railed against my reelection campaign, you’re now Mr. Easter.”
I shrug, and shove a hand through my hair, looking past him to the streamers I hung earlier, deciding on where the balloon arch will go. “She is my girlfriend, you’re right about that, and we do love Easter, so I think those nicknames are apt.” I pat the top of his shoulder and smile, loving the snarl curling his lips. “Thank you, I think they’re great.”
“I didn’t mean for them to be great!” he shouts at my back as I walk away, headed toward the station where all the balloons are bagged, waiting to be tied and strung up. “I might have to call off the Eggstravaganza,” he tosses at my back, using the only words that would possibly stop me in my tracks.
Turning, I find an evil smile on his face, his fingers playing at the curled edge of his moustache. “Rumor has it, there’s an overgrown wild bunny on the loose, tearing through the community garden, eating all of our vegetables.”
My nose twitches, but I fight having a reaction, giving myself away. “Is that right?”
He nods. “That’s right. If I hear of one more sighting, I’ll have to cancel the Eggstravaganza, you know, for the safety of the kids.”
I cock an eyebrow. “And who has reported seeing this highly dangerous monster bunny?” I’m not dangerous, and I’m not a monster, and I’ve been so careful. Who saw me and who blew it all out of proportion?
He mimes zipping his lips. “Can’t possibly betray confidences,” he says, smirking.
“But if the Eggstravaganza’s cancelled, you’d still have your reelection campaign, I’m guessing.”
He drags his hands about his belt, tugging his trousers up. “Well, of course. After all, children wouldn’t be in attendance.” A woman with a shopping bag full of groceries passes by, wiggling her fingers at me.
“Hi, Jack,” she coos, smiling as the apples of her cheeks flood with red. She cuts her glance to Mayor Goodall. “Oh, hello Mr. Goodall.”
