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“Hey, where’s the Jack-o’-lantern?” I asked when I spotted the display of tumbling gourds again.

Dan snorted but tried to hide it by coughing into his fist as Rafe cocked his head.

“Jack-o’-lantern?” the ghoul said warily.

“Yeah, the one in all the photos online. I noticed it was the same one because it looked a little weird… but familiar at the same time, now that I think about it? Like, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that specific one before…”

Rafe was slowly looking over at Dan with horror in his eyes.

“The Jack-off—sorry, Jack-o’-lantern is back at Rafe’s,” Dan told me, clearly trying to keep his voice solemn as he held back laughter. “It’s Rafe’s favourite. He’s very fond of it. Sometimes he even keeps it on his nightstand—”

“So we’ll, uh, we’ll… see you soon,” Rafe interrupted, face flushed, not looking me in the eye. “Thanks for… Thanks. Looking forward to—Yeah. Bye.”

“Okay,” I said cheerfully, beyond excited to speak to Nat. “Thanks so much again. I’m so excited. I can’t wait. See you soon, neighbours!”

“Bye, sugar,” Dan said, humour still in his voice as Rafe hissed something at him and shoved at his side.

I wasn’t sure what that was about, or why Rafe was so embarrassed that he had a favourite Halloween decoration—that was kind of cute, honestly—but I didn’t dwell on it for too long because I was so excited. They seemed like they’d be fun neighbours.

And maybe there was a single man living in one of these houses and we’d end up having a small-town romcom romance, where I’d see him mowing his lawn and he’d walk in on me getting out of the shower for some reason and fall in love with me, and then he’d be the one renting out his house to move in with me.

An incubus could only dream.

Chapter 15

Powerlifting Powwows and Pickleball

Brian

“Hey, Vince,” I said as casually as possible as I came to a stop beside him at the counter to make a protein shake.

It was an average Wednesday morning at work, a week or so after that night at Cratos with the beautiful incubus. Biff and Kenneth were in the practice ring, training for their match tomorrow night. Some of the others were working out, while Kit and Carl were playing a video game together on the couches.

Me, though? I’d spent the last fifteen minutes anxiously trying to figure out how to strike up a conversation with Vince without seeming weird or too obvious.

He glanced over and flashed me a wide grin, spooning brown sugar on top of his oatmeal. A lot of it. I was pretty sure Vince didn’t need sugar. He was always filled with the restless energy of someone who’d had too much of the stuff already.

“Hey, bud,” he replied, just as Crossbody slunk up behind him, slipping an arm around the ghoul’s waist and pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

It was still so, so weird to see the pair of them like that. After years of openly despising each other, snarking and bitching and almost even physically fighting once or twice, now they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

I didn’t understand people a lot of the time.

“Hello, Brian.” Crossbody flashed me a brief but dazzling smile.

I shot him a hesitant one back. Crossbody had never been outright unkind to me—just aloof, like he used to be with the rest of the wrestlers—but he still made me kind of nervous. He was all poised and regal and fancy. He’d probably look at me with disdain if he knew I competed in an underground bare-knuckle fighting ring.

Vince would likely find it cool, though.

Yet somehow, they seemed blissfully happy together despite being so different. Like I said, I just didn’t get people most of the time.

“So, um… you two up to anything before the shows start for the week?” I asked, scooping protein powder into a blender cup.

“I’m taking Crossbody out for pizza tonight.” Vince shoved a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth.

“Pizza?” I glanced between them. “Oh. Uh… nice.”

I hadn’t thought Crossbody would be interested in eating pizza. I would’ve assumed he’d only go to expensive restaurants.