Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Liam instantly regrets his kindness.
Has he seriously forgotten what Teague did to him today?
This isn’t an act of forgiveness. This is Liam being weak. He caved when he shouldn’t have. Didn’t he learn this lesson already?
A storm brews inside him. It’s a wicked storm. And within its clouds of pettiness and malice, a bad idea materializes. Suddenly, Liam can’t help himself and lets out the idea in the form of words: “But if you come, you should know that it’s a costume party.”
Gracie stares at Liam, stunned and confused.
“Costume party?” asks Teague, similarly surprised. “In July?”
“Yep. Right, Gracie?” he asks with a smile. She doesn’t answer. “It’s a fun Theatre thing Gracie throws together. Everyone likes to outdo each other, too, so, y’know … go all out. Be creative. Crazier the better.” Satisfied, Liam slips out from under Teague’s arm and gives Gracie a cheery wave. “See you tonight!” And off he goes.
9
Go All Out
Teague parks his truck by the curb, hops out, and saunters up to the front door of the squatty house at the end of the street. He tugs on his vest, fluffs up his fake chest hair, and gives his nuts a subtle adjustment in his tight shorts before finally ringing the doorbell.
Gracie answers. “Hey, Tea—! Uh …”
Her happy face collapses as her stunned eyes land on the pair of plastic goat horns protruding from his head, then drop to his chest, where a fake tuft of hair protrudes from a half-open suit vest, and finally down to the pair of skintight purple athletic shorts that leave literally nothing to the imagination. A hairy tail droops out of the back of them, matching the color of his fake chest hair, and he holds a plastic flute.
“Hey, Gracie! Where’s your costume?” he teases as he steps past her, coming inside. The front door opens immediately to the living room, where the others—Zeke, Deena, Bernie, and Liam—are hanging out around the couch.
All of their eyes fall on him. Whatever conversation they were in the middle of is stopped instantly.
“Yes, I know, I know,” says Teague, giving his flute a dramatic twirl in the air like a baton, then tapping it to his chest. “Y’all are stunned by my beauty. It’s not every day you’re in the presence of greatness. Take it in. Every inch.”
“Uh … yeah,” says Zeke in his deep voice, “we’re … taking in every inch … of your manhood, on full display in those tight-ass things. What the f—?”
“I just felt like being fancy.” Teague twirls his flute expertly between his fingers as he struts into the living room. He’s certain everyone’s eyes are still on his junk. He was counting on that. The vest cuts off at his waist, which pretty much leaves nothing to cover his cock or his ass cheeks.
But it isn’t Zeke’s gawping, Deena’s staring, nor Bernie’s awkward don’t-know-where-to-look-at expression that Teague was going for, showing up in costume like this.
It’s the look on Liam’s face right now as he stares straight at Teague’s eyes, as if defying the temptation to look anywhere else. It’s a look that seems equally amazed and annoyed at how cool Teague is acting, despite being fooled into thinking this was some big costume party.
Of course Teague was never fooled. He knew right away Liam was messing with him. The plan was always to play along, go all out on a costume, and earn the very look Liam is giving him right now. Mission accomplished.
It makes the trip to the dollar store after work worth it.
And hopefully makes up for earlier today.
“I can … see your balls, dude,” mutters Zeke in a mixture of repulsion and awe, unable to look away. Bernie is still trying to find anything else in the room to look at. “Like, both of them.”
Deena is perplexed. “What even are you?”
Teague is about to answer her when Liam cuts in with, “He’s a satyr,” in a tone that suggests he’s anything but impressed.
Liam’s quick identification of the costume surprises Teague, especially considering the makeshift, dollar-store nature of it.
His answer doesn’t help Deena. “And … what’s a … ‘satyr’ …?”
Liam gestures at Teague carelessly. “Flute, goat horns, furry chest. It’s the only thing he can be.” He appears thoughtful for a second. Then annoyed. Then thoughtful again. “Half goat and half human. They’re friends with nymphs. All of them are male and horny all the time.”
“What?” mutters Zeke, still staring at Teague’s balls.
Liam meets Teague’s eyes again, squinting with curiosity. “Or were you going for the specific god of Pan with this getup …?”
Now it’s Teague whose undivided attention is captured. It’s like Liam is in his mind right now, and no thought can be hidden.
He’d pay a pretty penny to learn how Liam’s feeling right now.
But before Teague can reply, Gracie returns to the room with a plate of cookies no one realized she was fetching. “Alright, I know this is the real reason y’all came over,” she sings in her dry voice, likely trying to distract everyone from the near-blinding sight of Teague’s balls as she sets the plate on the table in front of the couch. Zeke and Bernie instantly dive in. Deena still seems to be troubled by the logistics of a half-goat-half-human creature. “If you guys can take a break from ogling Teague’s costume, tell me what you think of my gingersnaps. I tried something different.”