I FREAKING love Halloween when I’m happy with my costume.

Even though Nate and I didn’t manage to order anything, I knew what I wanted to be when I woke up yesterday morning in his bed.

When I opened my eyes, Henry was sitting at the end of Nate’s bed, looking guilty. Nate was standing beside him in only his boxers, his arms folded across his muscular chest, scowling like an unimpressed parent.

“Say it.” Nate grunted.

Henry shuffled awkwardly, spinning his phone around in his hands. “I’m sorry, Anastasia.”

“What for?” I looked over to Nate, who was still giving angry dad vibes, which were low-key turning me on.

“I’m sorry if I made you feel embarrassed about your sexual endeavors and how you eat Kenny’s. Volume is relative, I suppose, and you’re much quieter than Kitt—”

“Okay, okay, shut up, you’re done,” Nate interrupted, pulling him from the bed and pushing him toward the door. “Get out.”

Out of the three of us, I was the most mortified, which made me want revenge on the overprotective man who did this.

Nate looked unbothered and climbed back into the bed, his colossal frame covering mine as he settled between my legs. I was still thinking about how annoyed I was with him when he started to roll himself against me and kiss my neck.

“How can you be thinking about sex when you’ve just embarrassed me in front of your best friend?”

His body stopped straight away, head moving so I could see his puzzled face. “First, I’m always thinking about sex with you, ow,” he whines. “Don’t pinch me. I’m sorry if you feel embarrassed, that wasn’t my intention. I didn’t like what he said to you. I want you to feel comfortable when you’re here.”

“I do feel comfortable when I’m here…Not right now. Right now, I want to hide forever.”

His grin went ear to ear. “That makes me happy, other than the hiding thing. I’m sorry you’re embarrassed, but he doesn’t get a free pass because he’s cute.”

“He is cute.” I nodded in agreement. “I love him, Nathan, like, it’s becoming a problem. I just wanna squish him. I don’t want him to think I got him in trouble.”

“He’s very lovable.” He kissed the tip of my nose gently, momentarily distracting me. “But if he doesn’t learn, he will upset someone one day properly. I worry about how he will get on when we’ve all graduated, so I have to teach him.”

“As much as I don’t like waking up to Henry’s guilty face, I like this sexy-but-caring dad thing you’ve got going on.”

“Don’t even joke, Anastasia.” His whole demeanor changed, and the grinding against me resumed instantly. “Because I will put a baby in you right now, and you’ll be stuck teaching bratty little skaters like Brady.”

“Get off,” I said playfully, pushing my hands against his chest, ignoring his groan. “I need to take my birth control.”

He laughed, climbing off me, sitting back on the heels of his feet, all six-foot-four inches of thick thighs and protruding muscles. I should be given an award for knowing how good Nathan looks without any clothes on and still managing to leave his bedroom. Having the motivation to push him off me was beyond difficult. Even my ovaries were screaming.

Sabrina is butt-ass naked in my room, rummaging through my closet when I walk in from my Saturday shift.

“Hey, hot stuff,” she chirps. “How was work?”

I throw my purse down on the floor and sit down at the end of my bed. “Good, thanks. Brinny, not that I don’t like seeing your peachy tush, but why are you naked in my room?”

“I’m stealing from your closet. I need something to wear tonight.”

The Honeypot is throwing a big Halloween party and, thanks to our favorite neighbor, we all have tickets to it.

Wanting their costumes to be a surprise, the guys have asked to meet us at the club, which works for me, because mine is a surprise too. I check the time on my phone and spot a message from JJ telling me he’s on his way. “JJ is dropping off my costume soon.”

“You should probably wait by the door,” she says, plucking an emerald-colored dress from the rack and holding it against her body. “If Aaron spots a hockey player turning up to this apartment, he might burn down the building.”

She isn’t wrong. “He isn’t here. I don’t know where he is. He isn’t answering my calls.”

Things with Aaron suck more than they’ve ever sucked. This far into our friendship, I’m used to his mood swings. He eventually snaps out of it, apologizes, and spends a few weeks making it up to me and Sabrina.

It’s been a week since he found out I hooked up with Nathan, and he’s still mad, but I can’t work out why for the life of me. Nate dropped me off at the rink yesterday morning, but Aaron showed up late and didn’t even talk to me. By our afternoon practice, when he realized that I wasn’t leaving with Nathan, he seemed to warm up a little.

I feel like screaming every time someone suggests that it’s because he’s in love with me, but they won’t be convinced despite my objections. When I say someone, I mean everyone on Nate’s hockey team, including Nate.

My theory is Aaron never learned to share, and this might only get worse.

FINDING our friends in a nightclub packed full of people should be impossible.

Well, it would be if when we looked out over the balcony, there wasn’t a cluster of yellow bodies where the private tables are.

JJ is the first to spot me and Brin making our way through the crowd. Judging by the overexcited look in his eyes, he’s more than ready for what’s about to happen. He hits the guy next to him, who hits the next guy until we have a dozen guys in minion onesies staring at us.

The last minion has his hood down, so I can see that it’s Bobby. He pats Nate on the shoulder, interrupting his conversation with Robbie.

Nate’s wearing dark trousers, a zip-up jacket, and a striped scarf around his neck. He grabs at Robbie’s chest, never taking his eyes off me. Robbie’s wearing a white lab coat, a yellow T-shirt, and thick-rimmed glasses, and by my astute, vodka-influenced powers of deduction, I’d say that these boys are the cast of Despicable Me.

Nathan’s eyes are glued to me as we cover the final few feet to the booth, stopping right outside the entrance. His eyes start at my feet, running up my black thigh-high boots. I know he’s reached the exposed section of skin by the way his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, and his tongue flicks out to wet his lips.

His eyes keep going beyond my thighs, past the hem of the Titans jersey and the belt, sinching it in at my waist, over my breasts until his eyes lock with mine. He blows out a breath, running his hand down his face.

It’s a fucking intimidating experience having all these guys staring at me, but it’s too late to back out now. JJ is still smiling wider than any of the other guys and begins to whoop over the sound of the music. “Give us a spin, Stassie!”

Dragging my hair over my shoulder, I slowly turn, pausing for two seconds when my back faces the team. It’s long enough for the laughter and cheering to start, and when I finish my spin, Nathan’s face is frozen.

His knuckles are white from gripping his glass tightly. He hasn’t said anything, so I don’t have confirmation, but I’d imagine it’s because he wasn’t expecting me to be JJ for Halloween.

“You were right, this is fun. He looks super mad,” Brin says gleefully, taking a step into the booth.

Just as I’m about to follow her, I hit a six-foot-four wall of muscle. “Come with me.”

I’m not sure I can classify what I’m doing as walking because my feet aren’t always touching the ground.

Nate is—very nicely—dragging me through the crowd, but he hasn’t said where we’re going. He hasn’t said anything. Even in his anger, his grip on my wrist is still tender, and he’s using his body as a human shield as he pushes through the sea of drunken Jokers and Playboy Bunnies, making it a lot easier to follow.

At least my costume is original.

Nate murmurs a “Thanks” in the direction of a scary-looking security guard as he takes us down a dark hallway. Stopping outside a black door, he nods in its direction. “In.”

Maybe this is where he murders me and I’ll be on true crime podcasts forever. I cross my arms, shaking my head. “Make me.”

“Your choice.”

I’m upside down over his shoulder before I’ve even had a chance to think about my final words. He walks through a door, then another door, before finally setting me back on my feet.

Looking around as he locks the door, I quickly realize we’re in a very fancy bathroom.

“Do you not like peeing alone? You could have just asked me nicely.” “Take it off, Anastasia.”

It’s hard not to smile like a Cheshire cat right now. I love getting under his skin; I understand why the guys do it because it’s so easy and so satisfying. “Take what off?”

Nathan stalks toward me and with every step he takes forward, I take one back until my back hits the wall. The excitement begins to build as I concentrate on his furious face and for some masochistic reason, there is nowhere more excited than the spot between my legs that’s freaking pulsing.

A hand settles on either side of my head and he leans down to my eye level. “Take off Jaiden’s jersey, or I will rip it from your body.”

“You seem angry, Nathan,” I tease, running my finger up and down his scarf. With his face an inch away from mine, I rub my nose against his, enjoying how his breathing slows when I whisper. “I think you need to find a way to channel your rage into something rewarding.”

“I’m so fucking angry with you,” he rasps, capturing my mouth with his. He picks me up, pressing me harshly into the wall, and if I wasn’t dripping wet before, I am now.

I don’t know what to concentrate on as his hands roam my body and his hips press into me. He’s finding this as hot as I am. He’s solid, straining against the zipper of his pants, and when I roll my hips, a groan rumbles in his throat.

I’m supposed to have the upper hand in this situation. I don’t, not even a little bit. I’m needy and desperate, whimpering when his teeth scrape across my hammering pulse.

“Last chance, baby. Which one of us is taking it off?” “But JJ is my favorite hockey pla—”

I don’t get to finish my sentence before he’s snapped the clasp of my belt, letting it fall to the floor. He pulls the jersey over my head with one swift movement, throwing it across the room away from us.

Every single inch of my body feels blistering; it’s suffocating, maddening. I’m not even drunk, but I feel intoxicated by him, his touch, his smell. It’s unbelievable; the man is dressed as Gru, for fuck’s sake, but I swear one touch, and I’m going to combust.

He looks down at my body and scoffs. The tiny Titans cheerleader outfit I’m wearing is now visible since he’s abruptly stripped me of outfit number one. He pinches my chin between his thumb and finger, tilting my head back. “How much do you like being able to walk straight?”

I tighten my legs around his waist, the anticipation near boiling point. “Never been a fan.”

“Good.”

The sounds that follow are a mixture of moaning and rustling, belt clanging and foil ripping until he’s protected and teasing me with the head of his dick.

I know what he’s doing; he wants me to beg him for it, but the jokes on him because I don’t beg for anything. “Let me put the jersey back on so you can look at JJ’s name while you fuc—”

I don’t get to finish my goading because he sticks the whole fucking thing in with one hard thrust, robbing every single slither of oxygen from my lungs when I gasp.

Nate’s fingers sink into my ass cheeks, using his grip to fuck me even harder, and all I can do is cling on for dear life.

Every thrust is as delicious and as punishing as the last. The sound of slapping skin echoes around us, and his teeth sink into my lip as he grunts and moans, driving me harder into the wall.

The orgasm comes out of nowhere and hits me like a freight train, but he doesn’t pause; he doesn’t even slow down.

He lets me cry into his chest and claw at his shoulders, and when I finally stop spasming, his arm hooks under one leg and navigates it up to his shoulder, then repeats on the other side.

He’s folded me, supporting my entire weight in his two hands. Where did this man come from? The only thing I can think of right now is, Thank

God I’m flexible, and he is strong.

“Such a tight little pussy, Anastasia. All for me.” He pants against my mouth. “You think you can get under my skin, mhmm? Do you think I don’t see the little game you’re playing? It’s my cock you come all over. Even when you wanna put another guy’s name on your back…It’s my name you fucking scream.”

Every word makes me grip him tighter, the angle, the frustration, the control, he’s destroying me. I’m bucking and wiggling against him. Every single cell in my body is wound tight and is ready for him to make me disintegrate.

I’m trying to hold off, not give him the satisfaction of thinking his little speech has any impact on me, but then he groans my name into my neck, and it’s so fucking erotic that my entire body betrays me.

I swear I’m seeing stars. My body tenses and melts and fucking bursts into flames because it feels so goddamn good, I don’t even know what I’m feeling.

His thrusts get sloppier, moans louder, and when his mouth crashes into mine, he slows, shuddering and cursing as he throbs inside of me, spilling into the condom.

His forehead falls to mine, and he releases my legs, lowering me back to my very, very wobbly feet. Our breathing is labored, his lips press to my forehead, and he inhales. “I like your cheerleader outfit.”

“Mhm.” It’s not even a response. It’s just a vague noise that sounds a bit like acknowledgment. He wasn’t joking when he asked about not being able to walk straight, but he didn’t say anything about not being able to formulate words.

Nathan’s arm is wrapped tightly around my waist, and when I look up at him, he’s got an annoyingly smug smirk on his face. When we reach the booth, Nate throws JJ’s jersey back at him, smacking him straight in his face. “I hope you like bag skating, you little shit.”

I smell like sex and I have sex hair, but I don’t have it in me to care. I tried to sort it out in the bathroom, but after a couple of minutes of trying to drag my fingers through it, I gave up.

The guys are shooting each other knowing looks when we reach for drinks glasses.

All but one.

“You should have been a minion like us,” Henry says, looking my outfit up and down, total disinterest on his face. “You’d be much comfier right now, and there would be no risk of us seeing your ass.”

He’s right and next year I’m wearing a minion onesie to the club. Nathan tugs me into his lap, pushing a drink into my hand, kissing my shoulder affectionately.

“Nobody is seeing your ass, Allen,” he whispers below my ear, making my entire body shiver. “I’m pretty sure there’s an indent of my hands on both cheeks.”

I see Brin walk into the booth out of the corner of my eye, and when I turn to face her, Aaron is right behind her, clutching his arm. Her eyes widen when she spots me and gives me a look that, after more than two years of friendship, I know says that shit is about to hit the fan.

I look at Aaron, giving him a welcoming smile, but he doesn’t return it. “Hey! I’m so glad you’re here. Are you okay?” My eyes flick back to the arm he’s clutching, and I feel physically sick when I realize it’s not a costume. “Aaron, what happened to your arm?”

His eyes narrow and he looks at me with so much hatred that I can’t breathe. “Ask your boyfriend, Anastasia.”