Chapter Seven

North

As I pull around to the back of the old hospital building that houses our spacious bachelor pad, I'm greeted by Eli and Harlen, who have both come out to help me unload my truck. I flash them a toothy smile and Harlen raises a brow suspiciously.

"Why the fuck are you so happy?"

I shrug. "It's a good day. I had breakfast with Lily, and get this, Tom tried to hit on her. But she wasn't interested in the slimeball, of course. Oh, and Mavis's old house needs some work."

Harlen smiles back. "So you have a crush on Lily?"

"What? No! She's just good company. It's nice to have someone other than your ugly faces to talk to."

Harlen clutches his chest in affront. "I am not ugly—you take that back."

Eli elbows Harlen and they both look at me. "What? I feel like I'm missing something. "

"Let's unload this wood before we tell you."

"Hmm, it wouldn't have anything to do with a certain handmade switchblade being left at Lily's house?" I say as I look at Eli.

I know it's his, but the better question is, why was he there? He never leaves the house, except when he is in the cemetery, and that is usually only at night. Plus, if Lily knew his name, she would have referred to him as Eli, not as a "friend."

Eli's eyes connect with mine, and he looks guilty. Harlen coughs quietly and interrupts our standoff. "Okay, maybe we should do this before we unload. Fine, long story short, Eli was taking part in the Halloween festivities and kind of chased Lily and fucked her in the cemetery."

My gaze locks back on Eli, and he swallows. "Why wouldn't you tell me? And why the fuck are you chasing girls and fucking them in the cemetery? It's illegal to take advantage of someone." Harlen laughs at that. "And I'm glad you think this is funny," I snap. "What if she goes to the sheriff? You want him to go to jail?"

"She consented, calm down. And the second time, it wasn't only Eli. Cute as a button Lily has a kink, which she told me all about at the diner after I was pissed at Asher and blurted out that I like things in my ass. I told her about our situation, and she told me hers."

"So, you what? Chase her and fuck her? How does she not know who you are? She met you."

"We wear Halloween masks. And we sort of promised her three next time, so you better get on board fast. We would hate to break a promise to a pretty girl."

I scratch my head. I'm down for a lot of things, but this sounds complicated. "She knows the sound of my voice, so it would never work."

"I talk," Eli says, and my jaw drops as I whip my head toward him.

"You talk to her? I feel like I'm in an alternate universe right now. Help me unload the truck so I can process this shit. She really fucked you both, not knowing who you were?"

Eli nods and Harlen can't wipe the shit-eating grin off his face. "She sure did, and she was dripping wet before we even got to that part. Eli did so well—he ate her out and she practically drowned him."

I must admit, knowing Eli talks to her and has fucked her has me curious. Eli doesn't leave the house to meet women, so he got stuck with us by default. Harlen and I usually go to Willow Grove if we need to be with a woman—it's easier than screwing a girl from our town. It's slim pickings around here, and she would expect to wake up with an engagement ring on her finger. I'm surprised a line of mothers with single sons haven't shown up at Lily's house yet with casseroles and tales of their "special" young men.

Despite that imagery making me bristle, it doesn't change the fact that lying to a woman to get her rocks off feels wrong. "What happens when she finds out it's you? Then what? We don't need that kind of heat on us."

Harlen scoffs. "The town has painted us as the bad guys, though they might tolerate you a little more because you are the nicer one. As for Lily, we can tell her eventually, or not. Either way, a few harmless fucks to show her that her kinks are not a bad thing, like her douche of an ex told her, will make her feel good about herself. If you don't believe us, come watch."

I mull over what he is saying for a minute; could she really want this? It's one thing to role play when you know who is behind the mask, but thinking it is a stranger, then finding out they are people you have met and interacted with, is another thing entirely. It feels like a lie.

"I'll come and watch, but—and a big but—if I feel like you're taking advantage of her, I plan on telling her."

"You know I would never take advantage of a woman," Harlen snaps defensively.

"I want to believe that, but it doesn't sound that way."

"Come watch and you will see," Eli says.

I nod once. While I want to believe them, when something sounds too good to be true, it normally is. Like the time Harlen was almost adopted by Agnes's parents with Asher, but on the day they came to pick him up, Eli clung to him. Harlen took Eli's face in his hands and planted a kiss on his lips, and they changed their minds.

Some things are too good to be true.

Harlen was devastated for weeks afterwards to not see Asher every day. At first Asher wanted to come back, but Harlen put on a brave face and told him he wanted to stay with Eli and me. From that day forwards, I swore I would make sure nothing bad ever happened to them. No matter what stupid pranks Harlen convinced Eli to take part in, I was right there watching their backs. And if I need to reveal their identities to Lily before this gets started in order to spare them, then I will.

Days pass, and I still can't get the situation with Lily out of my head. Even when I went back to fix her front stairs, the idea sparked in the back of my mind. How could a sweet girl like her be okay with this? Her kinks don't bother me—it's the stranger aspect. Does she not realize how dangerous what she's doing could be? I guess that plays into it, but what if instead of them she had encountered some perverts? I wouldn't put this past Tom Morgan; his ego would eat this shit up. How cute little Mary Wilkins ended up with him is beyond me—she was a straight-A student in high school with messy hair and one friend. If I remember correctly, Tom bullied her, calling her a nerd every chance he got and would even throw his trash at her.

Harlen lays his head in my lap, while he scrolls through Lily's social media. She's been posting updates on the house, along with her progress in removing Mavis's old things and bringing back to life the stuff she wants to keep.

"Should I go help her? It's hurting my soul to watch her fix that old set of drawers."

The door opens and Eli steps through, shaking his wet hair all over the carpet. We have renovated the entire second floor of the old hospital as our living space, while leaving downstairs still old and run-down. The reason we still do the haunted house every year, though none of us want to admit it, is it's nice the people in town need us for something.

"Where have you been?" Harlen asks him, barely looking up from his screen.

"Just thinking in the cemetery. But then Lily turned up in the rain and is sitting at her grandmother's grave."

That gets Harlen's attention.

"Don't even think about it," I warn.

"Why not?" he whines. "It's perfect. She knows she can say no, and we're not restricted to inside her house. Eli already feels terrible since she broke half her dinner plates throwing them at him last time."

I look over the lounge at Eli and he shrugs.

My curiosity has gotten the better of me. "Fine, but remember, I'm watching."

Harlen jumps from my lap and races down the hall. When he returns, he throws the masks at us. "Let's leave them turned off for a bit and make it known she is being watched first."

Eli nods, and I keep quiet, still skeptical she is okay with this.

All three of us walk toward the cemetery. The newer plots have access via a new road, but Mavis was buried beside her late husband, Frank. She once mentioned she bought the spot next to him knowing when she went, her place was ready and waiting beside him. It's romantic really, especially when you realize Frank died almost two decades ago. I never believed in love until I met that woman. Frank had passed before we met, but Mavis would show us her photo albums and the pure love in her eyes as she told us the stories about their life made me hope that maybe one day I could have that too. But it also cemented the fact that I wouldn't have it without my best friends by my side.

Sure enough, Lily is sitting with her legs crossed in the rain, staring at the two headstones. She doesn't look upset; if anything, she seems happy.

"Let's spread out and force her away from the town up toward the bluff," Harlen whispers, then moves, not waiting for an answer. Eli follows his lead as I stand here and watch.

The light rain sprinkling down is not enough to soak through my hoodie, but Lily has been out here a while, and her hair is now limp around her face. A twig snapping in the distance has her head jolting to the side, and she stares into the darkness. We don't do streetlights here in Maple Hollow unless it's the town square—that place is lit up like a damn Christmas tree all year round.

Her gaze settles back to the headstones in front of her after a few moments, but occasionally she looks up as if she is waiting.

When an owl hoots further in the darkness, she jumps to her feet and pulls her cardigan around her slight frame as she looks over her shoulder. The fear of being alone in a cemetery is kicking in—it's written all over her face. I stay hidden behind the large tree, watching her. She heads off toward town when Eli's mask illuminates the darkness and her footsteps falter.

He switches it off straight away, and then Harlen's comes to life.

"What are you waiting for?" she screams as she spins in a semicircle so both men can hear her well. Huh, so Harlen and Eli were not full of shit—she really wants this. With that realization, I switch my mask on, and her head whips toward me with a gasp.

"Don't get caught!" Eli yells, and she runs away from the town, deeper into the cemetery.

Tonight could be a lot more fun than I anticipated.