Chapter 9

Our mouths meshed in perfect flush synchronicity. My hands roamed his back. The material felt like silk beneath my fingers. I cupped his tiny ass in my hands. He moaned into my mouth. I relished the sound of it, of him.

Still, the relish was short-lived.

That is to say, another sound was drowning it out from somewhere off in the distance. I heard it loud and clear, though I knew it was quite a bit away, even farther away than I normally could hear.

“Huh,” I said, breaking the kiss, however reluctantly.

“Maybe I should’ve sewed a giant letter H into your costume instead of an F, Lucas.”

I shook my head. “I mean, huh, I’m hearing things I shouldn’t be hearing.”

He smiled so brightly that I wished the costume came with sunglasses. “It’s your mask,” he said. “Where it covers your ears, I put in miniature hearing aids. They amplify your already spectacular auditory abilities. Neat, right?”

I didn’t answer him. And I wasn’t smiling either. “Someone’s in trouble,” I said.