Page 29 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Chapter Sixteen

ALTA

“What the hell am I looking at right now?” Mateo asked as he peeked at my sisters and I through the cracks of his fingers.

“You sound like Ox,” Ceci laughed. “Where is he by the way? I told everyone to be here.”

“I’m here,” Ox’s voice chimed in. Coming around he waved something half-heartedly. A camera. “Amá asked me to take pictures of your costumes—um, where the hell are the rest of your clothes?”

“See , Mateo? That is what you sound like. And nobody wants to sound like that,” Ceci poked.

Turning to Ox with her hands on her hips, she shook her head like he was but a helpless older brother who would never understand.

“We’re angels and demons, Ox. The important part isn’t the clothes, it’s the horns. Or lack thereof.”

“That doesn’t make them unnecessary,” he grumbled, eyes glued to his wife as he frowned. “It’s not even accurate.”

Considering the fact that us girls barely had more than a few pairs of patent leather booty shorts, and matching skintight corset tops between us—I had to admit, he wasn’t wrong.

Ceci dressed us, of course, and naturally she’d made herself and Melissa the angels dressed in white and blue and Clementine and I as demons in black and red. She thought it would be ironic.

“You’re smart, Ox, but you really never know when to shut up.

” Ceci flipped her hair as she turned away from him and faced the rest of us.

“Everyone, ignore Captain Buzzkill and look alive. We’re not fighting anymore.

You all made Al yell yesterday. You should be ashamed.

We’re family and we’re going to be here for her like she’s always there for us… right ?”

For a group of supportive parties they sure did look miserable, the only ones who even seemed excited to be here were Ceci and Clem.

Melissa was too busy pulling on her white latex booty shorts uncomfortably to be paying anyone any mind.

And Ox was too busy staring at his wife to even blink in another direction.

“Al?” Everyone had shifted their stares to me. “What should we do?”

Awareness of the time smacked me right in the face and I realized I still had things to do. My eyes zipped to my watch and I squeaked. “Darn! I have to go!”

Puzzled looks followed me as my eyes tracked along the party.

My attention fell on them as my palms slapped together.

“Alright. So all the businesses from there to there are participating parties. Everyone should be open for another hour at least, but the party in the middle over there has all the attractions and will be going on all night. Walk around, pick pumpkins, and drink cider. It should be fun and later on there will be a costume contest. ”

Spinning like a dog chasing its tail, I searched for my bag. Clementine handed it over to me as well as a digital camera of my own. I slung both across my shoulders and plunged my hand deep into the bag.

“These tickets will get you all the goodies. The white ones are for food, the black ones are for drinks, and the orange ones will get you something special from whatever store you like. I have no idea what it is, everybody got to choose their own. Don’t tell anyone I gave you those, they’re our highest dollar tickets,” I said.

“I’ll be around the middle later on, once I close all my vendors down and make sure they’re good to go. Sound good?”

“What are you doing now?” Mateo asked. Mátti was a business investor and sometimes worked with me on media campaigns, so he probably knew what I needed to accomplish tonight.

Which meant he was asking for the benefit of the others.

Even though it was obvious to me he did things to push the attention off of him, I was grateful for the help regardless.

I held up the camera. “I’ve gotta take shots and get social media up.

Then do a final check of all the stores.

Then I’ll be able to come find you guys.

” I sighed preemptively at the mere thought of being able to take a breath for the first time in weeks.

“Paulo sent some really good stuff for the bar down there Mátti. You should try it. Oh and Clem, my new medicinal shop has a tea wall. You build your own blends. They should be open for a while. Oh and samples! Samples should be everywhere . If you make it down there and you don’t see samples please, please let me know, I’ll need to fix that. And?—”

“Okay, let’s get you out of here before you pop another vessel, yeah?” Ceci's hands clapped down onto my shoulders and spun me around. “Hurry and finish up, Al. You should enjoy your party too. Clem and I are going exploring.”

A pointed grumble came from the direction of my older brother as he gave his wife puppy eyes. She smiled warmly at him and reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’ll look around a bit together too. I want a photo with you holding a Jack o’ lantern.”

He smiled at her and it was still the strangest thing.

For a short moment my annoyance with him slipped, and I felt happiness that he’d found his person.

And at the same time I couldn’t help the foreign slide of butterflies as I thought of a certain person who’d been making me smile more than frown lately.

“Oh my god, the press ons!” I slapped my hand to my forehead, suddenly remembering the little press on tattoos we made for Ink and Mar’s party sample. I’d never gotten around to checking if they set them out since Ceci showed up to help get us ready.

People would be finishing up their shopping soon and if all went to plan they would congregate in the center where food and drink and music and many, many product samples all floated around them. But to do that, I needed those samples. “I gotta go!”

“Wait,” Ox said. “Amá’s picture. Everyone get in.”

We all squished together to get into the frame of the shot. We took a few more, some with the girls, some attacking Mátti and some of Ox and Clem to Ox’s dismay.

And just like that, things were back to normal. But looking at the wide eyes of my siblings finally taking a step to understanding me better, I had to wonder, were they really?

The next time I decided to throw an event with a million working components, I was going to need someone to slap some sense into me. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic! Everything was going off without a hitch. But I was also exhausted.

After I left my siblings to their own devices, I proceeded to spend the next hour and some running around from door to door checking in with all my clients, snapping “fun-yet-original” photos for twenty plus social media accounts, and refreshing all the samples out on the floor of the actual party taking place in the center of the shopping street courtyard.

The sun was already set by the time I made it back to the center. I wasn’t able to see it in action myself, but someone told me the view was a perfect orange stretching across the horizon. I could only imagine how fitting it was for the night.

Now, as I slowed on the outskirts of the party, I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips.

The orange glow of the jack o’ lantern string lights along the trees were enough for me, especially when I could see all the people underneath them comparing samples from my clients, buying drink tickets, and tossing back wine.

This was way better than I thought it would be.

There was even dancing in front of the DJ's station like this was some kind of club.

I mean we had to be gone by eleven and cleaned up before midnight, but for right now with goblins and ghouls and sexy nurses and maids just hanging out having a good time, it was pretty dang cool.

I did it.

I wouldn’t know the results of the financial impact for about a week or two yet, but the pride and relief that washed over me for achieving this all on my own was exhilarating.

“Boo!”

I screamed, jumping out of my skin at the sudden intrusion. “Jesus, Ceci. You scared the bejesus out of me.”

“Please don’t tell me you actually use ‘bejesus’ in normal conversation,” she groaned.

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” Turning, my eyes filled with the sight of all my sisters with happy glows on their faces. I smiled. “But can I keep saying it?”

She simply rolled her eyes and thrust a half full plastic cup in my face. “Drink. You work too hard. ”

“Oh!” Wrapping my fingers around the cool cup, I caught onto it before it sloshed all over my clothes. The deep purple would probably pair well with my devilish red getup, but I still wasn’t ready to wear wine as a fashion statement. “I really shouldn’t be drinking while?—”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Ceci tsked. It wasn’t until she peeled away from Clementine that my attention was brought to how Ceci was basically holding her up.

My eyebrows were just about to knit together in concern when I was being assaulted by the rim of the cup on my lips.

“You just started your badass phase. You are not backing down now, sugartits.”

She tipped the cup, forcing me to drink and didn’t let up until I’d chugged the entire thing. Geez, she was probably just a joy in college. Swallowing for so many consecutive seconds, I had to gulp air when she finally let me breathe again.

“Sugartits” was most definitely going to be my first topic of contention. That was until Clementine let out a series of uncontrollable giggles as she covered her mouth. I blinked at my sisters. “Is she okay?”

Ceci shrugged. “Turns out she’s a lightweight. Who knew?”

“You knew! We all knew, Ceci! Did you get her drunk?” Taking in her glassy eyes and wiggly limbs, the answer was a definite yes.

“ Tipsy , and she got herself here. I’m just enjoying the show.”

I bit my lip. “Well, just as long as Ox doesn’t?—”

Ceci snorted a laugh. “Oh, he knows. He’s been watching her like a hawk since the first sip.”

“Well then,” I sighed, ignoring my brother glaring from across the party like a creeper. “I guess they can work that out.”