November 2026 Drake - Part 10

 Drake - Part 10

Prompt: Trick? or Treat?

I hadn’t really been thinking about what I was getting myself into when I agreed to help Grant hand out candy during the town’s Halloween event. With so many children living well outside the town center, Brawley had embraced the Trunk or Treat idea with gusto. Starting at dusk, the kids could collect candy from families and businesses, bob for apples, play games, and rock out to kid-safe spooky music from ‌popular children’s movies and shows. This lasted until 8pm, when the kids were scooted home and the adults could come out and play with pop-up bars selling evil-looking concoctions, lighted and dry-iced smoking drinks, adult games and snacks, and a blow-up screen playing a compilation of the killing scenes from every horror movie ever made.

In the past, I’d wandered through the vestiges of the event on my way home from work, but my schedule was in my favor this year, and since I had the day off, Grant insisted I help him. When I asked Alden if the club was sponsoring a table, he laughed and laughed, so I took that as a no and said yes to my boyfriend. Then the conversation turned to costumes…

So, here I was, surrounded by costumed munchkins, tossing candy with Grant’s business card attached into buckets and bags, dressed in my scrubs, complete with latex gloves, a mask tucked under my chin, and wearing a stethoscope around my neck. Meanwhile, Grant—who’d planned on dressing up as a cowboy—was decked out in a pair of tight leather pants, a henley, and the pièce de résistance, my cut. The MC wouldn’t be happy with me, but I wasn’t worried.

I had a plan.

As the night wore on, I saw Ryan first. He strolled by, cut on, hands tucked into his pockets as he ignored me. A quarter of an hour later, I saw Orion with his potter’s smock on, holding Sunshine’s hand. Marcus, the third of their throuple, walked just behind them. Bay waved as he flounced by not long after that, looking adorable in a flirty flower fairy costume. Quinn had hearts in his eyes as he watched his partner skip along the lines of decorated open trunks and tables.

Soon, the sugared-up children were corralled by tired parents, the temporary movie screen erected, and the sounds of screams filled the town hall parking lot. Grant began cleaning up his table, but I stopped him when I saw my brothers approaching.

Alden stormed to the front. “Doc! What are you doing? You can’t put your cut on a civilian.” There was rage in his eyes, but I knew the truth.

“Prez, you know it ain’t like that. It’s just for Halloween.”

Alden growled. “Rules are rules.”

Grant slowly removed my cut from his shoulders, his gaze intent on Alden. “I’m sorry. You know Drake didn’t mean anything by it. It was just for fun, for the Trunk or Treat. Here.” Grant held out my cut to me. I slipped it on, then sank to one knee. “What are you doing?”

During Grant’s apology, Ryan had slid around behind me and handed me “the plan.” I kept my hands tucked behind my back as I smiled and opened my mouth to speak, but Grant cut me off before I could start.

“Wait. No. This better not be what I’m thinking it looks like.”

That made me pause. “I’m not asking you to marry me, I’m—”

“You’re not? But…” Grant looked a little heartbroken, which was weird since he just made it sound like that would be a fate worse than death. Did he not still want to be together? Did he think this was some trick? Fuck, now I didn’t know if I should I give him his present.

“Do it,” Ryan urged, and seeing Alden’s nod, I straightened my shoulders and gazed at Grant.

I revealed the new cut, the back embossed with patches I’d sewn on myself: Property of Doc. “I’m not asking you to marry me, but I am asking you to be mine.”

Grant covered his mouth, his eyes wide. “Drake.” He melted to the ground, kneeling in front of me. “Drake.” Cautiously, as if I might snatch the vest away, he grazed his fingers over the patches before meeting my gaze. “For me?”

When I nodded, he lunged forward, falling against me, into my arms, his mouth on mine. It was all I could do to hold on and kiss Grant back, my heart pounding with both love and the effort of keeping us from falling over. We would have tipped for sure if Ryan hadn’t grabbed my cut and kept me upright.

“Yes,” he whispered again and again against my mouth, breathing in the air I exhaled. “Yes. Yours.”

My brothers’ laughter, cheers, and raucous teasing finally filtered through my joy, and I gently nudged Grant away. He smiled radiantly as he held out his arms.

“Put it on me.”

“Okay.” We stood, and he turned as held up the cut, threading his arms through the holes. I stopped him before he could turn all the way around and plastered myself to his back, against my name.

“Mine.”

Grant chuckled, reaching backward and palming the back of my head, pulling me in. I planted my lips on his neck and gave it a smooch. Then he said the one word I’d been dying to hear… “Yours.”

“Thank you,” I whispered against his skin, breathing in a lungful of his scent.

“No,” he said, though. “I thought you were tricking me, but this… This was an amazing treat.”

Yeah, it was. And I was pretty damn proud of myself.