Renovations: Making Time

Excerpt:
Ven pulled up in front of the community center, stopping right beside the clown with the crazy purple ponytails. Candy grinned and waved at him; he could tell it was her, even under the red nose and face paint. Beside him, Cake was scrambling out of his seatbelt, trying not to dislodge his red wig.

"I told you we'd be on time." Ven checked the clock again. "It's not even five. You'll be fine. Where's your nose?" He found the red ball in the cup holder and handed it over.

"I don't wanna disappoint the kids," Cake said officiously. He loved Halloween; every year, he and Candy helped with the community center party. It let him dress up and go out, and the party let the kids stay off the streets while collecting their candy. Candy popped the door open to help Cake out.

"Hey, man." She grinned at Ven while she pulled Cake -- huge costume and all -- out of the truck. "I'm keeping him until tomorrow, right?"

"Yep." Ven pointed at Cake. "Do not eat too much candy, my man. You have from now until Christmas to get it all in your belly. Don't get sick again this year. Aunt Shivonne will not be happy."

Cake stuck his nose on and stuck his tongue out at Ven. "I had the flu last year," he said defensively. He wrestled his overnight bag out of the truck and shouldered it. "Come on, Candy, we got a job to do."

"See you tomorrow, boss man." Candy slammed the truck door and then threw her arm around Cake's shoulders, steering him toward the side door. Ven waved goodbye to Cake before getting out of the way of folks coming in to drop kids off.

He was a free man for more than twelve hours. Off work early, no family obligations. The dogs would be fine for a good while. There wasn't any question what Ven was going to do with his time. He grabbed his phone and dialed Toby's number. It had been way too long.

It rang a couple times, and then there was Toby's voice, saying, "Hello?" And then, "Go on in. Remember what you say?" There was a little voice in the background, or maybe more than one, saying, "Trick or treat!" A peal of giggles followed, and then Toby was back. "Sorry, sorry. I'm here. Hi. Ven?"

Well, if that didn't take the tingle out. Ven glared at the red light ahead as though it were to blame. "Hey." He couldn't keep the huskiness out of his voice. It had been a while since he and Toby had been in the same bed. Hell, it'd been a while since they'd been in the same room without someone else. "Just calling to see if you were free tonight. Doesn't sound like it, though."

"Mmm." A short pause, and then Toby said, "Not for another hour and a half. I've got the girls for trick-or-treating. Brenda's meeting me down here to pick them up later. You could... If you want, you could come downtown and walk around with us. We're just hitting all the little shops that are giving out treats. And then we could do something together, you and me, after Brenda comes for the girls?"

The idea of hanging out with Toby's kids was a little weird. They could meet up later. Ven watched the light and rubbed a hand over his thigh, shifting to relieve the pressure in his jeans. Damn, just Toby's voice was good.