 by Frankie Love.jpg)
Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 21010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
When Nelson Rowdy puts on a taco costume for the towns annual Fall Ball masquerade party, he isn’t expecting to fall in love with an avocado.
When conversation turns steamy, they don’t just want to guac about it – they want to add a little heat to their night.
Hands travel, masks come off – and they are face-to-face with a 100 year long feud.
Nicole McCormick is off limits.
But damn – she is all grown up, back from college, and impossible to resist.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
NELSON
This year’s Rowdy Brothers Halloween Gamble Series didn’t go too well for me.
Every year, me and my brothers have a little seasonal fun, culminating at the Burly County Fall Ball.
The rules are simple. There are a series of bets and contests between us. Could be on the Seahawks’ opening game or whether the Mariners get past the first round of playoffs.
It could be a footrace across the ranch, or an arm-wrestling match. Hell, maybe even something dorky like playing a video game or whose fantasy football team does better.
It’s elimination-style. Five of us, one after the other, dropping off. All the losers have to forfeit something. When we were younger, it was giving up shares of our Halloween candy. As we got older, we started buying cases of beer.
But one penalty is always the same. The person who gets eliminated first has their costume for the Burly County Fall Ball chosen by the ultimate winner.
This year, I got taken out first. The Seahawks let me down again, daring me to continue to show faith in their ability to win a dang football game. I was hoping Carter or Jennings would come out on top. Usually those two are more merciful than our older brothers, since their age gave them an edge back when we were young.
No such luck. Williams is the winner this year.
And he decided to be the random style of comical with my costume.
I’ll be going to the Fall Ball as a taco, of all things.
Why a taco? Fuck if I know. Ask Williams. It amuses him, and that’s all that matters.
And thus, here I am.
Standing in a crowd of people in a full-body taco suit. Not the kind where my head pops out and I just look like a dork. No, one that covers me up completely. The taco is vertically aligned with big, googly eyes on it, and it’s the actual mascot for a small Mexican chain restaurant down in California. Lord knows how Williams scored it, but anyway, no one around here knows that restaurant, so I’m here, dressed as a cartoon taco, à propos of absolutely nothing. Meanwhile everyone else at the festival is dressed in more recognizable and traditional costumes. Witches, Wizards, ghosts, zombies, and vampires clashing with more pretty, vibrant things like fairies, princesses, and superheroes.
God, I feel like a fucking idiot. On the plus side, no one can see who I am, so at least I won’t have to answer to this shame later.
I’m grateful this dumb costume has a mouthhole too, so I can enjoy the little pleasures of the Fall Ball. It’s awkward, but I can sample the various farms’ apple ciders. They all do a pretty good job of it. Way better than anything from a grocery store. The apple ales they have are pretty nice too, and you can’t get them anywhere but here.
The people who come to the festival are a nice spread of parents and kids, and a good deal of single people too. There’s a fair share of young women who would normally catch my eye, dressed as seductive versions of all the usual costumes. Never thought I’d see someone dressed as a sexy zombie, complete with alluring brain leakage, but here we are.
I take my time and just enjoy the atmosphere. A lot of people look at me weird, trying to understand the joke that even I don’t understand. I’m slowly making my way over to where most of the young adults of Burly are spending their time, a masquerade ball in a barn near the town’s corn maze.
Yes, Burly maintains a yearly corn maze, publicly owned by the town. It’s just the sort of weird thing a small rural town excels at.
It’s during my short walk over to the barn that I spot the only other costume strange enough to match the sight of the Fall Ball taco.
A Fall Ball avocado.
The costume has the same set of googly eyes that mine has. They’re so similar it makes me wonder if it’s another mascot for the same Mexican food place. I have no choice but to approach. “Well then, I guess this is where the guac for my taco is.”
The avocado turns, and I notice the only things not covered by the costume. Shapely legs, lithe arms. “Did they hire you too?”
The soft, feminine voice confirms it — this avocado has a lady underneath. And I can’t help but be slightly attracted despite only being able to see her limbs.
“Who hired me?”
The avocado tilts her head, to the extent that she’s able. “Are you playing dumb? You’re Tomas the Taco.”
“The taco’s name is Tomas?”
“Yes? I thought you’d know that if you’re wearing the outfit.”
“Sorry, miss, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who’s Tomas the Taco?”
“The equivalent of Ronald McDonald for Diego’s Mexican Delights,” she says. “They ran an ad online paying $1,000 for people to come to the festival as one of their characters. It’s some weird ad campaign, I guess. I’m dressed as Ava the Avocado.”