My Dream of You

By Geonn Cannon

Theresa "Reese" Thorne doesn't mean to be a stick in the mud when all her friends are excited about Halloween. She's just not the sort to dress up or go wild. She likes her fun to come in safe, pre-packaged doses. But when she's chosen for a definitely R-rated audience-participation performance, she finds herself unexpectedly enthralled. Blaming it on the performer, one Markie D. Sade, Reese is soon back at the club in the hopes of seeing the enigmatic performer again. What she finds pushes her to the limits of her comfort zones... and leaves her wanting to shatter them.

(Includes bonus short story "Greek Mythology," featuring Reese's friends in their own prequel romance!)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Supposed Crimes, LLC
• Release date: Apr 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781938108082

Geonn Cannon

Geonn Cannon was born in a barn and raised to know better than that. He was born and raised in Oklahoma where he’s been enslaved by a series of cats, dogs, two birds and one unexpected turtle. He’s spent his entire life creating stories but only became serious about it when he realized it was a talent that could impress girls. Learning to write well was easier than learning to juggle, so a career was underway. His high school years were spent writing stories among a small group of friends and reading whatever books he could get his hands on.Geonn was inspired to create the fictional Squire’s Isle after a 2004 trip to San Juan Island in Washington State. His first novel set on the island, On the Air, was written almost as a side project to another story he wanted to tell. Reception to the story was so strong that the original story was put on the back burner to deal with the world created in On the Air. His second novel set in the same universe, Gemini, was also very well received and went on to win the Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Best Novel, Dramatic/General Fiction. Geonn was the first male author to receive the honor.While some of his novels haven’t focused as heavily on Squire’s Isle, the vast majority of Geonn’s works take place in the same universe and have connections back to the island and its cast of characters (the exception being the Riley Parra series). In addition to writing more novels based on the inhabitants of Squire’s Isle, Geonn hopes to one day move to the real-life equivalent to inspire further stories.Geonn is currently working on a tie-in novel to the television series Stargate SG-1, and a script for a webseries version of Riley Parra.

Book preview

My Dream of You

Geonn Cannon

Smashwords Edition

Supposed Crimes LLC

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2013 Geonn Cannon

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-938108-08-2

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re- sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

My Dream of You

PART I

Elaine opened the door with a smile that quickly faded when she saw me. Oh, come on. We said costumes required! She touched the one side of the diamond-shaped mask she wore. Her hair was teased up and frizzy at the sides, and her black dress hit just the right balance between revealing everything and leaving a bit of mystery. Glittery streaks of purple, blue, and pink spread out from under the mask like ribbons of light pouring from her eyes.

I, on the other hand, touched the brim of my bowler hat. I'm dressed up.

You put on a hat. Congratulations. It doesn't count. She grabbed my elbow and pulled me into the apartment. As she shut the door she turned and shouted toward the bedroom. Steph, we've got a party-pooper.

Elaine's partner Stephanie came out of the bedroom in a purple toga. Her hair, which she'd just recently gotten cut extremely short, had been curled so it framed her face. She looked at me and clucked her tongue. I knew it would be you, Reese. Come on. I'll see if there's anything left in Mel's room.

She still has stuff here? She moved out months ago.

Stephanie shrugged and went into the room she and Elaine were using as a storage closet. You know Mel. Can't be bothered to swing by and pick up the rest of her stuff, so it lingers.

I looked at Elaine as Stephanie disappeared into the clutter. What are you supposed to be?

She put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair. Sexy.

You've got it down pat.

Thank you. And, uh, what was your lame costume supposed to be?

I pushed the bowler farther down on my head so that it rested on my ears. I don't know. It was the easiest costume I could think of. People see someone in a hat on Halloween, they know it's a costume. It doesn't matter who you're supposed to be.

Elaine laughed and then snapped her fingers. Hold on. Steph?

Yeah? Her voice seemed to echo from inside the other room.

Do you have a red tie and black blazer?

Stephanie reappeared. Yeah. Why?

Elaine smiled. I have an idea. She stepped away from me, motioning for me to follow her as Stephanie went to get the clothes.

What are you going to do to me? I asked as I sat in the chair she indicated.

She took out a long plastic case and flicked open the top. She smiled and said, Don't worry. It's going to make you the hit of the night with the more cultured members of the crowd. She took a small white sponge out of the case, dipped it in the green, and began to apply it to my face. I cringed a little.

Just don't make me a witch.

Trust me. You'll like this. Hold still...

#

Mel and Ellie arrived a few minutes before we were due to go. Mel smiled when she saw me. "Oh, wow. Magritte, Son of Man?"

Compliment Elaine. It was her idea.

I told you Mel would get it, Elaine said.

I had to give her that one. I was still wearing my bowler, but my outfit had been exchanged for a white dress shirt, a blazer, and a red necktie. All the clothes were about a size too large for me, but Elaine insisted it looked good. She had used the makeup to paint a large green apple in the center of my face, the top of it covering my eyes while the bottom curve dipped just below my bottom lip. I looked enough like the famous painting for Stephanie to finally be satisfied I was in costume. Mel was dressed like Alice from the third Resident Evil movie. Ellie was a real-life pirate whose name she mentioned when she was planning the costume but I'd completely forgotten. I didn't want to look stupid by asking again, so I just let it go. Stephanie declared we were all acceptable to be seen in public with her, so she grabbed her purse and ushered us out of the apartment.

Ellie was still coming off a breakup, and Mel's girlfriend was in Sacramento for some kind of conference, so I didn't feel like a fifth wheel as we piled into the backseat of Elaine's car.

Where are we going tonight?

Some place the Greek found, Stephanie said.

I smiled. When they met, Elaine was a bartender at a club Stephanie frequented. Stephanie didn't know her real name, so she just referred to her as the Greek. When they got together, the nickname stuck. I thought it was adorable.

Elaine drove us through swarms of marauding trick-or-treaters, tiny ghouls and cartoon characters dressed in outfits that reflected in the headlights like cat eyes in the dark. At one stoplight Mel rolled down the window to compliment a teenager on her Fraggle Rock costume.

No one knows Fraggle Rock anymore, she said when we were underway again. And if they do, they don't remember Mokey. I loved Mokey.

Stephanie said, Which one was Mokey?

The artistic one, of course, Mel said, flipping her hair for emphasis.

The club was called Sans Man, and the line to get in was technically out the door. Two people were waiting on the sidewalk, the first one propping the door open with her shoe so as not to be cut out. Elaine told us the line always looked worse than it really was; they were just trying to make sure there was as many people on the balcony as there were on the ground floor. Sure enough we were in the anteroom five minutes after we arrived. I drifted to the back of the group so I was the one left behind when the others ventured inside. Ellie turned to stay with me, but I waved that I would be fine.

Someone came into the anteroom from a side door I hadn't noticed. He was slender and dressed in a three-piece suit, a thin mustache clinging tightly to his upper lip. He looked me up and down and then gestured at my face.

Magritte?

Yeah. I was a bit thrown; this slender and well-dressed fellow was a woman! My friend, uh, came up with it.

She smiled. Or he did. Transgender or in drag? I didn't know the right term. I cleared my throat.

Cool. Listen, do you want to be part of the show? She held up a hand to cut off my knee-jerk refusal. You won't be onstage, you won't have a spotlight on you and, if it all goes well, no one has to know you're even involved. We just need someone to run a control so the performer doesn't know what to expect. She smiled. "Sort of like improv. What do you say? We'll give you fifty