The Faire (Harrow Faire #5) - Kathryn Ann Kingsley Page 0,94
was sure he would get. He didn’t. He’s lost everything.”
“Hey, Peter,” she called out to the big man.
The man looked up and searched for whoever had spoken, surprised.
“Hi,” Cora said with a smile, and waved. “No, you don’t know me. You’ve had a shitty fucking day, haven’t you?”
“How do you…” He blinked again in confusion. He didn’t look concerned. Why would he? He was probably three of Cora taped together and ten times stronger. Why would a guy that jacked be afraid of a tiny girl in a spangly circus leotard and a thin jacket? “Who are you?”
“My name’s Cora.” She held up the flask toward him. “I can fix your shitty day. And the rest of your shitty life.”
“My life isn’t shitty.” He took a step toward her anyway. “I’m just having a rough patch.” He took the flask from her, sniffed it, chuckled, and drank half of it. “Damn, you drink this shit?”
“Not if I can help it. Belongs to a coworker. Do you want to tell me about your rough patch?”
Peter sat on the stage next to her. He looked down at his shoes. They were in bad shape. They were worn out at the heels. His jeans weren’t in much better condition. “Don’t got nobody else to talk to but a stranger. How sad is that?”
“I don’t have to be a stranger, Peter.” She smiled at him gently and put her hand on top of his. “I could be Family.”
Rudy grimaced. “No.”
“But it’s a wedding, Rudy!” Elena whined. She held up the fitted black button-down shirt. “It’s all black, though. I tailored it just for you.”
He growled low in his throat at the Seamstress. “No.”
The doe-eyed redhead looked up at him, doing her best impression of a needy puppy, and held the shirt tightly in her hands. “But it’s a wedding…Cora and Simon are going to look so beautiful. Everyone is going to be all dolled up. Even Bertha is going to wear a dress. Rudy…please?”
Rudy took in a deep breath, held it, and slowly it out, growling again as he did. “I’ll see how it feels.”
Elena squealed happily and tugged him over to stand in front of the mirror. He looked at his dour reflection, scowling at himself, as she went about re-dressing him. When she dropped his pants to have him step into a new pair, he didn’t even flinch. He had far fewer qualms about being naked than most people.
Not that he didn’t catch the Seamstress’s little giggle and bashful smile. She dutifully kept from looking directly at him, however, as she pulled a new pair of black dress pants up his legs. “It’s going to be such a beautiful night.”
Rudy pulled his shirt off over his head and accepted the clean undershirt she offered him. It smelled like laundry detergent and chemicals. He tried not to wrinkle his nose at the scent. She would take it the wrong way. “You voted against the Family. Against Harrow Faire. Why are you happy?”
“I didn’t want any more people to die.” Elena frowned and began to help him into the dress shirt. “That’s all…I do love it here. I do love everyone here. But—I miss Turk. I miss Amanda. I miss Jack and the others.”
Rudy went silent and shut his eyes. “I miss them, too. But it is because of that sentiment I couldn’t let the Faire die. I couldn’t let the rest of my pack go, too.”
Elena stood in front of him, buttoning up his shirt. She tucked it into his pants. He untucked it. She shot him a glare—which was fairly pathetic on a girl her size—and tucked his shirt back in. When he reached for the fabric, she smacked the back of his hand.
He tried not to smile.
He failed.
She beamed up at him and went to fetch a vest. “Now, one more thing—”
“No. No vests.” He bared his teeth at the Seamstress and backed away as if she were holding a hot iron poker. “You said shirt. You never said vest.”
“I have such a beautiful tie, though! And you can’t very well wear a tie without a vest. That’s—that’s sacrilege!” She went after him.
Chaos ensued.
“Old dog, you look positively miserable.” Simon laughed at Rudy as the Zookeeper approached him. “Or are you merely shapeshifting as a penguin tonight?”
Rudy glowered. He was dressed in nice black pants, a shirt, a vest, and a tie. Even if the vest was unbuttoned and the tie was loosened. It even looked as though his hair had