can’t move as fast as I’d like so I’m practically dragging…her? …along. Once behind the big rocks, I stop. “Okay, let’s get this off you.”
She starts tugging at the head again. “I can’t.” She sounds like she’s crying.
Kate doesn’t cry. Except for that one time in college I found her in the gym, overwhelmed and tearful, and she nearly broke my goddamn heart that I tried to wall up.
I can’t look at the bear face, so I step behind her and feel around the neck of the costume, trying to loosen it. I have no idea how this thing works. But I manage to pry something loose and between us we wrestle off the head.
Kate appears, her face red and wet, her hair limp and plastered to her head. “Oh my God, thank you!”
“Are you hurt?”
“I-I don’t know.” She sniffs and rolls her head around. “My shoulder hurts, but I think I’m okay.”
I stare at her. “Why? Why are you in this ghoulish costume?”
“Ghoulish?” She gapes back at me. “It’s not ghoulish, it’s cute! The kids love it.”
“It’s creepy,” I mutter, dropping my gaze.
“Is that…why you were running away?”
“I wasn’t running away.”
“That’s what it looked like. Or maybe you were running from me?” She plants her paws on her hips.
“No! I didn’t know it was you.”
“Then you were running from Orson. Jesus, Hunter.”
“Forget about that. Why are you doing this?”
“Kevin asked me to. He arranged it with the Bears, but the guy who was supposed to be inside this got sick. He’d promised the organizers he’d bring Orson, and he needed someone who’d fit in the costume. Apparently, the usual dude isn’t that big.” She holds her arms out. “Fits perfectly.”
My head moves slowly side to side as I take this in. “This is what you do for clients.”
She starts laughing. And laughing. She bends over, she’s laughing so hard, swiping tears from her eyes. “Yes,” she says. “This is the wildest thing yet.”
Well, it’s good that she’s laughing now instead of crying. When I saw her tear-streaked face, I got that tight feeling in my chest that I had that day in the gym years ago. I wish I could laugh too, except I’m freaked out, embarrassed, and still pissed that I even came to this shindig.
Kate straightens, smiling. “Okay. Damn. I can’t believe this. I need to get out of here.”
“Um. Okay.” I look around. I’m only too happy to escape. “How did you get here?”
“I met Kevin at the Apex Center to get the costume and he drove us here.”
“Okay. Let’s get out of here. My car’s parked just off Fifth Avenue.”
“I can’t leave with this.” She gestures at herself. “Apparently it’s worth a lot of money.”
I roll my eyes. “I should kidnap it and never give it back.”
“What do you have against Orson? Oh…is it because he’s the competition?”
“Yeah. That’s it. Beaven can come pick up the costume from you. I’d say he owes you.”
She purses her lips. “Oh, he definitely does.”
“Take it off. Take it all off.”
Our eyes meet and we both burst out laughing.
“I can’t. I don’t have shoes. Kevin has my shoes.”
“Are you…naked under there?” I arch an eyebrow.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Oh, I would,” I mutter under my breath. “Okay, let’s go.”
At least without the disturbing face I think I can handle this. Seeing Kate’s pretty head on the shoulders of the bear is somewhat reassuring. I lead the way out of the park and across Fifth Avenue to my car and we climb in. “Home?” I ask.
“Yes, please. I live in Greenwich Village. Go all the way down Fifth and I’ll tell you when to turn.”
I fire off a quick text message to Hakim to let him know I bailed, then pull out and make the turn onto Fifth.
“Um, can you hurry?” she asks. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Jesus.” I glance at her. “I’ll try.”
It’s not that long of a drive. Once we’re on her street she says, “Finding a parking spot here will be impossible.”
“I can let you out, if you need to…go.”
She bites her lip. “Wait! There’s a spot.” She points.
I crank the wheel to turn. After an impressive feat of parallel parking, I help her out of the car and across the street. She leads the way around the corner and inside to her second-floor apartment.
We walk into the bright and sunny apartment. Being a corner unit, it has lots of windows, and the décor is light and airy, all pale gray and white. “Cute place,”