wearing a gold Lycra body suit that showed every muscle, ripple and bulge, with his Canine Crusader logo on his chest, a long green and red cape that flowed behind him with a sort of hood that had—oh God—floppy dog ears.
Behind him, with Tyson in the lead, the other dogs were walking in the shape of a perfect V-formation, beautifully behaved.
He paused at the end of the catwalk, raised his fists in the air and shouted out, “I am the Canine Crusader! Throw your fookin’ money in the bucket on your way out! Yeah!” and all the dogs started barking in agreement.
A laugh followed by a soft sigh rose from the audience, and then everyone was on their feet, clapping and cheering. Tap looked up briefly, licked Vince’s face, and the assembled photographers went crazy as the other nine dogs galloped around the stage for a final moment of mayhem.
When Tap followed Vince back up the runway, the audience realized she had just three legs, and the sound of cheering and applause was enough to raise the roof.
I was so proud of Vince.
Words I never thought I’d say.
“That was incredi—” I began as he strode from the stage, but Vince picked me up in his arms, swung me around, then carried me the length of the catwalk as my cheeks turned fire-engine red.
“This is Gracie Cooper!” Vince bellowed over the laughter and shouted encouragement. “She’s me lawyer!” and then he kissed me soundly, deliberately, lovingly.
And me? I couldn’t help melting.
Just a little.
Vince
I woke up with a tongue in my ear and hot breath on my neck.
If my dreams were coming true then I’d open my eyes and see Gracie lying naked next to me, but when I rolled over, Tyson was grinning at me and Zeus had jumped onto the bed, then stood on my chest and peered down into my face. Little Tap’s nose appeared at the side of the bed and she whined, unable to join in the fun.
“Alright, alright,” I yawned, “it can’t be that late.”
But when I looked at my phone it was two hours beyond the team’s usual breakfast time. They must have been busting for a piss by now.
“Aw, thanks for letting me have a lie-in, guys,” I yawned, then flailed about to find a pair of sweats before I took them to the backdoor, shivering when the cold air hit me.
They lolloped happily around the backyard as I stared up at the overcast New York sky, wondering if it was going to snow again.
The fashion show had been a massive success and donations were still rolling in more than two weeks later. Press coverage had been fookin’ fab and the photo of Molly covered in dog shit had gone viral. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
I’d already been asked about doing the show again next year. I wanted to, but fook me, it had been hard work. And I was smart enough to know that I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without Gracie’s mad organizational skills, Cady’s media contacts and good humor, and Rick’s quiet support. I had some bloody good mates.
Mates. I brooded over the word. I wanted to be more than mates with Gracie, and despite the fact that we’d worked closely together on the fashion show, I hadn’t completely cracked that hard shell of hers.
The catwalk kiss had been completely on impulse but felt fantastic. She’d grabbed me by my ears (my costume ears, thankfully) and gave as good as she got, but then she hadn’t returned my calls since. Was I back to just being Rick’s knob-head friend?
I shivered again and headed inside, then caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, flexed my biceps and grinned. Nah, she wanted me. She just didn’t know it yet, poor luv. The Vin-meister never gave in!
I wondered how I could impress her. Maybe if I organized Rick’s stag night without us getting arrested?
My first thought for the big event had been to rent a Caribbean island, import the strippers from Thailand and have a mud-wrestling competition, but it turned out that my budget of $2,000 wasn’t going to cut it, even with the deals I could get from some air stewardesses I knew. For the flights, not the mud-wrestling, although some of those girls could get pretty wild.
To be honest, Rick was being boring as fook and kept saying he didn’t want a big party or anything crazy, so naturally my job as best man was