Chapter 2
The deposit bag made a satisfying thump when Kade dropped it on his kitchen table. Numbers swam across his laptop screen—October's revenue was almost triple what he'd made in September.
The TV droned through some black-and-white creature feature he'd seen a dozen times but never actually watched.
His apartment still smelled faintly of chocolate from the parade of trick-or-treaters who'd hit the shop earlier. Most businesses on the street closed by six, but Kade always stayed open Halloween night. Good PR, plus he got rid of the candy he'd impulse-bought in September.
He'd rushed through cleanup after the last superhero-clad kid left.
Just grabbed what might get ruined if left crumpled all weekend.
The whole time, shadows had seemed to move wrong in his peripheral vision.
Probably just exhaustion. Definitely not related to those mismatched eyes that kept invading his thoughts.
The calculator on his laptop showed a number that made him grin. Maybe next year he really could switch to appointment-only.
Time to celebrate with mindless scrolling. He reached for his phone.
Empty pocket. Other pocket. Nothing.
"Shit."
He'd left it downstairs. Of course. The one night he wanted to lock himself away and decompress, he'd have to go back to the shop.
The stairwell echoed with his footsteps. Outside, someone's Halloween party thumped bass through thin walls. He fumbled for his keys at the shop door, but the knob turned under his hand.
The door swung open.
His heart hammered against his ribs. He had definitely locked this. The deadbolt had clicked home when he'd left, the key getting stuck. It always got stuck when he most wanted to leave. There was no question that the door had been locked when Kade had left.
And now it was open.
He slipped inside and immediately locked the door behind him. The shop stretched before him, the angular, cobbled-together racks cast looming shadows in the narrow space. His phone was right there on the counter, screen dark.
He lunged forward to grab it. Movement flickered in his peripheral vision. He spun.
Just headlights sliding across the dressing room curtain making it look like it was moving on it's circular curtain rod.
Wait. The curtain was closed.
Kade never left the curtain closed. The whole point of the fancy trifold mirrors and raised platform in the middle of the space was to make the client look bigger, more theatrical. Inspire customers to the possibilities.
Maybe he'd closed it while cleaning and forgot?
Outside, teenagers shrieked with laughter. His hand grasped at his chest. His heart fluttered with adrenaline.
He reached for the curtain, but hesitated. What if thee was someone or something in there? He was an artist, not a fighter.
Still, he couldn't just stand there and let them do whatever they wanted. He yanked the curtain open.
Empty. The dressing room was empty. Not even a rejected costume. Just mirrors reflecting his own startled face three times over.
He pushed the heavy fabric back until it hung properly behind the mirrors, then straightened the ottoman that doubled as seating. Hanger clinked behind him.
A massive shape stood silhouetted between Kade and the little light that came in between the pieces in the display window. Seven feet tall at least, shoulders as broad as two of Kade. It stepped closer. The one-shouldered strongman costume stretched tight across impossible muscles as it moved.
Kade's legs locked. His brain screamed to run but his body wouldn't respond.
The figure stepped forward again. Then... shrank. Six feet. Five. Four. The handlebar mustache drooped, then extended into a full beard that spiraled in a pile on the floor.
"Fuck," came a voice far too deep for the now very petite body.
The figure spun to flee as Kade stepped forward, significantly less afraid now that he was the one that stood almost two feet above the other man.
The now stretched out leopard-print onesie slipped off completely, revealing a muscled back that belonged on someone three times that size.
The beard tangled around Kade's foot. The man stopped with a grunt.
Kade stared down at the naked man's backside—definitely a man despite the height. There was something alluring about him. H stood with confidence despite trying to run away. The man turned and Kade met his eyes. One brown and one blue, just like the man from earlier.
"You're standing on my beard," he said. Nerves shook his voice underneath the bravado.
"I'm sorry," Kade said. He lifted his foot. Instead of pulling it free, the bread evaporated and the man shot up to a more typical height, his hair shifting from dark to platinum blonde.
Now he was the man from earlier. Almost.
"Please don't call the police." His voice cracked.
Kade's hands came up in front of him. A sign of non-aggression, but also to cover the man's very attractive and very naked body from Kade's view.
"What? No, I won't," Kade said, dragging his eyes up to the ceiling, but they dropped right back down when the man's body changed again. And then again.
The stranger's chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath shifting his features. His jawline softened, then sharpened. His shoulders broadened, then narrowed. Hair flickered from blonde to brown to black and back.
"I won't call the police," Kade repeated, louder this time, but the words seemed to bounce off of the man's flickering chaos.
"Please. I'll do anything." Panic cracked his voice as he stepped forward. "I can't—I can't make it stop. I can't be locked up."
Kade backed away instinctively, his legs hitting the ottoman. He sat down hard, suddenly at eye level with the shifting man, who was still two steps below him. Features cycled faster now—stubble appearing and vanishing, nose broadening then narrowing, muscles expanding and contracting like waves.
"Please." The man dropped to his knees. His voice cycled through different timbres within the one word. He crawled up the stairs on all fours. Kade spread his legs to avoid touching the shifting chaos, but the move just allowed the man to get closer.
"Please," he murmured.
The desperation in those mismatched eyes—the only constant in the storm of changes—hit Kade like a physical blow. This beautiful, impossible man was terrified.
Without thinking, Kade reached out and cupped the man's face in his palms.
The shifting stopped instantly.
They both froze. The man's features had settled into something between all the forms Kade had seen—strong jaw, defined cheekbones, full lips. Still devastatingly attractive, but calmer somehow.
"Oh," the man breathed, eyes wide with surprise.
Kade's pulse quickened at the warmth and roughness of the skin beneath his own, at the way it moved and shuddered under his hands, but ultimately didn't change, at the way the man leaned almost imperceptibly into his touch. Heat pooled low in Kade's stomach.
Focus, Kade. This wasn't about attraction.
"Listen to me," Kade said, voice steady despite his racing heart. "You don't have to do anything to keep me from calling the police. Nothing. I'm not going to call them."
"But I broke in—"
"I don't care." Kade's thumbs brushed across those full lips. "This is literally the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. You don't have to do anything. Showing me this is more than enough. We're even. "
The man's breathing slowed. His gaze searched Kade's face like he was looking for a lie, for the catch.
"You mean that?"
"I mean it. Hell, I probably owe you."
A long moment passed. The man's tongue darted out to wet his lips, and Kade tracked the movement without meaning to.
"What if I want to?"
The question hung heavy between them. Kade's hands were still on the man's face, and he could feel the slight tremor that ran through him. Not fear this time. Something else entirely.
The man's eyes flicked to Kade's crotch which was level with him now.
"Oh, um. I don't know. Are you even sure you want to? We don't even know each other's names," Kade stammered. It didn't stop. "I've had a long day with it being Halloween, and I'm sure you've had a long day with the…breaking in."
The man released himself from Kade's grasp. He stood slowly, his shape changing slightly only a couple of times. Freckles appeared and disappeared. His shoulders gained and lost definition as he leaned toward Kade until his mouth was barely a millimeter from Kade's. He reached behind Kade.
"My name is Winston," he said. "And I'm sure I want to."
Winston yanked the curtain shut around them.