Chapter 5
"Shit." His eyes snapped open, his heart hammering.
The shop should have opened three hours ago.
Adrenaline flooded his system as his muscles tensed to rush, but then the previous night crashed back into his consciousness—Winston's shifting body beneath his hands, the taste of him, the way his features had changed and morphed while they talked in the near dark.
Kade's pulse slowed as he remembered. November first. The shop was closed. He'd given himself the week off to recover from October's chaos and now he got to spend it with Winston. Maybe figure out what this thing between them could become.
He rolled over, reaching for the warm body that should have been there.
Empty sheets. Cold pillow.
Kade listened for sounds from the bathroom, the kitchen, anywhere in the small apartment. The building was old enough that footsteps on the hardwood floors echoed through the thin walls. Water running through ancient pipes made the whole place groan.
Silence.
He waited another minute, then two. Nothing.
Winston was gone.
Confusion hit first, then a sharp stab of hurt that made his chest tight. Why would Winston leave without saying anything? They'd fallen asleep tangled together, Winston's shifting finally slowing as he relaxed, but never fully stopping. It had felt like the beginning of something real.
Then reality crashed over him like ice water.
The deposit.
Kade couldn’t catch his breath as he remembered the bank bag sitting on his dining table.
Halloween’s receipts plus the week's worth of cash he'd been too busy to take to town and deposit.
Thousands of dollars, just sitting there in the open while he brought home a stranger—a desperate stranger who had broken into his shop.
He sprang from the bed and hurtled through the apartment, his feet slapping against the cold hardwood. The dining table came into view and his heart stopped.
The deposit bag sat there, but it had been moved. The zipper gaped open like a wound.
"No, no, no." Kade lunged for it, his hands shaking as he pulled out stacks of bills he’d rubber banded the night before. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor. He snatched it up.
Cramped, unfamiliar handwriting: IOU $100 I'm sorry.
Tears pricked his eyes, which only made him angrier. He crumpled the note and threw it, only for it to land on the edge of the table across from him. Kade forced himself to count the money. Bills first, the coins he hadn’t felt like rolling. He cross-referenced it against the numbers on his laptop.
Exactly one hundred dollars short.
Kade zipped the bag shut with violent finality and hurled it onto the couch. He slumped next to it and buried his face in his hands. The laptops glow seeped between his fingers.
What an idiot. What a complete, naive fucking idiot.
Anyone with half a brain would have known not to bring home a hookup who was obviously desperate.
And then to leave the biggest deposit of the year sitting out like bait?
He was lucky Winston hadn't taken everything.
What could someone even do with a hundred bucks these days? One night in a cheap motel?
The worst part was how stupid he felt for believing it could have been something more.
For getting excited about Winston, about his shifting, about the connection that had sparked between them.
Of course it was too good to be true. The most incredible man he'd ever met randomly shows up in his small-town costume shop with amazing powers and wants him?
That was asking for a lot from the universe.
He should have known better. Should have kept his focus on work, on building his business until he could afford the time and flexibility he’d need to date someone from the city. Or further. Romance probably wasn't in the cards for him if he wanted to stay here. And he did. He loved this town.
He'd been fooling himself to think he could have it all.
The tears came harder now, and Kade let them. He gave himself permission to feel sorry for himself and cry without holding back. It only took a couple of minutes to run out of tears. Then he wiped his face and made new plans.
He'd take the weekend to mourn his love life, instead of the whole week. Monday he'd deposit what the rest of the cash and get back to work. No more distractions, no more believing in fairy tales about shapeshifters who showed up and pretended to be exactly what he wanted.
Kade stared at the crumpled note across the table and wondered why Winston had left anything at all. Why take so little when he could have taken everything? Why leave an IOU like he planned to come back and pay it off?
He uncrumpled the note. He’d keep it as a reminder.
Fuck himself for letting it get this far in half a day. Fuck Winston for teaching him a lesson he didn't want to learn. And fuck romance entirely.