Burn (28 page)

“Hell no!”

“You don’t wear gray underpants, either?”

Gian rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Do I
really have to explain myself on this one?”

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Chip said.

“I don’t wear underpants that have been rubbing
against another guy’s junk,” Gian clarified. “Go put on a
cup.”

Chip and his ears vanished. Gian flipped his red satin
cape over his shoulder, convinced that he would trip over
the thing at least ten more times before the night was
over. “Where’s Aja? Isn’t she supposed to be here?”

“She’s handing out treats to the kids at the Children’s
Home of St. Louis,” Cory said. “She told you she
wouldn’t be here tonight.”

“I wish Zae and the twins would get here already,”
Gian fussed.

“Me, too!” Cory’s eyebrows bounced in enthusiasm.
“I can’t wait to see their costumes.”

“There you go,” Sionne said, tipping his chin toward
the lobby.

Cinder, closely followed by Zae and her twins Dawn
and Eve, entered Sheng Li carrying bulging plastic grocery bags, trays covered in foil and a big brown box.

“Hi, all,” Zae called, hurrying ahead of Cinder.

Gian’s eyes and mouth opened wide at Zae’s entrance.
“What the heck are you supposed to be?” He eyed her
super-short leather skirt and huge longbow. Her long
hair was slicked back and held off her face with a thick
leather band similar to the one around her right upper
arm. A quiver of arrows peeked from her left shoulder.
But it was the lopsided contents of her revealing leather
halter that held Gian’s eye. “Did you leave something at
home?”

“I’m Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons,” Zae stated
regally. “Amazons burned off their right breast so it
wouldn’t interfere with their archery.”

“So . . .” Cory started, staring at the less pronounced
right side of her halter. “How did you . . . ?”

“I taped it down,” Zae grinned. “And I have padding on the left side, to make it look bigger so the right side
seems flatter.”

“Cool,” Cory chuckled. He went to Dawn and took
the big box from her.

“Those are candy apples and popcorn balls, so be
careful,” Dawn warned.

In spite of his mood, Gian smiled at the sight of
Dawn in her sweetly sexy devil costume.

“Your costume suits you,” Cinder said, approaching
Gian.

His bad mood and collection of complaints disinte
grated in his contemplation of her. She had refused to tell
him her costume, but he immediately knew who she was.
Sheer white silk wrapped around Cinder’s body, leaving
o
ne shoulder exposed and covering everything that
needed covering while still starting Gian’s mouth
watering. Accents in gold—a corset that looked as if it
had been fashioned of gold wire, an arm bracelet in the
shape of a snake, flat sandals with gold ties that criss
crossed to the middle of her calves, and a fine gold thread
draped across her forehead—gave her a divine sparkle.

“You’re either Aphrodite or Helen of Troy,” Gian
murmured through a kiss. “Either one, and you’re still
the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Zae talked me into it.” Cinder smiled. “I wanted to
be Charlie Chaplin.”

“I’m glad you went with Zae’s choice.” He wound a dark tendril of her new long hair around his index finger.
“I like this. Your short hair is gorgeous, but long hair suits
you.”

“I like your tights.” Cinder grinned. “Blue is your color.”

“Don’t remind me,” Gian groaned. “Superman has
the silliest superhero costume. I can’t wait to get out of
this getup.”

Cinder stood on her toes to whisper in his ear. “Do
we really have to wait?”

They began backing out of the dojo, but before they
could get too far, a parade of princesses, witches, clowns,
pumpkins, cartoon and gaming characters and their par
ents raced into Sheng Li.

“We’re on,” Gian said. “Happy Halloween.”

Cinder squeezed his hand. “Same to you. We’d better
give them treats before they unleash their tricks.”

“
Slow down, slow down!” Dawn, Zae’s oldest by three
minutes, yelled at the gang of Pokemon-costumed chil
dren charging the table where bowls of miniature treats
sat.

“Quit yelling at them,” Sionne told her. “They’re
excited. They’re kids.”

“They’re hobgoblins dressed up as kids dressed up for
Halloween,” Dawn said, a moue of disgust wrinkling her
nose. She adjusted the tinsel halo circling her head and
carelessly tossed a handful of candy into a trick or
treater’s bag.

“It’s so funny that Eve is dressed as a devil and Dawn
is dressed as an angel.” Gian snickered.

“I guess the twins switched personalities for the
night,” Cinder supposed. She smiled at the sight of Eve,
who laughed at the antics of the little ghost in her arms,
who put handful after handful of gumballs into his
pumpkin bucket.

“I didn’t think there would be so many kids,” Gian
sighed. “I hope the candy lasts. Hey, where’s C.J.?” he
asked, referring to Zae’s eleven-year-old son.

“He’s at a party. He wanted to hang out with his
friends tonight. Don’t worry about the candy supply.
Natasha has tons,” Cinder said, referring to Natasha
Usher, the owner of the bookstore next door. “She said
we can get some from her if we run out.”

“Great,” Gian said. “Time for Superman to get to work.”

“Have fun.” Cinder gave him a kiss, then watched
him march off with his own very special treat: coupons
for free introductory karate lessons.

C
inder took her place at the temporary tattoo table in
a corner of the dojo. Children, and even a few teenagers,
lined up to choose a martial arts-themed tattoo, which
Cinder applied to a hand, arm, cheek, or forehead with a
damp sponge.

During her first lull in business, Cinder tidied her
supplies. She looked up to see a six-foot Batman staring
down at her. “Shift’s up,” he said. “My turn to stick paint
on these little candy grubbers.”

“Where should I go now?” Cinder asked. “Gian
didn’t give me anything else to do.”

“Two kids lost their mom, so Gian took ’em into the
office to call the police,” Chip said. “So there’s no one
manning the door and handing out Gian’s coupons.”

“I can do that.” Cinder left Chip with a long line of
tattoo seekers and went to the front door. She found a
stack of Gian’s coupons on top of a wire newsstand piled
high with
Webster-Kirkwood Times
,
Riverfront Times,
and
Auto Sales Daily
magazines. Coupons in hand, she
stepped out onto the sidewalk as a half-dozen children
pushed past her to get into Sheng Li.

“Hi, Natasha,” she said and smiled, greeting Gian’s
neighbor.

“Hey, Cinder,” Natasha called from the center of the
children gathered around her. “This is some turnout
tonight.”

Offering smiles and coupons as she went, Cinder
worked her way closer to the bookstore. Natasha, the only
African-American business owner on Lockwood, met her
halfway. “Is it like this every Halloween?” Cinder asked.

“
I can’t remember the last time it was this warm for
Halloween,” Natasha said. “The heat seems to have
brought everyone out tonight.”

Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves’s main street,
teemed with ordinary citizens and otherworldly crea
tures. Across the street in the public parking lot, an
inflatable Haunted House entertained dozens of children who shrieked with laughter as they bounced inside. Next
door to the lot, employees of Grogan’s Superette, dressed
as crash test dummies, offered apples and oranges
wrapped in tissue stamped with G
ROGAN
’
S
S
UPERETTE
We’re the Best!
Every restaurant was decorated and full of
customers, with Pelligroso’s Pizza and MacDuff’s Sub
Shop enjoying the most business.

Business was slowest at The Sweet Shoppe, the only candy store on Lockwood. Proprietress Maggie O’Brien didn’t seem to mind. Dressed as Glinda the Good Witch,
she handed out puzzle and activity books, super bounce
balls, paper doll kits, and kazoos instead of candy.

Cinder had been outside for a little over an hour
when finally, the initial trick-or-treating rush dissipated.
Natasha took off her tall, pointy black hat and swiped the
back of her wrist across her forehead. “I should have
worn a toga, too,” she grinned, her twinkling brown eyes taking in Cinder’s costume. “It’s too hot for all this black
satin.”

“I think you look fantastic,” Cinder said, and she
meant it.

“I wonder who that is?” With a subtle tip of her head,
Natasha led Cinder’s gaze to a lone figure in black
s
tanding under one of the remodeled street lights in front of Grogan’s Superette. “He’s been standing there for the
past hour or so.”

“That long?” Cinder hadn’t noticed him, not with
what seemed like a thousand candy-crazed kids
demanding treats, forcing jokes and riddles on her, and
pulling at her bracelets and corset. She looked at the
figure now. The longer she did so, the more sure she was
that he was staring back at her. Her throat, suddenly very
dry, she had difficulty swallowing.

“It’s probably Karl Lange, considering the ninja cos
tume.” Natasha lowered her voice, even though it was
unlikely the man in the nimbus of light could hear her
from so far away. “He’s been talking mess about Sheng Li
and Gian ever since he got fired. I don’t even go to
Grogan’s for lunch anymore because I’m sick to death of
hearing him crab and moan about getting fired.”

Cinder took a slow sidestep toward the entrance to
Sheng Li.

The ninja’s head followed her.

“Cinder?”

Startled, she jumped a foot to the left when Cory
appeared on her right, calling her name. “Get Gian,” she
croaked, her throat too dry to provide amplitude.

“I’m on my way out,” Cory explained happily. “The
little kiddies are going in and now it’s time for us college
kiddies to come out. Mrs. Usher, Gian wants you and
your daughters to come over for some Halloween cake. You better hurry. Sionne’s already had four pieces.”

“
The girls will like that,” Natasha said. “I’ll be right
there after I close the store.”

“Please, Cory, tell Gian to come out here,” Cinder
quietly begged him.

“Sure,” Cory replied, his smile fading. “Are you
okay?”

She stared him straight in the eye and said, “Get him.
Now
.”

Cory stuck his head back in the door. “Gian!
C’mere!”

Cory’s voice hadn’t finished echoing through the dojo
before Gian appeared, his red satin cape swirling at his ankles. “What’s the ma—”

“That man across the street,” Cinder blurted,
pressing close to him. “He’s been staring over here for a
long time.”

Gian had to wait for a rowdy group of young adults, likely students from nearby Webster University, to pass
before he could see anyone past the traffic. Once the
street cleared, Gian looked about. “I don’t see anybody.”