“Why are we discussing this?” he asks.
Because I found it confusing? A change of subject might be a good idea at this point.
“You like working for the Reeds?” The Reeds are some of the nicest people I have ever met.
“It’s great. I get to be the token deaf guy.”
“What?”
“That’s why I was hired. Logan was traveling a lot with Emily, and now that she’s pregnant again, they needed someone to take his place on the reality TV show.” He points to himself. “Enter the token deaf guy.”
“That’s what you think?”
He shakes his head. “That’s what they told me.”
That makes me sad. He’s a talented artist. He’s really good at what he does.
Suddenly, someone in the restaurant shouts, “Oh my God! She’s a Zero!”
“Oh shit,” I breathe. I look around, searching for an escape route. When I can’t find one, I pull the baseball cap off Ryan’s head and jam it down on my own, and then I run out the door.
Ryan
She just stole my fucking baseball cap.
I jump up to follow her, having no idea why she took my cap. A group of teenagers races out the door right in front of me, and I see her look back, spot them, and then her eyes go wide and she picks up the pace. They cut her off so she can’t go back to the tattoo shop. She goes in the other direction.
I’ll never catch her at this rate, not with them between me and her, and I really want my cap back. My grandfather gave me that cap. It was the last thing he ever gave me. He bought it when we were at a New York Skyscrapers’ football game. My biggest fear isn’t that she’ll steal it, because I could easily find out where she lives; it’s that she’ll lose it in her mad dash to stay ahead of the mob. There’s also my fear that she’ll get hurt.
I dodge around the edge of the group, which is now running full-out. They are quickly gaining on her, so I jump over a fire hydrant and chase after her. I would love to call out to her, but I doubt she would hear me.
Finally, I pull up beside her and she doesn’t stop to look at me. Someone reaches for the back of her shirt, and I shove him back. She looks at me, begging me silently to help her. I take her hand in mine and give it a jerk, pulling her into the front of an establishment I’m familiar with. I worked there as a busboy for quite a few years. We go in the front door and I pull her toward the back. She looks at me with questions and gratitude in her eyes, and she doesn’t let my hand go.
I turn sideways to run past the owner of the club in the hallway, and he looks at me like he really wants to know what’s going on, but he smiles when he sees that I have a girl with me and motions for me to keep going. I lead her through the kitchen and out the back door, and then we walk briskly down the street. I know exactly where I am. We’re two blocks from my apartment. She tries to pull her hand from mine, but I look back, not sure if anyone will catch up with us.
I walk briskly, tugging her along, and she stops protesting after the first block. We get to my apartment building and I lead her into the elevator.
“Where are we?” she asks.
“My apartment.” I watch the numbers climb, and my heart starts to ease a little.
“Why?”
I shrug. “Why not?”
She shrugs back. “Why not?” She leans against the wall of the elevator, her breaths still coming quick and furious.
“Where did you learn to run like that?”
“You learn a lot when you have such rabid fans,” she says. “God, we love them, but they can be brutal when there’s a mob of them. We usually have security, but I didn’t think I’d need any since I’d be with Tag and Finny. Not to mention the Reeds.” She grins. “Where did you learn to run like that?”
“You looked like you needed help.”
“Thank you,” she says.
The doors open on my floor and I let us into my apartment.