Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde Read Free Book Online

closer.
    “We can get you into this coat,” he says. “At a price you can afford.”
    “I don’t have any money.”
    His eyes are on mine in the mirror. “We can get you into this coat,” he says.
    I know now I have to take it off. Because he wants to get me into it all right, but first he wants to make it mean all the wrong things to me. One way or the other this feeling will be over.
    “Let me show you something in the back room,” he says, and he turns his back to me and walks away. As he ducks behind the curtain I think, just for a minute, that he’ll go back there and trust me to follow. I wonder if I could outrun him.
    But then he sticks his head back out and looks at me.
    “Coming?”
    I duck back behind the curtain. It’s like a stockroom back there, and he’s leaning against some cartons, smiling at me.
    “Bet the owner would be pissed about this,” I say.
    He laughs. “Honey, I am the owner.”
    “Ah. Well. That’s handy. Thing is, I’m not willing to bend over for this coat. If I’d do it for anything, I’d do it for this coat.
    But as it turns out, I’m just not willing.”
    He doesn’t stop smiling. “Would you go down on your knees for that coat?”
    And it’s a question I can’t answer right off the bat. And the more I don’t answer, the more we both know it’s a possibility. I’m too flexible right now for my own good.
    Then I make a decision what to do, and it makes my heart jump. When I walk up close to him, I wonder if he can hear it.
    My heart. I feel like I can hear it. Like it might give me away.
    I unzip his pants and he stands up straight so I can take them down around his ankles. All the way to his shoes. And I go most of the way down with them. So it looks like I really will end up on my knees.
    Then I run faster than I ever have in my life.
    I shoot through the curtain and out the door of the shop. I swing right and pray I can hit the corner before he sees which way I’ve gone. At the corner I turn and look over my shoulder to see if he’s out yet. He’s not. But I should look where I’m going because I slam into a lady.
    “Hey!” she says.
    I turn the corner and think I’m home free, but then I hear him behind me.
    “Little son of a bitch,” he yells. “No way you get over on this one, you son of a bitch.”
    I’m running fast and the leather coat is flying out behind me, and I realize I look dignified running in this coat. I don’t feel like a sneak thief—even though just at the moment I am that exactly.
    I feel like Superman. I look dramatic, I just know it, the way it flows out behind me like a cape. I look like I was born to move just like this, and maybe I never need to stop.
    “You little son of a bitch,” he yells, “I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.”
    As I swing into an alley I think, Asshole, you’re years too late.
    I look over my shoulder and he has his pants up, but his fly is still open. And he’s slowing down. He’s not yelling at me anymore because he can’t spare the wind. His face is red and his hair is flapping and I know I’m home free. I’m younger than he is, and I have this magic coat. I’ll run forever and he’ll wear down.
    At the end of the alley I know I’ll have to make a choice. If I go right, I’ll pass the restaurant again—the one where Chloe is supposed to be. And what if she’s there this time? I don’t want to meet up with her until this is over. I don’t want to draw her into this. I stretch closer to the street, already prepared to go left, and here comes Chloe. Wandering into the alley.
    “Run, Chlo!” I grab her by the wrist as I fly by, spin her around in the right direction.
    But, Chloe being Chloe, I look back and she’s just standing there, looking confused. A split second later the guy catches up with her. I can see he couldn’t have gone ten steps farther. I was home free. Damn it, I was home free. Goddamn you, Chloe, you always do this to me. I was home free. This was working and