Shifters of Grrr 1 (99 page)

A few were serious, talking strategies and the demographics of the type of people most likely to donate, how to hit them with the guilt thing, and where the best collection points were. They were the professional chuggers, the ones who made you feel like a selfish cow for the day if you didn’t drop a coin into their bucket, or sign up for the subscriptions they peddled.

Accounts were retold from previous years about their largest donation and the meanest person. To be honest, Ada couldn’t see the necessity of going onto the street, herself, because the entire story was available within the tales of a few of the professional collectors.
 

She was pretty much ignored while everyone pulled on costumes over lycra suited bodies. She stepped into hers, and was immediately assaulted by the musty smell that didn’t quite overpower the sour odour of sweat wafting about whenever she lifted her arms. The synthetic material obviously couldn’t breathe, and the collective stench of every person who’d worn it before her was arresting.

The costume needed a good clean, and possibly flea powder before she wore it again on Friday.
 

She zipped it up, guessing it had been previously worn by a man.

Oh, gag a fucking maggot.

Looking down she could see a single auburn curly hair caught in the zipper around her crotch region. She hoped it had come from a close encounter with a red dog because the alternative didn’t warrant thinking about.
 

“Fits you well,” remarked a short, stocky woman.

“Suits you, too,” Ada replied. The two of them were about the only ones in the room who filled their suits. The others looked as though they’d assembled for a support group meeting for bears with eating disorders.

“I’ve been a puppy and a leopard; this is my first time as a grizzly.”

“Um, right.”

Fuck my life, you can be other animals!

The woman seemed nice enough, so Ada decided not to tell her that it was unlikely a grizzly would be coloured beige and sport a large pink love heart in the middle of its chest.
 

“All the animal charities seem to use costumes for donation collecting these days. I think it’s fun.”

“Do they? Well, God help us when it’s time to rattle buckets to save the naked mole rat, eh?”

The woman frowned, and then scanned the room. Her hand shot in the air as she tried to attract the attention of a lady dressed as a polar bear, if the white fluff was a clue.

“Tina…Tina, I’m so glad you made it.” She gave Ada an apologetic smile before rushing off to greet her arctic friend.

Claudia, the officious chief executive, called for silence explaining she had an exciting visitor arriving any minute to talk to them.

Ada took a position in the corner and leaned against the wall. She checked her watch, wanting to get out of her costume and back to the office. Unfortunately, she was too far away from the exit to sneak off, so she resigned herself to hearing out the visitor. Probably some sort of rah-rah evangelistic sales guru brought in to fire them up with a motivational speech.

She stared at the floor, eyes narrowed, blocking out the people around her. In her mind, she worked through what she’d already picked up this morning about being a chugger, and started to arrange it into the bones of a story. Whether Sally got full credit for the article or not, Ada would be certain that what she handed in would be the best she could give them.

One day, Blow-job Barry would be usurped as editor, and her recognition would come. The others at the office were fully aware of what was going on, and she knew at least a couple of them would back her up when the right moment presented itself.

An expectant hum buzzed through the room suggesting the
exciting visitor
had arrived
.
Ada continued to study of the toe of her shoe as she ordered herself to lose the cynicism and pay attention.

Claudia’s introduction caused a surge of panic in her, but it was nothing compared to the sound of the visitor’s voice which almost stopped her heart.
 

Ranger!

She struggled to remain calm, willing herself to resist the urge to sneak a glimpse of him. Ada wanted to disappear into the corner, but she wasn’t one to hide. As soon as the spike of adrenaline that had coursed within her settled, she stood tall, proudly owning every inch of her height and every curve that challenged the bear suit’s seams.

Against her better instincts, she lifted her gaze.

They locked into each other immediately. Ranger’s stunning amber eyes flashed gold. She had to fight the instant pull between them. She held her own, never wavering, yet enjoying the sensation of taking some of his beautiful energy and letting it wash through her.

She was conflicted; her heart and soul wanting so much to touch him, talk to him, find out if he’d been okay over the past months. For the most part, she’d made it through. And aside from the ache she felt with every beat of her heart, she’d remained resolute in her decision to not repeat the mistakes of her mother.

The gathering was captivated by Ranger’s speech, but she didn’t hear what he said. Rather, she stayed with his gaze, hastily re-erecting the barriers around her heart that he’d managed to demolish with one searing look.

After six months, she would never have believed it would be so painful to be in his presence. She decided that the moment his talk finished, she was riding the next elevator right out of the building, and into the proverbial sunset.

Ranger concluded with wishing them all a successful collection day, and Ada took that as her cue to slide along the wall until she reached the edge of the group, and make a hasty retreat.

She’d made it to the small foyer when he called her name, and her heart thumped hard for one extra beat as she slammed her palm against the elevator call button with the down arrow. The display showed the lift was two floors away, but on the move.
 

Time slowed until the long awaited ping of the bell signalled the appearance of her ride. The doors rattled open as Ranger’s voice filled the expanse between them, begging her to stop.

She closed her eyes, seeking the courage to continue, and, in that moment of hesitation, the doors stuttered closed. Ada jammed the bear head in the narrowing gap at the same moment as Ranger grabbed her arm.

“Jesus, Ada, don’t run.”
 

A deep rumble followed his words. His bear was aroused.

She swung around, wrenching the bear head from the trap of the door, and the elevator moved off like a missed bus.

“Shut down the bear, they’ll hear you,” she hissed, slamming the heel of her palm against the call button.

“Don’t care.”
 

The elevator pinged its return, and he wrenched the doors apart. Once open enough, he nudged her inside and followed close behind. Still holding her arm, he reached with the other hand and stabbed the door-close button.
 

The last thing Ada saw was the surprised faces of Claudia and a pretty young woman at her side.

“What are you doing here?”

“Same question,
backatcha
,” Ranger replied with a grin. He pulled his phone from his pocket, punched a button and held it to his ear. “Are you outside?” he asked the person he’d called. He was smiling at Ada, fixing her in place again with a searing look as he finished the phone conversation. “We have an extra passenger… a rather reluctant one, so I might need some help.”

“Let me guess; Moe,” said Ada.
 

Ranger winked at her. “Right on the button, so come quietly. Any trouble and I’ll be forced to call on Moe’s kidnapping skills.”

“For which I could have you arrested.”

Ranger smirked. “I’m feeling lucky today.”

The elevator rattled to a halt, the doors opening to the ground floor foyer.

“Come on.” He grabbed her arm again and ushered her from the building. “We have to be quick. Moe’s waiting in a loading zone with a parking attendant bearing down on her.”

“Like that would give her any problem,” Ada muttered.
 

Outside a parking warden marched away from the car where Moe waited holding open the rear door.

In Coromandel, he’d driven an Audi, and judging by the licence plate, this car was a recent purchase. “New ride, Ranger?” she asked, stalling for time to gather her wits.
 

“Yeah, well, I had this mate I’d rather spend my money on, but she up and left me. Now I buy frivolous things to bide my time until I can convince her to return.”

“Good luck with that.”

“I see you’re still rescuing bears, Ranger,” Moe teased.

During the past few minutes, Ada had completely forgotten the ridiculous costume she still wore, and suddenly she couldn’t get into the car and out of the eye of the public fast enough.

“Nice to see you again, Moe,” she called as she ducked into the vehicle.

“Great to see you, Ada, but shit, what’s with the bear outfit? You didn’t have to dress all special to get him back. One call and I’d have had him on your doorstep in seconds.”

“I’m not trying to get him back. This is a coincidence; we’re not together. Jeez, you’ve got me all flustered now.”

Ranger was alongside her in a flash and just as quickly, Moe was behind the wheel, steering the Bentley into the traffic.

“Did the warden issue you a ticket?” Ranger asked.

Moe shook her head. “I’m surprised you even wasted your breath asking that question. Let me take care of your precious vehicle, and you get to work on your mate; she doesn’t sound too ecstatic about running into you.”

Moe was right; this was a disaster. Ada had finally reached a stage where she wasn’t consumed by the pain of being away from Ranger. Seeing him now had made her step right back to square one. Every beautiful thing she’d felt for him, never stopped feeling for him, flooded her body.

He picked up her hand, lightly brushing his large thumb across her knuckles. Ada snatched it away.

“No touching,” she hissed.

The bear rumbled again, and Ranger’s eyes flashed and turned red hot with lust, making her fight to muster every bit of resolve to resist him.

“How are you, Ada?”

“I’m fine.”

“You smell…weird.”

“It’s the costume.”

“Maybe you should take it off—”

“Ranger!”

“Do you think Ada should take off the costume, Moe?”

“It’s pretty stinky,” Moe replied.

“God, you two are such an act.”

Ranger nodded. “These days Moe’s the only woman who will have me.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Most of those women at BPS looked as though they’d drop their furry costumes for you at the snap of a finger. How did it feel being in a room filled with female bears? Did it get you all hot?”

Ada switched her focus away from Ranger’s face, because continuing to look into his eyes as they changed whenever lust or his bear tried to break through was going to undo her. She saw they were heading over the harbour bridge towards the north shore. Damn, she wasn’t supposed to be teasing him when she was trying to remain angry at the way he all but abducted her.

“There’s only one woman who gets me hot, Ada, and seeing she was in the room, yes, I’ll be honest and admit I was a bit of a mess.”

The laughter had gone from his eyes and, for a moment, there flashed the hurt she’d witnessed the afternoon she left him. It almost broke her, but she had to ask.

Her voice came out whispery, as she formed the question that would govern how they would move on.

“Are you still doing Bear Force ops, Ranger?”

There was no hesitation before he growled out his answer. “Yes.”

One thing about Ranger was that he wouldn’t lie. But he would break her heart—the heart that he owned—all over again, if she allowed whatever he was planning to do with her today to continue.

Ada cleared her throat. “Moe, could you take the next exit please, and head back to the city? I need to get to the office.”

“Ignore that, Moe.”
 

“Ranger, I don’t care who you are, you can’t take me against my will. There are laws about that, and even you have to obey them.”

“Give me just a minute to explain.” Again, he reached for her hand.

“No touching, it isn’t fair.”

He crept his hand back into the space between them, but Ada didn’t miss the part where his leg fell towards her so that their knees would collide at the first bump or corner in the road. She huddled herself as best she could into the corner.
 

“We’re on our way to the television studio for a segment on
Top of the Morning
. They’re interviewing me about the new Moon Bear sanctuary in Vietnam, which was why I was at BPS this morning. Claudia wanted me to take one of the volunteers on the show so that viewers would know to watch out for street collectors on Friday. She had someone lined up for me, but I suggested you. Which brings me to my question: you were at BPS dressed like a hot mama bear because…?”

“Research for a story about charity collectors.”