Freeks(36)

“But—” I started to protest.

“No.” Roxie held up a finger to silence me. “This town sucks. Somebody should be having fun, and if it’s not me, it might as well be you.”

“You’re right.” I stood up and took a deep breath. “How do I look?”

Even though I’d been debating whether or not to meet him, I’d still gotten ready like I’d planned on it—I wore a thin white sleeveless top that just barely showed my white bra underneath, a handkerchief skirt with a bold tribal pattern, and a few layered necklaces and bracelets.

Roxie tilted her head as she studied me. “You look amazing, but you’re missing one thing.” She reached back and grabbed a tube of lipstick from the piles of makeup she had strewn about the vanity counter.

“Thanks,” I told her after I’d applied a coat of bloodred lipstick. “Now I should probably run, if I want to meet him.”

I smiled at her, then dashed out the door. I ran all the way through the campsite with the full moon lighting my way, but I slowed down once I made it through the hole in the fence. Running to Gabe out of breath wasn’t exactly the kind of impression I wanted to make.

It was as I made my way down onto the midway that I realized Gabe and I had never decided on an exact meeting place. And, to make matters worse, it was packed. Well, worse for my love life at least.

Then, just as I was feeling frantic—stalking down the gravel pathways, my eyes darting everywhere—I finally spotted him. He was standing a few feet away from my mom’s fortune-telling tent, exactly where I saw him last.

His back was to me, with a fitted leather jacket pleasantly hugging his broad frame. I’d seen him only a couple times, so it should’ve been harder to recognize him just from his silhouette. But I knew it was him all the same.

When he turned around, he was already smiling, like he knew I was there. Like the first time I’d seen him, sitting on his balcony, and somehow, he’d been able to see me hiding in the shadows.

“Hey,” he said as I reached him. “I thought you might’ve changed your mind.”

“No, I got held up for a minute.” I smiled up at him. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just happy you’re here now.”

My mom’s tent was mere feet from where we were standing, and even though the curtain was closed—meaning she was with a client—it was still dangerous to be this close to her. If she spotted us, I couldn’t handle the lecture, or the ensuing embarrassment of my fortune-teller mom chewing me out in front of a townie.

So I knew that we should move, that I should direct Gabe to go anywhere else, really. But, for a moment, I felt too … mesmerized? In lust? Enchanted? Frozen?

His eyes were the same rich golden brown they always were, but tonight they seemed brighter and bigger, like a gemstone catching the sun. Even his smile seemed somehow sexier than before, and the wicked edge to it felt sharper. Everything about him had my heart racing even faster than normal.

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to understand what could be different. “Did you change something? Maybe your hair?”

Gabe laughed, smoothing back his thick hair, then glanced up at the night sky. “No. Nothing’s changed.”

“Sorry.” I pulled my gaze away from him and shook my head. “I’m just having a weird day.”

“Maybe we can turn that around with a fun night?” Gabe suggested.

“That sounds like the perfect plan.” I took the opportunity to start walking away from my mom’s tent, and Gabe followed, his steps matching mine.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well … I thought maybe we could hang out here again,” I suggested.

Truth be told, I would’ve loved to have gotten out of there, away from the prying eyes of everyone I knew. But I couldn’t. Gideon had assigned Roxie as my buddy, so technically, I wasn’t supposed to be leaving her alone. The only way I could really justify seeing Gabe was if I didn’t get too far away that I wouldn’t be able to help Roxie if she needed me.

“Cool.” Gabe grinned. “I’m up for anything as long as it’s with you.”

“Anything, eh?” I arched an eyebrow.

“I have an adventurer’s spirit,” he proclaimed. “I can take on any challenge, and I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Wow.” I widened my eyes with feigned amazement. “I bet you rule at Truth or Dare.”

“I really do,” he admitted, then stopped short. “I can tell that you don’t believe me, so I’m going to prove my bravery.”

“Oh really?” I smirked. “How, pray tell, are you going to do that?”

“I’m going in there.” He pointed to the long black trailer at the end of the midway, where a name had been written in bold red paint—Terrifying Curiosities & Oddities of Past & Present.

I kept my smile plastered on my face and gulped down my unease. Of course, there was nothing terrifying at all about what the museum contained—unless you counted Hutch, who I did not trust to not accidentally let on to Gabe exactly who and what I was.

But I couldn’t tell Gabe that, and I didn’t want him to think that I was the kind of person who was too afraid to go into a place like that, because I absolutely wasn’t.