Freeks(47)

“What’s your secret?” I asked suddenly.

His smile instantly fell. “What?”

“Before, we promised to tell each other our secrets, but you already know mine.”

He looked away from me, and though he kept his hand around mine, he stepped back, putting distance between us. “We agreed on the fifth date, but this is only, like, our third date.”

“Fourth,” I corrected him.

“Right.” He smiled but it was weak and didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Next time, then.”

I opened my mouth to argue that there wasn’t a point in waiting another day, and it didn’t exactly seem fair that he’d already found out that I was with the carnival. But before I could get anything out, a horn blasted loudly on the street beside us.

A Mercedes pulled in sharply, parking at a ridiculous angle beside Gabe’s car on the street right in front of us. The windows were rolled up, but I could hear Guns N’ Roses thumping through the car stereo.

“Shit.” Gabe cursed softly under his breath.

The passenger-side door opened, and Troy Gendry hopped out. His blond hair was slicked back, and when he flashed us a toothy smile it made his beady eyes appear even smaller.

“Gabey-baby!” Troy shouted as he walked over, causing Gabe to grimace.

Logan Montgomery got out of the driver’s side more slowly, carrying a can of beer in his hand. His Ray-Ban sunglasses were pushed to the top of his head, and the collar of his polo was popped.

Logan leaned up against the hood of his Mercedes. “What are y’all up to?” he asked, managing to sound entirely bored and indifferent to his own question.

“It looks like these two are on a date.” Troy grinned like a jackal. “But that can’t be right, can it?”

Gabe moved an arm protectively around my waist. “We are on a date, actually, and we were just heading into a movie.”

“Why are you on a date?” Logan asked, then he pointed to me with his beer can. “Isn’t she running off with the circus in a couple days?”

My cheeks flushed with warmth, but I held my head high. The disgust in Logan’s voice and Troy giggling like a drunken fool wouldn’t make me cower.

“I told Selena that Mara worked for the carnival,” Gabe said through gritted teeth. “But Mara’s here now, so we’re hanging out, and I don’t really know why that’s any of your business or why you’d care.”

“If you wanna slum it, that’s your thing.” Logan shrugged. “But I might marry your sister someday, and I don’t want to have any little carnie bastards for a niece or nephew, so just be sure you wrap it up.”

Gabe inhaled through his nose, and he stepped away from me. I tried to grab his hand, to keep him beside me, but he slipped easily through my grasp as he walked up to Logan.

Logan, for his part, stood up and tried to look intimidating, but that was nearly impossible to do against Gabe. Despite being older, Logan was much shorter and not as broad shouldered or muscular.

Not to mention the look on Gabe’s face—the intensity of his eyes and the way his lip curled back as he glared down at Logan.

“Gabe,” I said, but his penetrating gaze was focused solely on Logan.

“You’re never marrying my sister,” Gabe growled. It was low and throaty, and Logan visibly gulped. “And if I ever hear you say anything like that again about Mara, I’ll bust your face in.”

Logan’s mouth hung open dumbly as he struggled to think of a comeback, but he just ended up looking like a fish gasping for air as his lips moved and nothing came out.

“Come on, Logan,” Troy said, rescuing his friend. “We’re almost out of beer. Let’s get to the liquor store before it closes.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Logan said. He tried to sound tough and aloof, but it fell flat, and he hurried around to the driver’s-side door a bit too quickly.

“We don’t need to waste any more time with these freaks,” Troy sneered just before he got in the car.

There was something about the way Troy said that and the way he looked at me when he said it. I knew then that he and Logan had been the ones who had spray painted “freeks” on Gideon’s trailer.

Luka’d said that they’d been drunk and hassling him shortly before the carnival closed. They must’ve still been pissed off—and even more drunk—so they came back in a lame attempt to settle the score.

As Logan sped off in his Mercedes, Troy flipped us off, and I wondered exactly what they’d been up to on Saturday night. Had they attacked Seth?

That didn’t seem likely, given the way Logan cowered in front of Gabe, who didn’t possess the kind of supernatural strength that Seth did. But I couldn’t help but wonder if they knew something more about what was going on here in Caudry.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Gabe said, returning to my side now that Logan and Troy were gone. “My sister always dates assholes.”

“It’s okay.” I brushed it off. “Believe it or not, I meet a lot of assholes in my line of work.”

He frowned. “You shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

“I meet a lot of nice people like you too,” I assured him with a smile. “So it’s all worth it in the end.”