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.”
27. slumber
“So how was the date?” Roxie asked. In the darkness of the campsite, her face was nearly hidden, other than the ember from her cigarette.
I’d gotten back to camp just in time to help the carnival close down, and then I’d helped make supper for everyone. Now, everyone else had gone to their motorhomes for the night, except for Roxie, who sat on the steps outside her door, smoking, while I put away lawn chairs.
“It was good,” I said, since I didn’t know how else to answer. “We’re seeing each other again on Wednesday.”
I liked Gabe a lot, and I was liking him more the more time I spent with him. But the run-in with Troy and Logan had left a blemish on the whole evening. Not to mention the fact that I felt Gabe was hiding something from me.
But did I even have a right to be upset that he was keeping some kind of secret from me? I’d be leaving in less than a week. I would never be able to know everything about him anyway, so what did it hurt if he wanted to keep a few things to himself?
“That’s good,” Roxie said. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”
I walked over and sat down beside her. After her shows tonight, she’d showered away all the makeup and hair products, so her blond hair hung wet down her back against her oversize T-shirt.
“I thought you quit smoking,” I commented.
“I did.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll quit again once we leave this place.”