Roustabout (The Traveling #3) (30 page)

When she left, Kes walked over and kicked my foot.

“What’s this about you and some broad?”

I tried not to cringe.

“I met someone is all,” I mumbled reluctantly. “I don’t know why everyone’s making such a damn song and dance about it.”

Kes smiled. “’Cause it’s you, mothertucker. Who is she?”

This was the moment that I’d been dreading since my first night with Tera.

“I didn’t go looking for this,” I began by way of explanation. “It just happened.”

He shrugged. “That’s how it usually goes.”

I stood up and took a long drink of water as Kes eyed me curiously.

“Look, there’s no easy way to say it . . . so I’m just gonna say it. It’s . . . I . . . we . . .”
Fuck!
“I met TC when I was in Tennessee. We got close. It’s Tera . . . I’ve been seeing Tera.”

I closed my eyes, waiting for Kes to punch out my lights. But after a second, nothing had happened, and I opened one eye.

“Aren’t you going to take a swing at me?”

Kes frowned. “Do I need to?”

“Um . . .”

“Tucker, you’re sweating like a bitch. Just chill. I know you’ll treat her right, so there’s no problem.”

“You do? There isn’t?”

He sat down on the grass, wincing as he stretched out his back.

“You wouldn’t be this nervous if you didn’t care about her.”

“Jesus, Kes! I slept with your sister! You’re not even a little bit mad?”

Kes scowled. “You don’t need to draw me a fuckin’ picture. I’d rather not think about that. But if you screw around on her, I’ll rearrange your face.”

I sat down next to him, more than a little stunned. “Fair enough.”

“So, how’s this going to work between you two?”

I shook my head. “Fuck knows. I mean, she’s going to fly out in two weeks and meet us in Denver, but . . .” I shrugged helplessly.

Kes nodded. “I get it. When me and Aimee . . .” and he couldn’t help smiling just saying her name. “When we got our second chance . . . or maybe third chance, we had to really want it, you know? It hasn’t been easy—for either of us. But if it’s worth having, it’s worth work.”

I frowned, thinking about what he was saying.

“I really thought you’d want to beat the shit out of me.”

Kes laughed. “I still might if you fuck this up. Love is rare, my friend. And I know what it looks like. Don’t be a chicken shit. I know you’ll treat her right.”

I sat there stunned while he stood up and walked away.

Tera was the woman who rocked my world like no one ever had before. But was Kes right?

Shit!
Is that what this was?
Love?

I shuddered at the thought.

But maybe that was why it hurt so bad. Did I love Tera? Did she . . . could she . . . love me back?

I carried on working, my mind somersaulting as Kes’s words rattled around inside my head.

When the guys were busy, I snuck off to call her. I knew she’d be at work, but I needed to hear her voice.

She answered on the second ring.

“Tera Hawkins speaking.”

“Hey, sugar!”

There was a short pause, then she replied formally.

“If you could hold the line one moment, I’ll check that for you right away.”

I heard her apologizing to someone, then the sound of her footsteps and her breath in my ear.

“Sorry about that—my boss is so nosy. How are you? How was the flight?”

“Shitty—you weren’t there.”

She sighed.
“I know. I’m dreading going home to an empty apartment.”

My heart lurched. “Shit, Tera, I . . .”

“Don’t apologize,”
she said softly.
“We both knew this would be hard. I miss you, that’s all. I’m not trying to make you feel guilty for . . . for doing your job.”

I hated not being able to hold her in my arms. I leaned my head against the side of the grandstand.

“Are you still there?”

“I’m here, sugar.”

“How is everyone?”

I swallowed and closed my eyes. “I told Kes.”

“You did? What did he say?”

“He was cool about it.”

“Really?”
she sounded as surprised as I’d been.

“Yeah.”

“Well, what did he say?”

I smiled at the annoyance in her voice.

“He said that if I screwed around on you, he’d rearrange my face.”

She laughed lightly.
“Yes, he obviously took it very well. But don’t worry, Tucker; if you screw around on me, I’ll rearrange your face myself.”

I had a feeling that she meant it.

“Tera, that’s not going to happen. You know that, right? You’re my girl. I don’t want anyone else.”

When she replied, her voice was resigned.

“I know. I don’t want anyone else either.”
She paused.
“Which is why I’d really like you to come to the Memorial Day fundraiser in November. Please, please don’t make me go with one of my mother’s horrendous date choices.”

I gripped the phone so hard, I was in danger of cracking the screen.

“Don’t go with those douches, Tera.”

“Then come with me.”

I sighed and thudded my head against the wall in frustration.

“We’ve got a show.”

“Kes would give you the night off if you asked him.”

I wanted to grind my teeth in irritation.

“You know I won’t fit in there,” I said sharply.

When she replied, I could hear the frustration in her voice at this old argument.

“You could fit in anywhere, Tucker.”

“TC . . .”

“Alright, alright,”
she grumbled.
“Tell me what Aimee said about . . . us.”

“I haven’t told her yet, but I’d guess that Kes is telling her about now.”

“Okay, look, I have to get back to work. Call me tonight?”

“Sure thing, sugar.”

She hung up, and I walked back to the arena, feeling like I’d been torn in half.

An hour later when the ramps were up and I was wiping my oil-stained hands on a rag, I walked back to the RV with Zef and Kes. Zef gave me a cheesy grin.

“Heard you’re boning the boss’s sister. Nice!”

I beat Kes to him by a split second, throwing Zef to the ground while he laughed his ass off.

“Last time you get to joke about it,” I snapped, sitting on his legs and mashing his face into the dirt.

“You’re shit out of luck, Tucker,” he laughed, spitting out mouthfuls of dust. “This is just too damn funny.”

Disgusted, I smacked the back of his head and stood up. Kes idly kicked him in the ribs as he walked past, making Zef cough up dust.
Why didn’t I think of that?

I turned back and gave Zef another kick for good measure.

He lay in the dirt laughing and coughing until his eyes watered.

“One day he’s gonna really piss me off,” I said darkly.

Kes gave me an amused smile. “You realize that if it wasn’t my sister we were talking about, I’d be ripping the piss out of you, too.”

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered.

We took our two-minute turns in the shower and I had to admit that I missed the long, lazy showers that I’d shared with Tera.

And I
really
missed the sex.

A small bonfire was blazing in the fire pit when I stepped out of the RV, and the usual crowd of carnies was grouped around it. I slumped down in a deckchair and helped myself to pizza, looking around and nodding at familiar faces.

I remembered the first time I saw Tera, back in the spring, sitting alone by Kes’s bonfire, her hair gleaming in the firelight, one side of her face thrown into shadow. And then she glanced up at me and I remember thinking that there was a damn fine woman.

“Holy shit, Tucker McCoy looks like he’s thinking!”

I looked up, grinning at Ollo.

“Hey, man!” I said, standing up and holding out my hand.

But quicker than a sober man taking a piss in the snow, he yanked my arm behind my back and had me on my knees. My bad arm.

“Fuck!” I yelled, my eyes watering from the pain.

Ollo laughed and let me up.

“You’ve gotten soft,” he grinned.

I stood up slowly, pain throbbing through my abused body.

“What the fuck you do that for, dude?” I asked, massaging my shoulder.

He took a step closer.

“Tera Chastain Hawkins is family. You fuck her over and you’ll answer to me,” he said, his voice hard and menacing.”

“I know! I know! Jeez, Ollo, you couldn’t have just said it without ripping my damn arm off?”

The little man shrugged. “You need to know I mean it.”

He walked away without saying another word.

I got it, I did, but it kind of sucked that everyone assumed I was going to fuck this up with Tera.

Sighing, I picked up my pizza from the ground, dusted it off and finished eating. A few other carnies came over to shoot the breeze and catch me up on the news, which wasn’t much.

Everyone always wanted to be around Kes’s fire—he was the closest thing there was to carnie royalty. But it was more than that—people were drawn to him, just wanting to be near. For the first three years I’d known him, he used that as a way of getting as much pussy as he wanted, but ever since he’d met Aimee again, he’d barely looked at another woman.

I wondered if it was easy or if it took a lot of willpower.

“Hey, lover!”

I looked up just in time to catch Jade as she dropped into my lap and kissed me enthusiastically.

“I heard you were back,” she whispered, grinding her ass against me. “Want to come over later?”

“Damn, that’s a good offer,” I smiled, “but I’m going to have to say no.”

She laughed in amazement.

“Why the hell not? You got religion or something?”

“Or something,” I said, winking at her. “I met someone and we’re kind of dating.”

Jade looked stunned. “Seriously?” And she looked around. “Where is she?”

“She lives in San Francisco. She’s flying out in a couple of weeks.”

Jade’s laugh rang out over the campsite.

“She’s a thousand miles away and you’re
kind of
dating? Well, I’m
kind of
not caring, Tucker,” and she tried to kiss me again.

“Not interested,” I said firmly, gripping her hips tightly.

“Yeah?” she smirked. “Well, your dick tells me something else.”

Fuck!
She was right. I couldn’t help it—a pretty girl was grinding on my lap. My dick didn’t know any better and was up for whatever action he could get.

I shifted Jade off of my lap.

“You’re a great girl, Jade,” I said soberly, “and we had some great times, but I’m with someone now.”

She raised her hands in a gesture of defeat, but the glint in her eyes told another story.

“So you’re housetrained now—I can take a hint. But if you get bored of waiting for Ms Whitebread, you know where I’ll be.”

And she walked off swinging her hips.

I rubbed the heels of my hands over my eyes before the image was burned into them.

Zef nudged me.

“How’s it feel to be a one-woman man?” he asked, his voice hovering between amused and curious.

“Right now it sucks,” I admitted and Zef gave me a knowing smile.

I closed my eyes and leaned back in the deckchair. The weekend after next couldn’t come soon enough.

Tera

Damn planes! Damn airports! Damn rental cars that weren’t where they were supposed to be!

A two-hour flight and a short drive had turned into
six hours
of infuriating sitting on my ass.

It was one snafu after another and I was horribly late. I was nervous enough about seeing Tucker again—I really didn’t need any extra stress.

We’d only managed one long conversation a week ago; everything else had been scattered texts, missed calls and hurried words while one of was rushing somewhere else. He’d even called me at work a couple of times, but I’d been stuck in boring meetings. Our schedules didn’t match at all.

I hoped it wasn’t an omen.

But I sensed a distraction when I did speak to him, a shadow in the distance that chilled me.

And now, instead of arriving in time to see the evening show, light was fading from the sky and the carnival was winding down. I was dirty, dusty, and my stomach was growling—not a good combination.

It took a while to weave my rental through the steady stream of traffic leaving the fairground, and then I had to convince the surly carnie at the campsite entrance that I wasn’t just some rube trying to go where I didn’t belong.

Finally, finally, hot, tired and tense, I parked my car catty-corner and lugged my suitcase across the campground, looking for Kes’s RV.

Aimee spotted me first, followed by Bo, who shrieked happily and scampered across the open ground before climbing me like a tree.

“Hey, baby boy! Did you miss your Aunty Tera?”

Aimee grinned at me, squeezing my waist and kissing my cheek.

“Tera! How are you?”

“I’m good!” I said, smiling. “It’s great to be back.”

“To see us or to see a certain reformed manwhore who’s awfully pretty to look at?”

My cheeks flooded with color as I grinned at her sheepishly.

“Can I say ‘both’ without upsetting someone?”

Aimee laughed. “Probably not. But I will say he’s been like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for you to show up. He’s over there, on the other side of the bonfire.”