Roustabout (The Traveling #3) (34 page)

“Nope. I haven’t. I don’t want to either. And just to be clear, Renee, I’m doing this for Scotty, not you.”

“Very clear,” she said, a tinge of bitterness in her tone. “But are you sure? You think a woman like her will stay with a . . . with a carnie?”

Yeah, Renee still knew how to get under my skin
.

“That’s none of your business,” I said sharply.

She shrugged again, a lopsided smile pulling at her lips, and she dropped her hand from my arm.

“Fair enough. Thought I’d ask.”

I really hoped that was the end of it
.

Tera hadn’t arrived by the time we went to do the evening show, but she’d messaged to say that she was on her way.

Scotty and Renee had ringside seats in the tiny grandstand, and I was trying to focus, to get in the zone.

We were all in our flame-resistant leathers waiting for the countdown to start. Kes raised his hand in the air, his eyes glowing with the adrenaline, with the buzz. The music slammed through the PA system, and we could feel the vibration of the crowd stamping their feet.

“Gentlemen!” Kes yelled. “Let’s kill it!”

We slapped hands, snapped our visors shut and shot out into the arena.

I felt calm, utterly focused, and utterly revved up at the same time. There was
nothing
better than this: not even sex. Although . . .

Fuck, no!

Not the time to be thinking about Tera. I lined up for the first stunt, dropped the clutch and . . .
Showtime!

An hour later, I was dripping with sweat and my weak shoulder was burning. When we did a show, we put everything into it. We trained as hard as any athlete, needing to be at the top of our game. Throw a measure of danger on top, and it really focused the mind and honed the body.

Tera said I was just gristle and muscle, but I have to say, I got a huge kick out of the way her eyes drank me in.

Right now, all I wanted was a hot shower, but Scotty was waiting outside, his enthusiasm brimming over.

“That was so freakin’ cool, Uncle Tucker! When you did that handstand and you were flying through the air—that was epic! This woman next to me screamed. It was awesome!”

His eyes were lit with enthusiasm and I couldn’t help grinning at him.

“Yeah? You liked the show?”

He nodded furiously. “The best part was when Kes went through the flames! That was sick!” Then he looked contrite. “You were really good, too.”

I laughed loudly.

“You got good taste, buddy. That’s my favorite part, as well.”

He grinned up at me, but then his expression changed and he frowned.

“I wish you were my dad,” he whispered, an angry scowl on his face. “My Dad’s an asshole.”

His comment felt like a punch to the gut and Renee shot me a guilty look.

I didn’t know whether to laugh the comment off or to roll with it now Scotty had brought it up.

“The thing is . . .” I began, but Renee interrupted me.

“Scotty! No cussing.”

Scotty just stared.

I sighed and sank down next to him on the grass, stretching out my abused muscles.

“Look, man, you’re right: Jackson
is
an asshole. I grew up with him, so I know what I’m talking about.”

Scotty gave a shy smile.

“But you got your momma, and she isn’t an ass—what you said before. So you’re ahead of the game compared to a lot of kids, right?”

Scotty glanced at Renee and gave a quick nod.

“And you got this athletics scholarship and you got a new start . . .”

“You could be Momma’s boyfriend,” he said quickly, looking at me hopefully. “I know you used to date; she told me. Then you could be my Dad for real.”

Fuck, this was hard
.

I glanced at Renee, but she shook her head and threw me a warning look.

I didn’t like lying to him, but she was probably right—we should tell him when we were all calm, not hyped up after a show.

“Scotty, dude. That was a long time ago. We were hardly more than kids ourselves. Your momma and I are friends and . . .”

“But you could!” he insisted.

“I’ve got a girlfriend,” I said firmly. “Her name is Tera; you met her.”

His face closed down.

“I hate her!”

“I’d be really sorry if that’s true,” I said carefully, “because she’s going to be around for a long time.”

I glanced at Renee again, hoping that she’d give me some backup. But her mouth was pressed into a flattened line that matched Scotty’s.

I stood up and looked at both of them.

“You’ll always have me, Scotty. I promise I’ll do whatever I can to help you and you’ll always be a part of my life. But I hope that Tera will be, as well. You’ll have to decide how to handle that.”

I walked away, wondering if I’d said the right thing, wondering if Scotty would deal with it. I was pissed as all hell at Renee, but maybe now she’d get the message.

I took my turn in the shower, wishing for once that I was back in San Francisco and enjoying Tera’s spectacular friggin’ shower, and not a one-minute, lukewarm wash.

But the evening got a whole lot better when I walked outside and saw Tera sitting by the bonfire talking to Aimee.

She was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt and she was still the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. And she was here for me.

I was one lucky mothertucker.

Tera smiled, then stood up and walked toward me.

There were no words as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Her breath was warm on my cheek and then my lips were on her mouth, and I kissed her hungrily.

“Goddamn! You are a sight for sore eyes,” I murmured against her jaw.

She smiled at me and pressed a soft kiss to the dip at the base of my throat, then licked across my chest with her tongue.

“Sugar, if you keep doing that, I’m going to have a problem,” I groaned, glancing down at the front of my jeans.

She laughed lightly and took my hand as we strolled toward the bonfire. I slumped down on the grass and she situated herself in my lap.

“You look stressed,” she said, brushing a soothing hand along my shoulder and down my arm. “Aimee told me that you were with Scotty. How’s it going?”

I shook my head in frustration. “Shit, I don’t know. He was pretty upset.”

Tera looked surprised.

“What’s he upset about?”

I side-eyed her, wondering how much of the truth she needed to hear.

“Just tell me, Tucker,” she said patiently.

I took her hand in mine and stared down at our fingers as I wove them together.

“He said he wished I was his dad and that if I was with Renee I would be.” I shook my head in frustration. “I thought it would be the perfect time to tell him, you know? But Renee wants to do it tomorrow. Fuck’s sake.”

Tera gave a small smile. “I’m not surprised; he idolizes you and . . .”

“Hell, no!”

“Of course he does, Tucker. Look at it from his point of view: he feels stuck in a rut; the man he believes is his father doesn’t care about whether or not he has the chance of a basketball scholarship and has no interest in bettering his son’s life; you ride into town and make it all happen. Plus, you’re a stunt rider, for goodness sake. Of course he’s going to say things like that.”

It was a version of what Zef had said to me before Scotty and Renee had arrived.

Then she gave a small smile. “He’ll be so excited when he finds out that you’re his father.”

“Wow, I nearly fucked up, didn’t I?”

“Tucker, no,” she said soothingly. “How could you possibly know he’d say that? Tomorrow you can sit down together and tell him. It’ll be fine.” She paused. “What was Renee doing while Scotty was saying all this?”

“Not much. She just made it clear she didn’t want me to tell him there and then.”

Tera pursed her lips.

“Do you think . . . has Renee let him get carried away with this idea of you and his mother . . . ? Oh, I see.”

“See what?”

“She wants you back.”

I shifted uncomfortably, hoping that she’d drop the subject. But this was Tera, so no way that was happening.

“I told her straight that I’m with you. And Scotty. I said that he’s got to deal with you being part of my life.”

“You said that?”

“Yeah, I did.”

Tera smiled at me, then ran her hands along the side of my jaw, pulling my face toward hers.

“You need to be kissed for that.”

And before I knew it, the evening was a lot less shitty than it had been ten minutes ago.

I was at the point of taking her back to the RV, when she pushed on my chest and eased away from me.

“Someone’s here to see you,” she whispered.

Scotty was standing awkwardly, uncertain whether to approach or not. When I waved at him, he took a pace nearer, then stopped again.

“Hey, man! Come and sit down,” I said, pointing at the space next to me.

He shuffled forward, casting nervous glances at Tera.

“Hi Scotty,” she said kindly. “I have marshmallows. Want to get them toasted?”

He nodded, then reluctantly added, “Yes please, ma’am.”

“You can call me Tera. Okay, let’s get Kes to show you how they toast marshmallows in the carnival.”

Kes grinned at Scotty from across the bonfire, held a stick in front of him with a marshmallow impaled on the end, then a jet of flames shot from his mouth, turning the edges a warm brown.

“Whoa!” yelled Scotty, his eyes wide. “Freakin’ awesome!” He turned to look at me. “I want to live in the carnival when I grow up. I’m going to be a stunt rider just like you.” Then he glanced back at Kes. “And I want to learn to do that.”

We grinned at each other, then Tera tossed him the rest of the packet of marshmallows.

Tera

Tucker and Scotty were enjoying themselves, eating toasted marshmallows, then burgers, then more junk food, in that ‘I’ll eat anything’ guy-way. Seeing them together showed me another facet of Tucker, and I could see that for someone who’d been alone for much of his life, family was important to him.

Which was why I waited until his back was turned to hunt down Renee.

She stiffened when she saw me coming.

“Hello again,” I said.

She nodded briefly.

“Scotty seems like a great kid,” I began.

Her eyes narrowed warily.

“He is,” she said, her words edged with suspicion.

“It’s good to see him getting on so well with Tucker . . . with his father.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Say what you’ve come to say.”

“I’m not trying to come between Tucker and his son. I wouldn’t do that because I care about Tucker and I can see what Scotty means to him . . .”

Renee opened her mouth to say something but I didn’t let her interrupt me.

“ . . . but I won’t let you come between Tucker and me either.”

Her lips thinned and she leaned forward, poking her bony finger in my chest and causing me to stumble backward.

“You have no idea,
no idea
, what we’ve been through. Me and Tucker. Together. We’ve got a history; we shared everything. I understand him in ways you never can.”

I flinched because I knew she was right. Renee saw it, arching her eyebrows at me in triumph.

“You’ll never have that!”

I swallowed and looked her in the eye.

“That’s true. I don’t have that. But Tucker and I have a future together. And I promise you this—if you hurt Tucker again, you’ll regret it.”

Her eyes widened.

“Are you threatening me?” she asked, her voice amused and incredulous.

“I’m making a promise.”

She laughed out loud.

“Honey, I grew up hard, same as Tucker. You wouldn’t stand two minutes in a fight with me.”

“We’ll have to agree to differ on that because I have something worth fighting for.”

I let that sink in first, measuring her surprise that I wasn’t backing down.

“Tucker cares about Scotty and I can see you love your son very much. You owe it to both of them to tell Scotty the truth. I’m just saying don’t try to come between them . . . because you have no idea what I’m capable of. And if you think for one second that I won’t do everything I can to protect Tucker, you’re even more deluded than I thought.”

Her mouth clamped shut.

“That’s the first smart thing you’ve done,” I said.

She nodded slowly.

“I did what I had to do for my son,” she said, staring at me without flinching. “I never wanted to hurt Tucker. He’s a good man.”

“Something we can agree on,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then changed her mind.

I watched her walk away, my heart racing.