“What are you doing?” I turned on Kade as I moved from the table. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“He was hurting you,” Kade replied, his chest heaving. “You were crying.”
“I was teasing her,” Luke snapped from the ground. It was undignified and yet he wasn’t making any sudden moves. He clearly didn’t want to risk ticking off Kade again.
“That’s not what it looked like to me,” Kade argued. “She seemed upset.”
“She’s always upset since you showed up,” Luke snarled.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kade’s face reddened as everyone stared in his direction. “What is that possibly supposed to mean?”
“Oh, good grief,” Luke snapped. “You want to let the snake run amok in the garden. Everyone knows. Whenever you two are in the general vicinity of one another you can practically see the sparks. Do it already, for crying out loud. You two are going to be the death of me if you don’t.”
Kade stilled, confused. “I … but you two are together. Are you telling me to play a rousing game of snake in the garden with your girlfriend?”
Luke flicked his eyes to mine, frustrated. “Still? You still haven’t told him?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “It hasn’t come up.”
“You guys are acting like children,” Luke snapped.
“Quite frankly it’s none of his business,” I said. “He’s been pursuing other avenues of interest. Our relationship has nothing to do with him.” When are you officially too old to try to make someone jealous? I’m pretty sure I’m past that age, but I want to be sure.
“What is going on here?” Kade asked, his gaze busy as it took in every amused face circling us.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
Luke shot me a look. “Dude, brace yourself,” he said. “I know this is going to ruin whatever weird fantasy you have going on in that thick head of yours but … I’m gay.”
Well, there it is. I can’t wait to see how this goes over.
Twenty-Four
Kade exhaled heavily, his eyes furtive as they worriedly shifted between faces. “I … but … .”
I could practically see him racking his brain for clues. Luke isn’t in the closet. He’s also not someone who cares about sexual labels. Sure, he has a great time coming up with off-color euphemisms about doing the deed, but he doesn’t go about announcing his sexuality. It’s the one avenue where he’s not boisterous and over-the-top.
Kade’s mouth opened and closed, no sound coming out, and Luke got tired of watching him struggle so he pushed the confused man away and got to his feet. He shot me an annoyed look as he brushed himself off. “Was that so hard?”
“You could’ve told him in a nicer way,” I countered.
“Oh, whatever,” Luke said. “At least I told him. It was your job and I did it. Do you know what that means?”
“That you want homemade blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast tomorrow,” I answered, resigned. I can read his whims, and he was mentally broadcasting this one so loudly I couldn’t miss it.
Luke’s handsome face split with a wide grin. “I want sausage and bacon. I’ve earned it.”
“How have you earned it?” I scoffed.
“I just told your would-be sheet sniffer that I’m not an obstacle to him pulling off his disappearing cane trick,” Luke replied. “I should win an award for putting up with you two for the past week and a half.”
“No one asked you to open your big trap,” I pointed out.
“I did it for your own good,” Luke argued. “You were tying yourself into knots. You got drunk and threw yourself at him, and when he had the good sense to stop you because you were hammered you punished me for it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think you punished him, too, but I didn’t do anything wrong,” he continued. “He didn’t do anything wrong either – his little freakout just now notwithstanding. You’ve been the idiot on this one, my dear.”
“I … .” I hate it when he’s right.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Luke said, moving back toward the picnic table. “I want sausage and bacon. Don’t forget. Oh, and don’t cheap out on the sausage. I want patties, not links.”
“Shut up, Luke,” I muttered.
Kade finally found his voice. “You can’t be gay.”
As far as opening lines go, it wasn’t his best.
“And yet I am,” Luke said.
“I … but … you flirt with Poet all of the time,” Kade said, his mind clearly busy. “You make sexual suggestions to her all the time. I’ve heard you.”
“I make sexual suggestions for the two of you,” Luke corrected. “I want you two to go mattress dancing. Personally, I don’t care about your needs. Poet has been walking around as if she’s got a big stick hanging out of her … .”
“Luke!” I shot him a quelling look.
“I just want her to play with another … stick,” Luke said, smiling sweetly in my direction before turning back to Kade. “I don’t blame her for not wanting to tell you in the beginning. We didn’t know you and we weren’t sure how you would react to everything.
“Once you didn’t melt down, though, she should’ve told you,” he continued. “You’ve been a bear since you started kissing her one second and yelling at her the next because you think she’s involved with someone. Oh, and just a hint: If she was my girlfriend I’m pretty sure I should be kicking your rear end right now.”
“What?” Kade’s eyes widened. “I … she told you we kissed? Which time? I don’t think the time this afternoon in the woods should count because she took me by surprise and I wasn’t on top of my game.”
“You kissed her?” Raven shrieked.
Luke’s grin was sly as he shot it in my direction. “You kissed him this afternoon, too? You little harlot. I thought you had a hangover and needed time alone?”
“I did need time alone,” I snapped. “He followed me.”
“And you kissed me,” Kade added.
“Only because it was too quiet and I didn’t know what else to do,” I countered.
“It’s like a soap opera,” Nixie said, munching on her ear of corn. She hadn’t bothered to get up from the picnic table. “Quick, someone needs to rip their shirt for it to really be a soap opera. Gratuitous male upper torso nudity is a must in the soap world.”
Luke raised his hand. “I’ll take one for the team.”
Kade rubbed the back of his neck and ran his tongue over his teeth. If his mind had gears, I would be able to hear them grinding right about now. “I don’t understand,” he said. “You don’t … seem … gay.”
“Well, thank you for that,” Luke said. “That’s possibly very flattering – or very obnoxious, depending on how you meant it. I’m taking it as the greatest compliment I’ve ever heard. I’m going to include it in my Christmas newsletter this year.”
“No more with the Christmas newsletter,” I ordered, extending a finger in his direction. “You send them only to us, and we already know how your year went.”
“I thought you might like a recap,” Luke sniffed.
“My favorite part is when he makes us take a quiz after we’ve read it,” Nellie said, his green dress slipping off his shoulder. I have no idea why he’s taken to wearing dresses on nights we don’t have shows. I asked him once. He mentioned something about “airing out his bits” and that was all I could take. I never asked again. “He even supplies the Number 2 pencils.”
“You only like the quiz because you pass it,” Nixie shot back. “I had to go to three study sessions before he passed me last year.”
“Everybody shut up!” Kade’s voice boomed.
“I hope that’s not your bedroom voice, dude, because Poet doesn’t like being yelled at when it comes time to thread the needle,” Luke said.
“Stop doing that,” I ordered, cuffing Luke.
“Yes, Luke, stop doing that,” Raven said, her tone overly dramatic and irritated. “It’s extre
mely juvenile.”
Kade shifted his attention to Raven, almost as if he’d forgotten she was present. The look on his face was murderous. “You’re the one who told me Luke wasn’t gay,” he said. “I asked you about his relationship with Poet and you said they were together.”
“They are together,” Raven replied, rolling her eyes. “They’re codependent and annoying. I happen to know they’ve slept in the same bed a time or two.”
“So what?” Luke asked. “We like to watch movies and eat popcorn. It’s not like we’re doing anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was gay?” Kade pressed, his eyes scorching Raven as she shifted uncomfortably.
“I didn’t think it mattered,” Raven replied. “I don’t like to talk out of turn.”
I snorted while Luke sent Raven a withering look.
“We all know you didn’t tell Kade the truth because you hoped he would have sex with you before it came out,” Luke said. “Once that happened he would’ve been yours forever, because Poet would never sleep with someone who you nailed first.”
“I thought Poet was joking when she said that,” Kade said.
“Yes, everyone loves a good herpes joke,” Luke said, patting Kade’s shoulder. “That’s not a joke. If you ever sleep with Raven you’re never going to get a chance to wind Poet’s clock.”
“Luke, I will kill you,” I seethed.
“Promises, promises.”
Kade pinched the bridge of his nose. He was either getting a headache or was trying to silence us with his mind. I didn’t blame him on either front. “I don’t understand how I didn’t know this,” he said finally.
“I think Raven was working overtime so you never would,” Luke said.
“Hey, it’s not my fault he can’t see what’s right in front of him,” Raven said. “I never came out and said Luke was straight.”
“You said they were in love with one another,” Kade challenged.
“They are.” Raven was miffed. “Are you going to walk me back to my trailer now? I’m tired and I don’t want to walk alone.”
Kade ignored Raven’s performance and focused on me. “She said you’re in love with Luke.”
“I love Luke,” I said. “He’s the best friend I’m ever going to have.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me all of this?”
“I … .” I broke off, biting my lip. Why didn’t I?
“She’s afraid to open herself up to you,” Luke supplied, stabbing the leftover chicken from my plate and moving it to his as he sat back down at the picnic table. “You’re the first guy to turn her head in … I don’t know how long. She thinks you’ll crush her if she lets you in.”
“And what do you think?” Kade prodded.
“I think you two are so hot for one another you’re likely to burn the fairgrounds down if you don’t do something about it,” Luke said. “I cannot make either of you mature enough to handle the outcome when you do finally attempt the featherbed jig, though. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. I’m prepared to deal with the fallout. I just can’t take much more of … this.”
“WELL, that went well!”
I can usually sense Luke coming from a mile away. I didn’t tonight. He’d either masked his approach or I was too caught up in my own thoughts to feel his mind when it brushed against mine.
“I think you were at a different dinner than I was,” I said, leaning back in the lounge chair outside my trailer and staring up at the clear sky. There wasn’t a cloud anywhere. I generally loved nights like this. Tonight was different.
Luke dragged his own lounge chair over and plopped it down next to mine, climbing into it with a dramatic sigh before sipping his beer and casting a sidelong look in my direction. “Have you seen Kade since he stormed away from dinner?”
“Nope.”
“Do you want to see him?”
“Not particularly.”
“Are you going to keep answering my questions with short answers that are meant to be mean?” Luke pressed.
“Yes.”
“Well, at least you’re honest,” Luke said, chuckling. “Don’t worry about Kade. He’s grappled with worse. I think finding out that monsters and those who hunt them are real is much worse than finding out I’m gay. That might just be me projecting, though.”
I tried to swallow my giggle and failed. “I didn’t expect him to take it so … hard.”
“I … .”
“You can let some of them go,” I warned. “I said the word ‘hard.’ You don’t need to turn it into a filthy word game.”
“For your information, honey, I was going to say something sweet and insightful about Kade,” Luke said.
“Oh … I’m sorry.”
“Now I totally want to turn it into a filthy word game, though.”
I groaned, rubbing the tender spot between my eyebrows as I rested my head against the back of the chair. “How long do you think I should give him? And, before you answer that, don’t turn this into a filthy answer. If you do, I’m going to wrestle you down and beat you.”
“And you give me such great openings … .” Luke complained.
“You’re right. That was a bit too easy.”
“It’s as if you’re doing it on purpose now,” Luke grumbled.
I smirked. “I’ll let you have one free one before bedtime. Make sure you use it wisely, though. If you use it too soon you’re going to kick yourself when the opportunity arises later.”
“That is a very good point,” Luke said, reaching over and snagging my hand so he could hold it. “I think you should probably go to him now.”
His answer surprised me. “Why?”
“He wants someone to be angry with,” Luke replied. “It’s just like you when you went to hide in the woods today. You were angry with yourself, but you couldn’t yell at yourself. Kade showed up and you yelled at him. You felt so good after that you kissed him. You’ve been holding out on me, by the way. We’re going to have to talk about that later.”
I ignored the second part of his statement. “Are you saying Kade feels stupid, so he needs someone to yell at?”
“I’m saying Kade feels stupid and he wants to yell at himself,” Luke clarified. “He’ll settle for yelling at you. The good news is that after he yells at you he’ll probably want to kiss you, too.”
“How do you know that?”
“Just a feeling,” Luke said. “He and I are going to have a long talk about encroaching on my territory, though. He was kissing my girlfriend behind my back.”
“I’m not your girlfriend,” I pointed out.
“He didn’t know that.”
I pushed myself up from my chair and leaned over to give Luke a kiss on the cheek. “No one can ever encroach on your territory. You are my best friend in the whole world.”
“I know. You’re mine, too.”
“I still don’t think you should’ve told him the way you did,” I said, straightening.
“You’ll live.”
“I guess.” I started moving away from the trailer, but Luke stopped me by calling out my name. I turned back and fixed him with a weary look. “What?”
“Can I borrow your Star Trek DVD collection?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Well, I figure if you’re going to go and violate the prime directive I should be able to live long and prosper at the same time,” Luke said, his grin so wide it almost swallowed his entire face. “Bam! And that’s how it’s done.”
“Goodnight, Luke.”
“Don’t forget my breakfast tomorrow morning,” Luke said. “I want sausage and bacon.”
“How about I beat you to death with the spatula?”
“As long as I have the bacon and sausage first, I’m game for anything,” Luke said, shooting me a wink. “Now go and … have fun.”
“I was expecting something dirtier,” I admitted, turning and heading back toward Kade’s trailer.
“I’ll recharge overnight and regale you with new e
ntries tomorrow morning – when I have bacon and sausage,” Luke said.
“I can’t wait.”
Twenty-Five
I opted to walk along the back of the trailers as I shuffled my way down to Kade’s. I still didn’t want to draw attention to my actions.
I live in a close-knit community of mostly well-meaning busybodies. My business was going to be their business eventually. That didn’t mean I wanted them to know I was in Kade’s trailer … at least not yet.
The Nebraska sky was clear and it was early enough in the season for the air to still be crisp after dark. Oppressive heat and humidity would descend on the area relatively soon. We would be long gone by that time, though.
By the time I reached Kade’s trailer I was a bundle of nerves. I knew Luke was right – don’t ever tell him I said that – and Kade needed to vent his frustration on someone. As far as embarrassment goes, I could ride the express train with him, but it’s not fun.
Kade’s trailer is newer than everyone else’s and boasts two exits – a normal front door and a sliding glass door in the back. I was so enamored with the design I was considering forking out my hard-earned dough to upgrade.
I raised my hand to knock on the door, freezing when I saw two figures gesturing toward one another on the other side of the glass. It was Kade and Raven. Whatever they were saying to one another, it didn’t appear friendly.
Then again … maybe I was reading what I wanted to see into the situation. Maybe they were having a good laugh at my expense. Maybe they’d already slept together and Raven was negotiating a repeat performance.
Yes, my imagination is legendary. I can’t help it. I can convince myself of anything in five seconds flat.
I lowered my hand and turned to head back to my trailer. Kade must have noticed motion because he stalked to the door and yanked it open before I made it more than a few feet.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I think the better question is: What are you doing here?” Raven said, her hands on her hips as she regarded me. “Kade is busy with me. Try coming back tomorrow morning, although I can’t guarantee he won’t be too tired to see you.”
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