“How about you?” Rebel asked. “Wanna ride the sky swing with me?”
I saw Sully fight to keep from grinning on the other side of him and knew I would never hear the end of it from either of them if I didn’t say yes.
“Only if you promise not to scream in my ear the entire time,” I shot back.
“Thought you liked it when I screamed in your ear?”
It was a good thing I wasn’t drinking anything; I’d have snorted it out of my nose at his smartass remark.
“Behave,” I warned.
“This is me behaving.”
Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Of course it is.”
Since it fit eight riders on each end, everyone who wanted to ride was able to load up and wave to the folks on the ground. Several had their phones out and were videoing or taking pictures as the ride started, slowly lifting us into the air. It was the last slow thing that happened as we were flipped, flung, and spun, hollering our fool heads off at the intensity of the ride.
“And you were getting on my case about screaming,” Rebel whispered in my ear as we waited for the safety bars to be released at the end of the ride. “That was the loudestholy shitI’ve ever heard.”
“I’m sure I can think of ways to make you cry out,holy shit, just as loud,” I replied.
“Promises, promises,” Rebel sang, flashing me that wickedsmirk of his. “Try adding a menacing growl at the end next time, and I might believe it.”
“I’ll give you a menacing growl,” I grumbled as we climbed out.
“I certainly hope so.”
I was never going to win a war of comebacks with him, I decided right then and there. At least not any that drifted into naughty territory. With just a few lines, he had me wishing that we were alone somewhere so I could show him just how seriously I took my promises.
After a series of whiplash-inducing rides, we found ourselves on the carousel, one of the few rides that everyone was willing to get on.
“Giddyap!” Johnny hollered.
“You’ll never take me alive!” Rebel declared.
“Come back here, you varmint!” I yelled, and Rebel whipped his head around to grin at me, howlingNever!
“We’ll catch him in the pass!” came Kit’s rallying cry, and a deafening cheer rose up from band members and superfans alike.
It was a good group of people too. Folks you could tell seriously cared about the band as people and performers and were enjoying the opportunity to hang out with them, laugh, and joke about who was going to be the first to start vomiting. So far, we hadn’t had to pause so someone could blow chunks in a trashcan, but we hadn’t hit the concession stand yet.
It didn’t surprise me that the boardwalk and all the games caught everyone’s attention, with fans and bandmates lining up to shoot water in a clown's mouth to see who could send their clown to the top of the wall the fastest. A few, including Rebel, wound up pitching darts at a wall of balloons, trying to win one of the stuffed animals dangling all over the booth.
“Oops, shit!” one of the superfans yelped when their dart bounced off a balloon and ricocheted towards the guy operating the booth.
“All good, brutha,” the guy replied after nimbly sidesteppingthe sharp tip. “Happens all the time; it keeps me on my toes.”
Rebel’s tongue poked from between his lips as he lined up his next shot. So far, he’d only missed one of the balloons he’d aimed at, and every one of them had popped. Two small stuffed critters sat beside his hand. He’d chosen them without care, barely giving them the once-over before selecting one. I wondered if he intended to sign them and give them to fans. If that was his plan, he’d need to win eighteen more to keep everyone happy. A few more shots, and he won a third one and traded those three in for a medium-sized bulldog wearing a studded leather jacket, spiked leather collar, and matching boots.
Now that was seriously badass.
He took a few selfies with it and some of the superfans, as well as the guy manning the booth, grin stretching his face wide when he finally turned away from the darts and held the bulldog out to me. Taking it was an automatic reflex, thinking he wanted me to hang on to it for him. I didn’t expect the words that followed.
“He reminded me of you, so I thought you should have him.”
Shit.
I was going to treasure this fucking bulldog until the end of time. Seriously. No one had ever won something for me before. A few flashes went off beside us, but he didn’t seem to care that this moment was going to wind up all over social media. It hit me, as a group of us swarmed the cotton candy booth, that I never had to worry about him treating any relationship we had like some dirty secret.