“Just a bit of friendly competition. First, we picked the girls we wanted, now—”
“You picked the girls you wanted?” I barely managed to get the words out.
“I know where your mind’s going, and it’s not like that. No one was taken against their will or anything.”
Hadn’t he taken me against my will?
It was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Remember, I asked you if you wanted me to let you go, and you said no.” His arm tightened around me. “Believe me, most girls would jump at the chance at being caught by one of us.” A low chuckle escaped his lips. “I can guarantee that you were the only one who really put up a fight.”
His hand ran up and down my back, and I relaxed under his touch. “Now, we get to do something to win bragging rights.”
“Bragging rights? And where did the girls go?” The questions fell from my lips before I could stop them, and I could only hope he wasn’t paying attention to my voice.
“Yeah. Bragging rights. As for the girls…they got taken on a nice little ride to the same place we’ll be going later. An all-night party.”
“I can’t stay out all night,” I whispered. Technically, I could, but I wasn’t about to. Carter started to say something, but I cut him off with another question. “Why didn’t you send me away with the other girls?”
He fell silent, then when he eventually spoke, his voice was full of confusion. “I don’t know?” He pulled me closer. “I hadn’t planned on keeping you with me. There’s something about you, though. Something addictive.”
“You don’t even know me.” I curled my body into his.
“Maybe that’s part of the fun,” he murmured, before he let me go.
A bolt of longing hit me. How I wished he’d show this side of himself to me in the outside world. I mean, I knew there had to be a nicer side to him, otherwise he wouldn’t be so popular, but I’d only ever been the recipient of his hate. I swallowed the lump in my throat at the thought that once he found out who I was, it was game over.
Needing a minute, I turned back towards the carnival, the lights blinking on and off enticingly and the sounds of music, laughter and screams filling the air. I sighed before I even realised what I was doing.
Carter’s head whipped around in my direction. “Shit,” he muttered. “I’m taking you away from all the fun, aren’t I?”
I stared at him in shock. “N-no. I’d rather be here with you. I’ve just…I’ve never been to anything like this before,” I told him truthfully.
He took my hand again and began tugging me back towards the carnival. My mouth fell open in stunned disbelief as he said, “Pick something. We have time.”
Once I’d convinced myself that I hadn’t been hallucinating and he was actually serious about taking me back, a huge smile spread across my face. Not that he’d be able to see it. I looked around me, at the rides and stalls illuminated by the lights cycling between colourful flashing neons to white strobes, then back again. What to pick? “Nothing with clowns. They freak me out.”
I hadn’t realised I’d said that aloud until he laughed. “No clowns. Got it. Anything else?”
“What would you pick?” As time went on, I grew bolder in speaking to him. He hadn’t recognised my voice yet, so I was more or less sure that I was in the clear.
“Me?” He seemed surprised that I’d asked. “Other than getting you back in the haunted house again?” His voice dropped to a low rasp as he pulled me closer.
“Something different,” I murmured. I didn’t think I’d survive another go inside there.
“Maybe that.” Letting go of my hand, he pointed towards the same shooting game that Captain America had been trying his luck at when I’d first arrived. “But we can do something else, if you want to go on the rides.”
I looked to the left of the shooting game to the neon blue Ferris wheel, standing tall among the other rides. “Do we have time for two things? The big wheel might be fun.”
“Really?” I heard the scepticism in his tone. “Are you sure?”
“Never mind. It was only a suggestion.” I turned away from the Ferris wheel and began walking in the direction of the shooting gallery.
Carter stopped me with a hand on my arm. “If that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it.” Before I could say another word, he dragged me towards the wheel. We stopped at the bottom, staring up, and I heard him swallow hard. A sudden thought struck me. Was the fearless Carter Blackthorne afraid of heights? No. I dismissed that thought as soon as I’d had it. Something told me that there was a story behind his reluctance, though.
“We don’t have to do this,” I murmured softly, going up on my toes so I could speak in his ear.
“We do.” Without another word, he paid the man in the booth, waving away my offer of payment. He led me over to the car, and I slid inside. The attendant clicked the bar into place, and Carter tugged me into his body. “Good thing you’re so tiny,” I heard him say under his breath as he sprawled out in the cramped space. The ride juddered to life, and he clutched the bar with the hand that wasn’t around me. We ascended slowly as the other cars filled, and I heard him groan quietly as we got higher, his leg bouncing restlessly.
“Are you okay?” I ventured.
“Fine,” he muttered brusquely, and I shrank back. He huffed out a breath. “It’s nothing. Just a stupid fucking…never mind.”
“Tell me,” I commanded softly, tentatively placing my hand on his thigh, his powerful muscles tense under my palm.
“When I was a kid, my dad made me read this story in the paper. No idea what his thinking was behind it; he said he wanted
