1
One
“I don’t get why we’re going to the middle of nowhere.”
Kade Denton, my boyfriend and magical partner, kept his eyes on Interstate-65 as he navigated the traffic in search of the correct exit.
“We’re not going to be in the middle of nowhere,” I countered, my eyes on the blurring foliage out the window. “We’re going to be in Cave City.”
“Oh, I looked at a map. Cave City is pretty much next to nowhere.”
I had to smile at his tone. He was generally amiable. He was new to the circus life — well, relatively so — and liked to learn. Every time he thought he had a handle on what we were doing, though, someone pulled the rug out from under him.
That someone was usually me, Poet Parker. I’m second in command of Mystic Caravan Circus, which means I grasp the intricacies of our various jobs better than most. I simply had to remind myself it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t understand why this particular stop didn’t fit the rules as he knew them.
“It’s a festival gig,” I explained.
“It’s still in the middle of nowhere.” He refused to let it go. “You said we make money off guests, which means we need a lot of people to visit the circus. If there’s no one around, how do we make money?”
Slowly, I slid my eyes to him. He was the curious sort, always asking a lot of questions. This conversation seemed to have something else behind it. “Are you bucking for my job?”
He frowned. He had one of those angular faces that looked as if it’d been carved from granite. He was well built, muscles for miles, and he had warm eyes that went liquid when he was feeling romantic. He could make my knees buckle with a simple smile, which was not something I would admit to just anyone. He also had a tendency to be intense when pushed outside his comfort zone.
“What do you mean?” Kade countered. “I’m curious about why we’re going to the middle of nowhere.”
“It’s not the middle of nowhere. And you seem very intent on learning about each location we visit these days. Since it’s my job to worry about the locations, I can’t help but be curious.”
He rolled his eyes. “Please. I don’t want your job. I’m perfectly happy with my job ... and I like when we work together best. It’s just ... well ... I like to know about the places we land. If there’s a paranormal element, I prefer knowing about it before we’re attacked.”
Ah. That explained it. He wanted to know if we would be attacked by anything magical. As head of security, it was his job to keep us safe ... at least on paper. In reality, we all worked together to keep ourselves safe and eliminate any magical threat that might pop up. We’d had a busy few weeks, what with witches and grim reapers and even a rogue incubus. I had happy news for him.
“You don’t have to worry about Cave City,” I reassured him. “We’ve been here before. They have a few wendigos in the hills and I’ve seen a shifter or two in the area, but our visits are generally pretty quiet.”
Kade didn’t look convinced. “I believe you said the visit to California was supposed to be quiet, too. Oh, and Utah. Wasn’t that supposed to be quiet?”
I made a face. He had a point, which was something I didn’t want to acknowledge. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But we’ve never had a problem here. It’s quiet. And it’s a nice spot for a break before we push into the final part of our season.”
“That’s another thing I don’t get,” he admitted, checking the GPS and then flicking his eyes back to the road. “You’re basically saying we take the entire month of December off. How do we pay our bills?”
He was funny ... and cute ... and charming. He was also a worrier. It was one of the only things that bothered me about him. He needed to unclench just a little bit.
“We get paid the same,” I replied. “Think of it as a four-week vacation. We all go to Florida and hang out for a month, rest and relax, and then do it all over again. Our first stop once we’re back is Texas. We stick to the western states in the winter and spring before heading to the Midwest for summer.”
“I remember the route.” He slowly tracked his eyes to me, contemplative. “Are we going to be together in December?”
The question caught me off guard. “Last time I checked ... unless you don’t seem to think that’s going to be the case.” My blood ran cold at the prospect. “Do you want to go someplace else … like alone?”
“No,” he replied hurriedly, his cheeks flooding with color. “I want to be with you. Don’t be ridiculous. I think I phrased that question wrong. I just ... what are we going to do? Where are we going to stay? Do you have a place? Do I need to rent a place? I know it’s still two months away, but I like to be prepared for this stuff.”
Of course. That’s what he was worried about. I felt like a bit of an idiot when I realized he was concerned about having a roof over our heads rather than spending time with me. “I’m sorry.” I held up my hands in capitulation. “I didn’t mean to sound so crabby. I just thought ... .” I trailed off.
“You thought I was going to suddenly lose interest and take off.” His eyes narrowed. “Why would you assume that? I would think you’d know how I feel by now.” He waited a moment, and when I didn’t respond because I wasn’t sure what to say, he pushed forward. “When I said that I love you, I meant it. I didn’t mean it for one or two months either. I meant it forever.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Isn’t that a song from the 1980s?”
He shrugged, clearly on edge. “I love you for the long haul.”
His earnest nature caused me to heave out a sigh. “I know.” I reached over the console and grabbed his hand, giving it a hard squeeze. “I think this conversation got away from both of us. I love you. I’ve been looking forward to the Christmas break. We can spend an entire month together in Florida. I have a condo I keep there, so we have a place to stay. Although ... .” I wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.
“Although what?”
“Luke usually stays with me.” On instinct, I turned my head to look out the rearview mirror. The same blue truck had been behind us since we pulled up stakes and headed south … and that was more than a hundred miles ago. “I don’t know if he’ll be getting his own place this year or even if he’ll be coming to Florida. I guess it’s possible he’ll go to Akron ... or maybe even someplace else. I just don’t know.”
In addition to being my best friend, Luke Bishop served as a trapeze artist and fill-in ringmaster for Mystic Caravan. We’d been attached at the hip for years, practically doing everything together. Then Kade joined the outfit months before at the behest of his father Max Anderson, and the realities of our relationship shifted just a bit. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going to shift again.
Kade, on the other hand, was a big fan of the new development. It had been only two weeks since our stop in Akron, which is where Luke picked up an elemental named Cole Ryan, who just so happened to be an undercover police officer. If Cole had been human we would’ve modified his memory to cover up our part in the beheading of a murderous creature. But he was aware of the paranormal world, so we left things be ... and I was starting to regret it.