Evan shrugs. “A very boring one.”
“I can see that.”
We make our way back toward the midway, straight for the Sugar Shack. Evan’s eyes are everywhere, taking in the different booths and tents, like she doesn’t know what to look at first.
“Liz,” Eros says, leaning against the ordering counter. The chick from earlier has her elbows propped against the counter, smacking her gum. Her dark hair is a little too greasy, and her lipstick a little too red, but she’s pretty in a rough way. Especially in comparison to some of the other lot lizards.
“I told you. It’s Destiny.” Her gaze floats past Eros, landing on Evan. “What are you looking at?”
Evan looks taken aback for a minute, and I almost feel bad for her. Carny chicks are rough as hell. Most of these people have had to fight all their lives. Fight to eat. Fight to work. Fight to live. There aren’t very many of them. They’re treated like queens by the men around here, so they think they can get away with running their mouths, knowing they’ll be protected when the shit hits the fan. But Evan squares her shoulders and stares right back.
“I’m not sure yet.” She cocks her head to the side, assessing. “Still trying to figure it out.”
“Oh, you think you’re funny, bitch?” Destiny pushes open the side door to the food truck, but Eros is there to act as a barricade. I stand in front of Evan, just in case, but she doesn’t so much as flinch. Her arms are crossed, eyes challenging. I got to hand it to her. She’s scrappy, and I didn’t see it coming.
Eros leans down to say something into Destiny’s ear, and the fight all but leaves her as she sags against him. I look over my shoulder at Evan who’s watching the scene with her nose scrunched up, like she smells dog shit.
I chuckle, reaching into the window and plucking one of the bags of cotton candy hanging from a line on the ceiling of the food truck, then I grab Evan’s hand, leading her away. “Let’s go.”
She stares down at our linked hands with a crease between those blue eyes, and I drop hers like it’s burned me. It’s the second time I’ve willingly reached for her tonight.
Untying the bag of cotton candy, I hold it out in offering. Evan pinches a piece off, bringing the fluffy pink sugar to her lips of the same color. I watch intently as she closes those lips around her finger, sucking off the sticky remnants. When she’s done, I find her watching me with an arched eyebrow.
I clear my throat. “You look like you enjoyed that.”
“As much as you enjoyed watching me enjoy it?”
“Not even close.”
Evan laughs—the first real laugh I’ve heard from her—and snatches the bag from my hand. “Give me that.” She looks over her shoulder at the Sugar Shack just in time to see the door slam shut. “Is he going to be okay?”
“My guess is he’s more than okay right about now.” The Sugar Shack starts rocking, solidifying that assumption.
“Classy.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’re known for…here at the carnival,” I joke. Anyone associated with the carnival automatically has a bad reputation. We’re known for being dirty and conniving and untrustworthy. Even worse, some of the stereotypes are true. We don’t steal children in the night, and we’re literate—most of us, anyway. But drugs, deception, drama…it’s all par for the course. Most bunkhouses have showers these days, so cleanliness isn’t an issue anymore, though some of the older generation seems to be too set in their ways to change now.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I’m fucking with you, Evan. Relax.” I wasn’t trying to make her feel bad. It’s good to know she might have a soul somewhere in there, though.
She nods, and we wander as she eats the cotton candy. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, showing this chick around like she’s my date, but here I am doing just that. The ride jocks and the jointees eye us with varying expressions of curiosity and, for some of the chicks, jealousy. But Evan is completely oblivious to the fact that she’s about to be the latest gossip in this whole damn camp.
“Oh!” Evan stops short, shoving the bag of cotton candy into my chest. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” she says excitedly.
“Don’t waste your money,” I say, trying to pull her away. “You know it’s all hocus pocus.”
“Well, duh. That’s part of the fun.”
“Suit yourself.”
“You’re not going to come with me??
??
“Not a chance.”
Evan hesitates, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. “Wait for me?”