Chapter 9 — The Ferris Wheel Problem #2
I changed into shorts and a clean shirt while Tatum shouted fair priorities through my bedroom door and Penny leaned in the hallway pretending she wasn't enjoying every second of it.
Kiki and Shay left first, armed with keys, a grocery list, and the kind of private smile that made me want to cancel the entire county fair and keep them in my house all day.
I was halfway to the front door with Tatum bouncing ahead of me and Penny waiting beside it when my phone buzzed.
Kiki: Do you have pasta? Real answer, please.
I typed back: Possibly. Depends how strict you're being about expiration dates.
Kiki: We're bringing pasta.
Then Shay: be good. actually don't. bring them back overheated and emotionally compromised. also i love you.
I looked at the words longer than I needed to. Love you. In my phone. In my kitchen. In my house that wasn't mine alone anymore.
Penny slid into the passenger seat of my truck with her thigh brushing mine. Tatum climbed into the back and immediately leaned between the seats, vibrating with plans.
"Drive," Penny said.
"Where?"
Her hand landed on my knee, light enough to be innocent if anyone saw and heavy enough that my body knew better.
"Into trouble."
Tatum whooped from the back seat.
So I drove.
***
The fair hit like summer had been deep-fried and rolled in sugar.
Heat came off the midway in waves. Grass had been trampled into dust by a thousand feet.
Music clashed from rides and game booths until the whole fairground sounded like three different parties fighting in a field.
Fried dough, kettle corn, sunscreen, hot metal, livestock from somewhere beyond the food tents, and the sweet burn of cotton candy all piled into the air until every breath tasted sticky.
Tatum was gone the second we passed through the gate.
Not actually gone. She had one hand locked around my wrist, so if she went, I went with her.
Copper-red hair flashing in the sun, shorts riding high on her thighs, eyes bright with purpose, she dragged me toward the midway like she had been given twelve hours to live and intended to spend all of them screaming on unsafe machinery.
Penny stayed on my other side.
Her fingers slid between mine.
No hesitation. No stumble. No little glance around to see who was watching before she did it. She just took my hand, laced our fingers together, and leaned in as we walked until her bare shoulder brushed my arm with every step.
I felt it all the way down my spine.
The Bell family found us near the Zipper.
Danny Bell was already holding a funnel cake, which meant he had been at the fair for less than ten minutes and had completed his first priority. He saw Tatum towing me and let out a laugh big enough to make three people turn.
"There he is. The only man brave enough to sign up for Trouble duty."
Laura Bell kissed my cheek. "Thank you for coming. She gets worse when you're not here."
"She gets worse when I'm here," I said.
"Yes, but you're better at catching her."
Brody Bell appeared with a basketball under one arm and a grin that looked like it had been built specifically to annoy his sister. "Tater, you starting with the Zipper? Bold choice. Very brave. Very likely to end with Luke carrying you like a sack of potatoes."
"Don't call me Tater."
"Potato?"
Tatum pointed at him. "I'll throw this whole fair at you."
Marley Bell popped up beside Brody, phone already out, volume already set to emergency broadcast. "If she flies out, I'm filming. For history. And also because the group chat deserves nice things."
"Nobody is flying out," Laura said.
Tatum turned to me and grinned. "Hold me tighter anyway."
The Rourkes arrived with less noise and more polish.
Declan Rourke shook my hand with the calm approval of a man who trusted me completely, which was becoming one of the more dangerous things in my life.
Celeste looked cool and expensive in white linen, sunglasses on, mouth curved in a smile that took in every angle.
Pierce hung back, stylish and quiet, already noticing more than I wanted him to.
Saylor had her phone in hand and the expression of a woman documenting history for people who would absolutely overreact to it later.
"Penny, sweetheart," Celeste said, "stay close to Luke. Crowds are awful today."
Penny squeezed my hand. "I planned to."
Celeste smiled and moved on like that explained everything.
It didn't explain everything.
The families broke apart in the loose, chaotic way fair groups did. Danny and Declan got pulled toward the food tents. Laura and Celeste slowed near a booth selling handmade candles. Brody and Marley started arguing about whether the basketball game was rigged before anyone had even taken a shot.
Tatum dragged us toward lemonade, which meant Penny and I got maybe thirty seconds of walking like something that could almost pass for normal if no one looked too closely.
That was when Penny's college friends found us.
Avery Vale arrived first, tall and easy, her smile already too knowing.
Sienna Brooks stood beside her, bright-eyed and sharp, the kind of woman who looked harmless right up until she said exactly the thing everyone else was thinking.
Miles Arden followed with a relaxed grin and the calm confidence of a guy who wasn't trying to compete with anyone.
Avery looked at our joined hands, then at Penny's shoulder pressed to mine. "So this is Luke."
"This is Luke," Penny said.
Sienna smiled like she had caught a door left open. "The Luke."
"There are other Lukes," I said.
"Not in Penny's stories."
Penny's fingers tightened. "Be normal."
"Absolutely not," Avery said. "Couples photo."
"We're not a couple," Penny said, with exactly zero conviction.
Sienna already had her phone up. "That's a very couple thing to say while holding his hand."
Penny turned into me, natural as breathing. Her arm slid around my waist. Her hip touched mine. Her face tilted toward my shoulder with a smile anyone in her family could write off as playful and anyone with functioning eyes could read as claim.
Sienna snapped the photo and looked at the screen. "Disgusting. Perfect. I hate you both."
Miles laughed. "You should come Friday. Avery's thing."
"Sienna's birthday thing," Avery corrected.
"It's at your place."
"That's because my place has the pool."
Sienna waved a hand. "Couples night. Drinks, food, trivia, maybe cards. Normal civilized fun before Avery turns it into a dance floor."
Penny looked at me. There was a question there, but it wasn't whether she wanted to go. It was whether I understood what the word couples did to her when other people said it and assumed I belonged beside her.
"Sounds fun," I said.
Penny's smile warmed by three dangerous degrees. "We'll come."
We.
The word landed. Avery's eyebrows went up. Sienna bit her lip around a grin. Miles gave me a friendly little nod like something had been settled.
The Rourkes didn't hear it. Declan was talking to Danny about dock permits. Celeste was pretending not to judge a corn dog. Pierce saw enough to file it away. Saylor saw everything, because Saylor didn't have an off switch.
Then Tatum grabbed my other arm and yanked.
"Zipper," she said. "Now. Before Brody implies I'm scared and I have to commit a felony."
The Zipper was a metal cage designed by someone who had never loved another human being. Tatum climbed in first, then immediately changed the geometry by backing into my lap as the ride attendant lowered the bar.
"This seat is tiny," I said.
"Good thing you're sturdy."
"Tatum."
She looked over her shoulder, eyes sparkling. "What? I'm safer this way."
The ride lurched. Her ass pressed hard into my thighs.
My hands went to her waist because the alternative was letting her ricochet around the cage.
The thin cotton of her tank had ridden up enough that my fingers found warm skin, and she made a sound that was either laughter or something she had disguised as laughter for the sake of everyone in line.
The cage flipped.
Tatum screamed with joy and clutched my forearms. Her back hit my chest. Her hair whipped my jaw.
Every time the ride spun, her body slid against mine with bright, reckless friction, and all the old categories failed.
This wasn't babysitting. This wasn't Trouble being Trouble.
This was a woman using every inch of plausible deniability to put herself exactly where she wanted to be.
Against me.
When the ride stopped, she collapsed into my chest, laughing so hard she shook.
Danny applauded from the railing. "That's my girl."
Brody cupped his hands around his mouth. "Potato survives."
"I'm not a potato," Tatum yelled.
Marley took a picture of Tatum still half in my lap. "You're right now."
Tatum hopped down, grabbed my hand, and pulled me straight into a funnel cake line. "I need sugar."
"You need a moment to let your inner ear recover."
"My inner ear loves drama."
She got powdered sugar on her fingers within thirty seconds. When she wiped them on my forearm, I should have complained. Before I could, Penny caught my arm and brushed the sugar away with her own fingertips, slow and deliberate, her thumb dragging over my skin like she was cleaning a wound.
Her eyes met mine.
No one watching could prove a thing.
My body knew.
The next hour turned into a study in two kinds of danger.
Tatum was impact. She pulled me into Skee-Ball lanes and reached across my body for balls that weren't actually in her way.
She climbed onto a bench and made me help her down even though she had hopped up there without assistance.
She demanded I win her a stuffed unicorn, then squealed and wrapped both arms around my neck when I did, her breasts, way too big for her tiny frame, pressed to my chest in the middle of the midway while Danny laughed and Laura shook her head like this was just what Tatum did.
It was what Tatum did.
It was also what Tatum wanted.
Penny was pressure.