Page 51 of Eight Second Hearts

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Beau appear on the other side of the short spinning tunnel, his eyes dancing between us. He’s still wearing his clown makeup. According to him, he needed it to really enjoy a carnival fully. His grin is still plastered on his face as he takes in the situation.

“Come on,” the man says with a grin. “Don’t be a bitch.”

My brows shoot up. “How ‘bout you stop being a douchebag and realize I’m not interested?”

“Everything okay, little outsider?” Beau asks from the other end of the tunnel. I appreciate that he doesn’t immediately rush to my aid, mostly because he knows I can handle myself. I can feel the threat in his voice despite the chipper tone. The idiot who has a hold of me clearly doesn’t.

“Get your own bitch,” the man tells him. “I’ve claimed this one.”

The air shifts. I’ve only ever felt such danger in the air during my time overseas, right before the air stills and you can hear a missile in the air. The air feels electric in those time, not because of the missile, but because every hair on your body stands on end as you wait to see if you’re in its path or not.

“This lady isn’t interested,” I tell the douchebag. “Now let me go before I make you.”

He narrows his eyes, and I watch his hand twitch toward the pocketknife on his hip. I’m not sure how he got the thing in here when they make you walk through the metal detectors. Clearly, someone had been slipping.

“I suggest you not do that,” I tell him, meeting his eyes. If I can deescalate, maybe this will be fine, but I shouldn’t expect such logical actions from someone who tries to hold a woman hostage for a kiss. He’s clearly had too much to drink, if the smell of him is any indication, but that doesn’t excuse this behavior.

His hand moves toward the knife, and the electric feeling in the air increases tenfold. From the corner of my eyes, Beau shoots across the tunnel, leaping through it in barely a few steps with more grace than I’d been capable of. He’s in front of the man before I can even react, his eyes blazing fire while his smile stays firmly in place. He grabs the knife from the man’s hip and flicks it open. He has it pressed against the man’s throat before he can even move to stop him.

“Release her,” Beau says, and though he wears a smile, his voice is nothing but threatening.

The man immediately releases my hand and puts his hands up. “Hey man. My mistake,” he tries.

I assume that’ll be the end of it.

I’m wrong.

Beau nods and flicks the knife closed. “Good boy,” he tells him, before he swings. One punch to the nose, one to the eye, and an elbow to the face. It happens so quickly, I barely have time to gasp as the man drops to the metal floor, out cold. He lands on one of those spinning circles in the floor, so his body starts to spin. It’d be funny if Beau hadn’t just laid out this much bigger man with barely any effort.

Beau kneels down and stops the spin with his knee briefly. He sets the pocketknife on his chest and pats him.

‘When a lady says no, she means no,” he says with a laugh. “Also, this knife is cheap as fuck. Bad steel. Maybe upgrade that.”

He stands back up and faces me, and the danger oozes from him in waves. For the first time, I realize just how unpredictable Beau Rogers is as he grins at me, his head tilted to the side asRam and Tripp appear from the other side, frowns on their faces as they see the spinning unconscious man.

“Now where were we, little outsider?” Beau asks me, gesturing to the rest of the funhouse, unconcerned with the event that had just happened.

Ram scowls down at the man on the floor. “What the hell happened?”

“He was accosting our Indie bird. I made him leave her alone,” Beau says with a shrug.

I can’t take my eyes off of the rodeo clown, mostly because it feels as if I shouldn’t. “I didn’t need you to do that,” I tell him. I’ve been trained to defend myself, both my classes and the military men and women who I’d spent time with. I could have handled one asshole.

Beau’s grin widens and he steps closer to me. I don’t step away, but damn if it doesn’t take all my willpower when Beau leaks so much aggressive energy. “Little outsider,” he purrs, “I’d kill for you.” He dusts my shoulder off. “Remember that.”

And then he skips over to the next shaking walkway as if he hadn’t just said both the scariest and sexiest words to me any man has ever said. “Alas! Let us continue! I’d like to win you a teddy bear from one of the scam games outside. I’m pretty sure I have ‘em figured out!”

I stare after him, not sure if I’d fucked up in letting him get attached to me or not. When I look at Ram, his expression says everything I need to know.

It’s too late now. I made my bed. It’s time to lie in it.

Somehow, that doesn’t scare me as much as it should.

Chapter 30

Indie

The large, fuzzy rainbow bear he wins me sits on the floor of the truck beside my duffle bag, the thing taking up more space than Bilbo normally would. The dog in question is in the middle up front, his head resting on Tripp’s lap while they both sleep. Beau is driving, softly singing along with the radio. Ram is in the backseat with me, his head turning toward me every now and then to flash a smile at me as I write up a few articles for Frank.

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