Page 43 of Freak Show

When they’d dropped the bikes off, they’d forgotten to leave any helmets, so I’d resigned myself to going slow until I could find where my helmet had been left. Oh, and until I could get to the store to buy one, because it wasn’t like my big-headed helmet would stay on her head.

I let go of the left side of my handlebars and squeezed Ari’s ample hip—God, did she have the perfect body—and said, “We won’t go any faster than this until we can get some helmets.”

Before she could reply, I felt her body go completely limp.

I cursed and put my arm back onto the handlebars and caught her body as she slumped sideways.

She wasn’t in danger of falling off or anything, but she was definitely making it rather awkward to turn to the left.

Luckily, the ride to where we were staying was a short one.

We were pulling into the driveway just as she seemed to come out of the episode.

“Shit, sorry.” She groaned as she sat up straighter. “This is such a pain in the ass.”

The way she sounded so sad and upset had me wanting to squeeze her into a bear hug the way I did Briley and never let go.

I squeezed her hip again instead, then got off.

Before she could choose one side of the other, I bodily lifted her off the bike and made sure she was steady before letting her go.

I kept my hands there ready to catch her, just in case.

“I’m fine,” she assured me. “I saw the whole thing happening, though. It was still fun to experience, but I know it couldn’t have been that great for you.”

I snorted. “It was fine.”

It wasn’t ideal, but I made it work.

“I’m sure it wasn’t, but okay.” She looked around. “This place is huge.”

“Trance and Viddy live right there—” I pointed across the pond toward a two-story house. “Ford and Ash right here when they come stay—” I pointed to the next cabin on the lake, which was directly next to where the RV we were staying in for the night was parked. “That’s Oakley and Pace’s cabin. Then there’s Banner and Perry’s cabin. This is Ford’s RV he was staying in when they came down for a visit before the cabins were finished.”

I walked up to the RV and opened it up using a code to get in, then swung it wide and said, “In, hurry. There are bugs all over the place out here.”

She hurried as fast as she could up the steps after picking up her suitcase, and before she could haul it even partially inside, I had it out of her hand without another word.

She followed inside, giving me a fantastic view of her ass as she did, and I had to fist my hands to keep from reaching out and touching it.

“Wow,” she breathed as she took a look around. “I’ve lived in RVs my whole life, and this one is by far one of the nicest ones I’ve ever stepped foot in.”

I grinned. “That’s because Ford is a little glamping queen,” I drawled. “He doesn’t like camping when there are modern-day amenities he could be utilizing. He paid a lot of money to make sure that he didn’t remotely feel like he was camping.”

She giggled and walked forward and touched a lightbulb that looked like a perfectly shaped penis.

I was fairly sure that Ford hadn’t had that thought, otherwise the lightbulbs would be gone.

But Titus and I liked to joke every time we stayed in here that they resembled rather phallic-shaped objects.

“It’s nice,” she said. “And spacious. It looks like it would be a bear to pull around.”

“I don’t think it’s moved since they bought it.” I walked up the two steps to the master bedroom and shoved her suitcase across the floor. “There’s only one shower, though. So we’ll have to share the master bedroom.”

She looked at the shower, which was directly behind the living room, peeking her small body around the corner but in front of my body so that she could see within the small space.

“A full shower,” she mused. “That’s awesome, too.”

“You don’t have a full shower in the bus y’all use?” I asked.

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