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I sank into the seat of the Ferris wheel, which was moving higher and higher into the sky. “Great,” I mumbled. “More enemies. Just what I need.”
“This will all pass soon,” he said. “It’s just petty, arrogant bastards trying to take something that doesn’t belong to them.”
I tried to pay attention to what Alek was saying, but my focus was captured by the carnival below us. “We’re really high up here,” I whispered. The wind began to pick up, rocking the chair of the Ferris wheel back and forth.
Alek’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “Are you afraid of heights?” When I glanced at him, he was smiling.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I’ve never been this high up before.”
“Really?” he asked. “So if I do this…” He moved his body backward and then forward harshly, causing our already fragile seat to rock.
“Alek!” I squealed. “What the hell are you doing!”
“Just giving you a taste of what you missed out on at all these carnivals when you were younger.”
I held onto the outer bar tightly with one hand, and gripped Alek’s thigh instinctively with the other. “Don’t you dare do that again!” I ordered.
“Or else what?” he teased. “What, exactly, are you going to do about it?”
I had no idea what had gotten into him. After what happened at that cabin, after how he spoke to me, I was certain he’d had enough. This was all just a stupid deal to him, anyway. He didn’t need to be nice to me. He didn’t need to protect me at a carnival, and he sure as hell didn’t need to make me laugh.
I was either an idiot, or Alek actually had fun around me.
“I wasn’t sure you would even talk to me today,” I said quietly.
“Yeah,” Alek agreed. “I wasn’t so sure I would, either.”
His words hurt me in a way I wasn’t expecting them to. “But why? What’s with the complete change of pace? I thought things were going fine with our deal.”
“Things were going fine,” he agreed. “But there’s… there’s more that you don’t know. About me. About my life. Things I can’t tell you.”
“Then tell me,” I pushed. “Tell me what’s changed your mind.”
“Nothing’s changed my mind,” he said. He took a long breath and turned his head to the sky. “Being around me is dangerous for you. It took me way too long to realize that.”
I knew that wasn’t the real reason. Alek had absolutely no problem putting me in danger after we first met. He never once mentioned anything about protecting me, or about me getting hurt.
“Fine,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him about it, and if he didn’t want to tell me the truth, then there was nothing I could do to change his mind. “Whatever you say.”
Instead of focusing on how many people were at this damned carnival, I focused on everything else. The twinkling string lights above us reminded me of the stars that Alek had taken me to see that cold night. Damn. That seemed like ages ago now.
I had learned so much since then. I had changed so much.
We rode the rest of the Ferris wheel in silence. Alek didn’t talk to me again until we were stepping off the ride. “Hungry?” he asked.
I shrugged, but my stomach chose that exact moment to rumble loudly. I hadn’t eaten at all today, and the smell of carnival food was in the air. “I guess I could eat,” I hesitantly answered.
“Good,” he said. “Follow me. Your next lesson will be on carnival food.”
I began following as tightly as I could behind Alek, but the crowd was absolute chaos. Alek was taller than almost everyone else, but I could only see a few inches ahead. It only took a few seconds before someone shoved me sideways, and I lost track of Alek.
I reminded myself not to panic. I knew the direction he was moving. If he got too far ahead, he would find me.
He would look for me.
I continued trying to maneuver myself through the thick sea of bodies that blocked my path until a hand clamped down on my wrist from behind me.
“Look who we have here,” a man’s voice approached from behind me. I spun around to find a tall stranger approaching me.
