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“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “The others will be here soon. Don’t expect them to come up and hug and kiss you but watch them. I think you’ll see they’re warming up to you.”
“Warming up. How wonderful,” Theo said with the same sarcasm I’d given him. “I’ll invite them to Rio for Carnivale.”
“No need for all that. Just smile at them, maybe. I have seen you smile, though it’s mostly after you’ve done something retched.”
“Like you smiled when you threw me in with those feral creatures to be eaten?”
I slammed the knife down on the cutting board, laughed, and turned around to him. “Eaten? Those were mellow females. Maybe if I’d thrown you in with a mother and piglets or the cranky males.”
“Still! That was dangerous!”
“Okay, it was, and I am sorry. Okay?”
“Fine,” he said, brushing me off. “So, may I accompany you to town?”
“Can you, maybe, wear a disguise of some kind?”
“Yes. I’ll dress like the locals. Say, it could be fun, playing cowboy.”
Thinking of him in a tight pair of Wranglers and a cowboy hat made me want to tie him up in a barn and tear off his clothes with my teeth. I shook that thought off fast and handed him his plate. “Sure, it could be fun.”
“You’re red. Why are you red?”
“It’s hot in here,” I lied.
I glanced away from my food to see a smile curling his pretty red lips. “Mmmhmm.”
Eli and Noah showed up right after lunch, and Burke and Joel came soon after that, telling me Damon stayed behind with the animals. I could have kissed Joel as he came right to Theo and stuck out his hand. “Thanks for takin’ care o’ my friend.”
Theo’s face went slack with shock, and I kept my laughter at bay. He shook Joel’s hand, and then Joel spun around and declared, “Time ta kill Eli!”
Noah groaned, “Joel, please…”
I slapped Noah on the back and promised, “We’ll take it easy on him. Now, this has gotta look good. How do we make him look dead?”
“Makeup, of course,” Theo said. “I can do it…if you all would like.”
We all turned to him, and a round of surprise could be heard with the intake of breaths around the group. “You can do that?” Burke asked.
“Sure. Makeup is fun. My friends and I used to play around with looking sick to get out of school. Dead isn’t much harder.”
Impressed, Burke gave Theo, “That’s great. We’d appreciate it.”
He nodded and hooked his finger at Eli. “Come to my room.”
Noah got nervous over that, but once they’d gone in the house, I assured him, “He knows Eli is yours.”
“Little fucker better not touch him more than it takes to put makeup on him.”
“Eli’s bigger than him,” Burke said, laughing. “I think he can hold his own.”
We each got a beer and sat on the porch, waiting for what seemed like forever. Noah kept jumping at every noise, but Dale and Tucker pulled into the yard with a truckload of furniture and boxes. Dale got out and came to the porch, nodding to everyone else but shaking Noah’s hand. “Sir, how are ya?”
“Good. You all moving in, huh?”
“Yessir! Mr. MacLeod said we could.”
“He’s a nice man. That trailer, okay?”
