As the Crow Flies

He could, however, time it so their car spun to a halt directly in front of him. It might have been wishful thinking, but he could have sworn when he went to their car to check the safety bar that he’d been checked out. Goddess knows, he’d been giving Mister Black Hair the once over as the other man gathered up his long hair into a messy man bun.

The ride came to a halt and Mister Black Hair’s car halted across from Caden’s booth. His grin still in place, he caught Caden looking at him and if anything, his grin widened.

And he fucking winked.

Caden smirked, heat surging into his face. Mister Black Hair smirked back and got up to walk with his friend off the ride.

Was the guy his friend? Or his friend?

Man, dating was a pain in the ass.

“Hey, Caden, you’re done for the night!” Lana bounced up.

She had makeup on. Did her mom know? Lana claimed earlier it was so she looked older, since she wasn’t allowed to run the rides at seventeen. Damn, let a state inspector show up; he was tired after working a long three day weekend.

“Thanks, hon,” he told her and got up to stretch. “I’m starved.”

“Margret said to tell you the groceries are here.” Lana flounced over and took her place on the stool. “Now shoo. I’m hunting.”

Caden barked a laugh. “God help the het men on the planet. And Goddess help you if your mom discovers you’re dating.”

“You’re just jealous.” She rolled her eyes, but glanced over her shoulder afterwards to make sure her parental unit wasn’t around.

“I might be, at that.” He winked at her. “Real quick, have Maintenance take a look at the controls, okay? Bonzo, if he’s free. They’re really hot. They did earlier and said it was fine to run an extra day, but I want them to take another look.”

“All right.” She waved at him and he walked out toward the back exit.

He wound his way to the employee gate and stepped through. The evening was in full swing, the flow of patrons moving like the Mississippi.

“Well, hi there, Green Eyes,” a voice greeted him from the side.

Holy shit. It was Mister Black Hair. “Hi.” Caden swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. He loved that he’d gotten his own nickname. That was a good thing, right?

“You wanna grab a bite?”

It took Caden a moment to process what he said, since the skin of his throat distracted Caden six ways to Sunday. It looked smooth, like silk, and man but he smelled good. Some kind of subtle cologne. “A bite.” Goddess, Caden. Get a grip. “I was on my way to get some food, actually.”

They were just suddenly walking together. “Where are we headed?” He asked it at the same time Caden asked, “Where’s your friend?”

“He went to grab something with his girlfriend,” and, “My family has a spot here.”

Caden gazed into his eyes a beat too long and the smirk appeared again. They were stopped dead in the walkway, too. Caden flushed. “C’mon.” Moving again, Caden rubbed his cheek. “What do you have a taste for?”

“I like all sorts of things.”  His gait matched Caden’s, even though he was a couple inches taller than Caden’s five ten. “Have you worked here long?”

“You might say that.” Caden shrugged. “I grew up in the business.”

“Really!” The guy seemed intrigued by that.

It was always a good litmus test. People got judgy about carnivals, and carnies. Caden had learned to get that out of the way early on so there weren’t awkward moments later.

The Psychic Faire appeared and he angled for Margret’s tent. It was actually more like a yurt, since it had a roof that was put together with several large, solid pieces. The side entrance, concealed by a fabric curtain, appeared and he led the way through to the back area. The trailer sat a ways behind the tent, the windows lit from within by the two lamps Margret liked to leave on.

He opened the door and let his guest precede him. Caden flipped the privacy placard so they wouldn’t be interrupted and followed him inside.

“Have a seat. Soda, root beer, or something stronger?”

“Soda’s fine, and my name is Lyster Shayne.”

“Caden Meadows. Pleasure to meet you.” He got out a cola for Lyster and a root beer for himself. He added ice to two large plastic tumblers. He checked the fridge. “We can do burgers, stir fry or sandwiches. What’s your preference?”

“Wait, you’re making it?” Lyster stood up. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why? I like to cook.”

“Well, let me help at least,” Lyster muttered, and washed his hands in the sink. “Burgers sound great.”

Caden pulled out his phone and texted Margret. Met someone. At the trailer, feeding him.

He got out the ground beef and some oatmeal to use as filler for the burgers. His phone pinged at him. Have fun – M. He blushed at the winking emoji and shoved his phone into his back pocket. He wasn’t touching that implication with a ten‑foot pole. Hard to do, considering he was in Margret’s trailer and Ma was a psychic. ‘Have fun,’ my ass. What did she see?

Not much, hopefully.

The burgers came together quickly. Lyster liked grilled onion and tomato on his, and grumbled when Caden got out the leaf lettuce but accepted it with good grace. He got entirely too excited over their chip selection and picked a bag of the cheese puffs.

Caden’s favorite.