Page 94 of Hide and Keep

All the bases and flyers continue to perform different stunts, but my eyes are all for my protectee.

Nathen’s hands grab Ever’s hips a moment before he tosses her above his head, making me think about those mysterious bruises. Is that where she’s getting them?

“You might want to close your mouth. We could be here a while and I don’t think you want bugs for dinner,” Eighmey says, reminding me she’s still here…and that my jaw is, indeed, skimming the ground.

“Why aren’t you out there with them?” I ask.

“I’m not a flyer. I’m a stumbler.”

“What? Like you stumble around?”

She chuckles. “No, it’s a tumbler and a stunter. When I’m not tumbling, I help the bases hold stunts.”

“You can’t tumble out here?”

“I can.”

“Can you show me something?”

Everyone disappears as Eighmey steps in front of me. Leaning in, she says near my ear, “You have to take your eyes off her long enough to watch me.”

“I can do that.”

“What do you want to see?”

What looks better holding your tits up, my hands or your push-up bra.

“A flip?”

“A flip?” Her lips dance with suppressed laughter.

“Yeah…of some kind. I don’t know that many. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. A flip coming right up.”

When she moves back, I instantly seek out Ever real quick. She’s in the air again, one leg in Nathen’s hold, the other stretched up behind her, her foot held up above the back of her head with both hands. She’s in a motherfucking skirt doingthis shit, exposing her underwear to everyone out here. Not that anyone else seems to be looking at that exact spot but they could.

Eighmey calls my name.

Watching me with a big smile, she does a cartwheel, three back handsprings, then something that looks like a back handspring except her hands never touch the ground, instead staying up near her hips. A backflip? Damn.

As soon as she poses at the end, I clap.

Past her, Ever’s now looking directly at me. Those headlights are beaming right at her, so I don’t even think she can see me, but itfeelslike she can. Her gaze is heavy, very heavy.

Winded, Eighmey jogs back over to me.

I give her a double high five, but she doesn’t let go of my hands so we have a quick, flirtatious handhold.

“That looked like more than just a flip.”

“A little bit,” she says, echoing my earlier words.

“It was amazing.”

“Thanks.”

This doesn’t happen. I don’t connect like this with other people. Only once and that was…

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