Page 100 of You Can Make Me
I wandered out the front doors and went around the corner to the breezeway between the buildings. The sunsets over the mountains of the Las Vegas valley were some of the most stunning sights I’d ever beheld, and tonight’s was no different. The pinks and oranges were joined by streaks of purple and white wisps of cottony clouds. Together they made a lumpy blanket of colors so bright, they reminded me of a bowl of melted rainbow sherbet ice cream. I wondered if they’d taste as sweet and tangy.
I wondered if I’d ever taste life to the fullest again.
A car squealed into the parking lot with a horrendous stereo system booming bass so obnoxiously loud, my teeth rattled. The rideshare lights in the windshield had me rolling my eyes. Those companies were squeezing out the cab drivers who had carted tourists around for decades in this glitzy city, with its mirage of luxury that merely camouflaged the desperate and needy, the dreamers and scammers, and made everyone think that becoming wealthy and famous was just the touch of a slot machine button away. Las Vegas was never what it seemed, and always what you knew to be true just under the surface.
The back door opened and a dark-haired guy slid out with a Jansport backpack over his shoulder. He wore obscenely tight, faded Levis, a Black Sabbath t-shirt, and an unrepentant mullet. He leaned back in the door and yelled something about opaque windshield tinting being against the law for a reason, and the car took off before he’d shut the door, nearly catching his foot. He held up a middle finger, then turned around.
And I experienced that yanking feeling like the carnival ride.
Mullet Man looked around the parking lot and rested his hands on hips I recognized oh so well. The ass was a bit meatier. I didn’t think I’d ever seen the thighs hugged quite so well by apair of pants. And I’d forever laugh at the high-top Reeboks on his feet, despite the fact that I was beyond elated to see him.
“I’d ask if you’re lost, but it’s obvious you’re not only lost geographically, but also, perhaps, chronologically.”
He swung his head around and frowned at me…
Recognition hit, and he stumbled back a step. “You.”
Tears filled my eyes, but my smile was so wide as I approached him, I thought my scar might open up. “Me. Hello.”
He blinked a few times, and his apparent confusion slowed my approach.
I knew it was Denny. But he didn’t appear to totally recognizeme.
My smile shriveled up, and my heart sank just as quickly as it had buoyed.
“Wait. I know you.”
I smiled again, but it wasn’t the full Cooper treatment that I’d used on him years ago. This whole truthseeker bullshit meant any hopes I ever had for a poker face were gone. I couldn’t hide my disappointment. “Youdoknow me.”
He stood still for several long beats. Only three feet separated us, but perhaps we were decades apart.
The man was Denny for sure, but he wasn’tmyDenny. He wasyoung. Not as young as he was dressed. Jesus, he looked like he’d stepped out of a 1980s hair metal video on MTV. If I wasn’t so terrified, I’d have fallen over laughing.
He reached for me so quickly, I gasped and stiffened.
“Iknowyou. I…Iloveyou!”
He pulled me in fast and kissed me as I yelped in surprise.
It was definitely Denny. I’d know him by his kiss, even if all my other faculties had deserted me.
His arms caged me, and after two glorious sweeps of his tongue, I melted into him with a whimper. He moaned against my lips and pulled me flush against his body. Hishardbody.This was not fifty-two-year-old Denny. This was Denny in hisprime.
But how?
Dane and Kal hadn’t told me much about the workings of the carnival. I’d made them swear not to. If I was a truthseeker, it was my duty to share that truth, and I knew I could never, ever divulge the secrets of such a sacred place. Not only were the two men who’d fast become the best friends I’d ever had tied to the carnival’s magic, but I’d felt its ancient power as the man they called Pokey carried Denny across the threshold and out of sight. Something primal was contained within its borders, and Mr. Errante Ame was the only being who could ever know the full truth of its power.
Ididknow that my two friends hadn’t aged while they were there, despite the decades that had passed in our timeline, but if this was Denny, he’d physically regressed to a much younger age. He had more mischief in those green eyes, fewer lines on his face, and his hair, which had been fully silver when he’d been taken from me, was now a rich brown so dark, it looked black against his tanned skin.
He kissed me with the vigor of a Marine who’d just returned from leave.
Could it be?
“Baby, I missed you so much! I can’t believe I found you after all this time. You’re right where he said you’d be.” He dug his fingers into my hair and held my head in place so he could devour my mouth. He must have sensed my confusion, though, as he slowly pulled back and gazed into my eyes. “Are you okay?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but what was I supposed to say?
“Yes. Or…maybe.”
