Rubbing One Out - Susan Mac Nicol Page 0,46

perhaps they could simply leave, and forget this had ever happened.

Before Ben could reply, a tall, bull-headed man stormed forward and bellowed at the top of his voice. He was about six foot ten, as wide as a sumo wrestler, and covered in tattoos. “I don’t know what the ‘ell you all are talkin’ about. I’m never put anything like what you saw in my ride. It’s the same way it’s always been. If anyone fucked with my ride, it wasn’t me.” He glared around at the crowd, who’d all gone strangely silent. “Now have any of you people got any evidence to prove that something caused all this bloody fuss? ‘Cause if you do, I’d like to see it.”

The crowd muttered and one of the young people who’d been on the ride shrugged. “It all happened too fast and the damn things didn’t stay around long enough for me to get a picture. It all disappeared. Like a puff of smoke, it was.”

Dae began to feel hopeful that he may not have to invoke his talents after all. “Come on, Ben, let’s go get some of that delicious mulled wine over there. I fancy a quick something to eat too, don’t you? Those German sausage thingies look tasty.”

Ben swivelled, turning to face him. His eyes narrowed. “You seem a bit too eager to leave,” he muttered. “Is there something I should know?”

Faced with what appeared to be Ben’s increasing suspicion, Dae’s nerves were shot.

“What?” he asked, wide-eyed himself. “No, never. I’m an open book, nothing to see here.” He giggled nervously. “Did you hear that? My stomach is growling. I need to eat.”

Ben passed a hand over his eyes, then looked at Dae in consternation. “Dae, what the fuck did you do?”

Dae deflated under Ben’s withering gaze. “Fine,” he muttered. “I tried to make the ride more interesting for you because you seemed so taken with it. How was I supposed to know everyone would get so damned scared at a few apparitions? I thought the whole idea of the thing was to be scared, so honestly, you can’t blame me for giving them what they wanted.”

“You what?” Ben’s strangled groan sounded painful. “Oh my God. I don’t believe this.” He took a quick, panicked look around. “Come on. We need to get away from here. I need a drink.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying,” Dae grumbled as he was dragged away towards a brightly lit tent offering beer and wine. “How come when you say it, it’s okay?”

Ben said nothing as he headed straight for the makeshift bar and raised two fingers at the barmaid. “Two beers please.” He drummed his fingers impatiently on the bar top while glancing around nervously.

“I don’t think anyone followed us in here,” Dae said snappily. “Can we please order something to eat? I’m starving.”

The barmaid handed over their beers and Ben paid her, then shepherded Dae over to a small, empty corner table. “I’ll go get us some burgers next door,” he said. “Wait here. Don’t bloody move. You’ve done enough damage for one night.” He flounced out of the tent entrance—or was it an exit when the opening did both—and Dae huffed a discontented sigh.

Really, what on earth was all the fuss about? “You try to add a little spice to your boyfriend’s life and what does he do, he—” Dae froze as he played back what he’d said. Boyfriend? Boyfriend? Oh dear. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

He was still sitting there pondering this new turn of events when Ben came back with two delicious, fully stacked hamburgers wrapped in tinfoil.

“Looks like the panic has gone down a bit out there. People still swear they saw supernatural entities, but the ride manager isn’t being blamed anymore. Business is booming. There was a queue a mile long of muppets waiting to go in. Go figure.”

Dae fell upon his food like a ravenous wolf and pushed all thoughts of anything else from his mind. Eat first, reflect second.

“Tell me why you decided to create havoc at the fairground,” Ben asked as he wiped mustard off his mouth. Dae would have liked to lick it off, but something told him that might be going a little too far. “You said something about wanting to make it more interesting…for me.”

Dae wiped crumbs off his lips and shrugged. “You said you enjoyed these things, so I wanted to make it special. You deserve it.”

Ben reached over and took Dae’s hand in his. “A