It was then that I noticed her shirt.

SAVE A DRUM. BANG A DRUMMER.

Oh shit. We were in for it.

I gave Ezra a look and he merely chuckled.

Maddox had no idea what was headed his way.

The lights began to dim and then everything began to glow with a purple and blue hue. Ezra sat back and the girls grew quiet, only the occasional whisper and giggle, as the show began.

Music began to play, something slow and haunting.

Dancers came out with some sort of white glow stick clasped in their hands. As they danced the lights began to blur, creating an otherworldly effect.

The music began to quicken and then stopped all together.

The tent went black.

I blinked my eyes, trying to see anything.

My heart picked up speed at the total darkness, and I was tempted to reach for Ezra’s hand, but we were in public and I was afraid someone might snap a photo of us on their phone and the rumors it would cause weren’t worth it.

Before my panic could escalate the lights came back on, pointed at the peak of the tent.

I gasped in awe when I saw that heavy looking lengths of fabric now dangled from the top. A female had the fabric wrapped around her arm and spun through the air. On the other fabric piece a man spun in the opposite direction.

Their faces were tortured and full of longing as they reached out for each other, always failing to reach the other one.

The music sped up again, as did their movements. They began to blur and then she let go of the fabric. He caught her easily and their bodies tangled together as he held them up with only one hand.

The lights changed to a pink hue and their expressions became filled with lust.

They were absolutely incredible.

I’d never seen anything else like it.

“This is amazing,” I breathed.

When I glanced over at Ezra he was looking at me and not the show.

“You’re missing it,” I hissed, pointing in the direction of the aerialists.

He shook his head, his dark brows drawn together. “I’m not missing anything.”

My heart stuttered and skipped a beat and I looked away from him hastily.

But still, his eyes lingered upon my face.

When the show ended we headed back out into the festival once more. The crowds had doubled in size and I worried the two guards might not be enough.

I stuck close to Ezra’s side, trying to ignore the stares.

I should’ve been used to them by now since I was friend’s with him, but I was convinced the prying eyes and nosy looks from strangers was something you just didn’t get accustomed to.

“Let’s go get some cotton candy.” He slung an arm over my shoulder, steering me over to a cart.

The guy working it quickly handed over a cone of cotton candy. He didn’t appear starstruck by Ezra, but I could tell the growing crowd was freaking the guy out. They were turning into vultures.

Ezra handed me the cotton candy and turned us away from the cart.

I dug my heels into the ground. “Aren’t you getting one?”

He shook his head and grinned. “Nope. I thought we could share.” He then leaned over and took a bite of the cotton candy, shoving the strands that stuck to his lips into his mouth.

He was definitely trying to kill me.

Or my ovaries.

What he did shouldn’t have been so hot, but it was, and based on the swooning going on around us I wasn’t the only one affected.

I continued to watch as he reached out and pried away a small handful of the blue fluffy sugar goodness. He then proceeded to stuff it in my mouth.

“What the hell, Ezra?” I chewed and swallowed.

He grinned, rocking back on his heels. “You were drooling. I was trying to clean up.”

“I was not drooling,” I defended, squaring my shoulders. “I was merely…appreciating the view.”

“Mhmm,” he smiled, biting his lip. He glanced away and pointed, “Let’s go over there.”

“To the games?” I questioned. “You know those things are rigged, right? They only want your money.”

“I think I can afford to lose a few bucks.” He winked.

“True,” I agreed.

He stopped in front of a booth, one where you had to throw baseballs at different targets.

“What do I get if I win?” Ezra asked the guy manning the booth.

“A goldfish,” the guy replied, pointing to where several goldfish swam in mason jars.

“Sweet,” Ezra rubbed his hands together, “Sadie, why don’t you think of a name for our future pet.”

I raised a brow, taking another bite of cotton candy. “Our pet? Do you really think I could manage to keep that thing alive for more than a day?” I pointed at one of the happily swimming fish. “I can’t even remember to feed myself.”

He laughed, ducking his head. “Fine, I’ll take care of it.”

He laid some money on the counter and the guy handed over several baseballs. “You get three tries on each target and you have to knock down all three targets to win.”

“Easy enough.” He smiled, rolling his shoulders.

He blew out a breath and I laughed. “You’re really taking this seriously, aren’t you?”

“I always take my balls seriously.”

I rolled my eyes and poked him in the ribs.

“Hey, you gave me the perfect opening. I had to take it.”

I shook my head, smiling even though he was ridiculous. I’d missed our banter though. It felt like it had been missing the last month, but with everything that had been going on and the months we went without speaking to each other it was reasonable for us to be a little wary around one another.

But now we were back to the old Sadie and Ezra.

Only we were sleeping together.

But that wouldn’t change our relationship.

Nope.

Definitely not.

I forced myself to pay attention to the silly game. He’d already knocked down one of the targets and had moved on to the second. That one fell too and he stepped over to line up with the third target. He missed, and then missed again. When he raised the final ball I couldn’t stop myself from lightly kicking the back of his knee. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt him, but it messed up his aim.

“Sadie,” he groaned, but then began to laugh. “You really don’t want me to bring that goldfish home, do you?”

I shrugged innocently. “I just thought you should work harder for Toby. You know, show him that you really want him.”

“Toby?” He raised a brow.

I feigned a gasp. “You said I could pick a name.”

“And you said you didn’t want a pet.”

“Well, I mean, I do already have a puppy.” I reached up, ruffling his hair.

He laughed and ducked away.

Around us strangers took photos and videos on their phones. I did my best to ignore them.

“You want the fish or not?” He asked, already pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.

I shrugged again, fighting a smile. “Only if you think your balls have what it takes.”

“You’re baiting me and it’s working.” He chuckled, smacking a twenty-dollar bill on the booth counter.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

The guy handed him his change and some more baseballs.

“You’ve got this, Ez.” I gave him a thumb’s up while making a silly face.

He batted me away and mumbled, “You’re distracting me.”

“Come on, you’ve gotta show Toby that you’re serious about this life-changing adoption. Work for it.”

“Shhhh,” he covered my mouth with his hand, “I can’t concentrate with you babbling.”

I licked his hand.

He lowered his head and muttered, “I should’ve known you’d do that.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior now.” I raised my hands and took a step back. I bumped into the solid steel wall of Kenny and stumbled. The large ogre of a man grabbed my elbow and immediately steadied me. Thank God for that, the last thing I wanted to do was fall and show the world my Britney. Granted, I was wearing underwear, but accidents happen.