Who He Is (FireNine, book 1) (8 page)

I fel
t so silly—actually beyond it. Gage and I went shopping for something to wear for square dancing, and I ended up getting a blue-and-red gingham dress. Gage got a red-and-blue plaid button-up, some boot-cut jeans, and he’d even gotten us a pair of matching brown cowboy boots. I found it ridiculous but cute. I’d even gotten him to buy himself a brown cowboy hat… and damn if he didn’t look hotter than hell…

“Look at you, Ellie, looking like a million bucks,” Gage said as he held the back door open for me. I looked at him beneath my eyelashes and he shut the door behind me. He tapped the window t
wice and Stan pulled off.

“You really had to insist that the woman give me pigtails, huh?” I giggled
, toying with my hair. “She was enjoying playing dress-up with me.”

“The pigtails look good on you. Fits the theme. You look like Rodeo Barbie.” Gage winked and then held his elbow out and I hooked my arm through his. The pavement led to a tall red barn, and a few monster trucks and classic cars were parked outside. Lanterns were hanging outside the barn, the light stretching across the dewy grass, and a large green tractor was parked in front.

“What’s the tractor for?” I asked, my vision tunneling in on it. “It’s blocking the entrance.”

“Oh yeah!” Gage yelled
, laughing. “That’s the thing about these people. They can get a little wild. Before we’re allowed in, we have to race another couple on riding lawn mowers.”

“What?” I squealed. “That’s insane.”

“It’s Texas, baby!” someone yelled from beside the tractor. I looked up quickly to figure out who the deep voice belonged to and a tall man with a black cowboy hat, a belt with a large silver buckle, and a white button-up revealed himself. He was smiling as a woman with blond hair stepped by his side.

Gage tilted down his cowboy hat and the man did the same. “Lawn racin’ is the only way you can get in,” th
e man said, grinning. “Well—all right, I’m lyin’, but we’d prefer it to liven the atmosphere a bit. We want y’all to have some fun.”

“Trust me, Ellie, it’s fun,” Gage murmured in my ear. “I’ll be the driver. You just ride and be my
little cheerleader.” Gage looked at the man and woman who were standing hand-in-hand. “All right. Where’s our mower?”

The man chuckled and the woman ran from his side to go behind the barn. She returned in less than a minute, riding on a chrome red mower. “Here’s yours,” she chimed, her southern accent thick.

“I take it you ain’t been ‘round here before,” the man said to me, hopping onto the green mower beside the tractor.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “First time in Texas.”

“Well, I hope you’re havin’ a ball. If not, this should make up for it. It’s the best part of the night. I think it’s the only reason people still even attend these hoedown joints.”

Gage climbed onto the red riding mower and as he got situated, he looked at me.
“Come on, Ellie,” he said, offering his hand. I looked over at the petite woman hopping on behind the man with the cowboy hat and then looked at Gage again. I couldn’t believe it. They were serious. They were really about to race… on riding lawn mowers?

I hurried for
ward, reaching for Gage’s hand anyway. “Aren’t lawn mowers kind of… slow?” I whispered in his ear. If they were, it was going to be one boring-ass race.

Gage chuckled. “These aren’t just ordinary mowers. For one, they boost them to make them faster.
John Deere
is already a good brand, but giving them a boost—” Gage’s head shook as he gripped the wheel. He wasn’t even looking at me and knew for a fact I was completely lost on what he was talking about. “Just know we’re in for some fun, Ellie. You actually might wanna hang on.”

I hooked my arms around Gage’s middle without hesitation. I knew he had no reason to lie. Gage started the mower and it rumbled deeply, causing my entire body to
vibrate. He was still smiling as he looked over at the man and woman on their mower. They started theirs and their mower rumbled even louder.

A few people came out from the back of the barn to watch and I
got a little more excited. It was almost like drag racing… only on mowers. Gage pressed his pedal and lined up by our competitors.

“Just follow the path ahead!” the man yelled over the roar of the engines. “We’ll start on three!”

Gage tipped his hat again and then gripped his wheel.

“One!”

It was starting! My heart beat a little louder.

“Two!”

I clung on even tighter. I knew it was coming. I was nervous. Thrilled. Fucking insane. Adrenaline coursed through me and we hadn’t even started yet.
Why the hell am I so amped for this?

“Three!”

Gage took off, the engines roaring even louder, and let out a, “Hell yeah!” once he realized we were already in the lead. A tree came up ahead and Gage whipped his wheel, but he didn’t stop. I hung on tighter and wanted to shut my eyes, but I didn’t. It was fun to see everything coming at me.

The path curved and Gage turned his wheel a little too sharply. We jerked to the side and I gasped, thinking w
e were about to flip over. He rotated the wheel to the left and got back on track, bellowing with laughter as I clung to the front of his shirt.

“I got you, Ellie,” he said over his shoulder.

I glanced over mine and saw the man and woman getting closer. “Gage, they’re coming!” I squealed.

Another tree appeared ahead and he took the right side, the man and woman taking the left. We were neck and neck and the finish line was only a few feet away. I couldn’t tell which one of us was takin
g the lead.

The wind grew harsher
, causing my pigtails to flap and my cheeks to burn, and Gage pressed his pedal to the max the closer we got to the finish line. I squeezed my eyes shut and rested my cheek against his back. I couldn’t look. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.

Cheers and hollers from the crowd got closer and soon the cheering died down and the mower jerked forward before coming to a screeching halt. Silence rang in my ears and then Gage sat back, laughing.

“Oh shit! That was fun!” he said, chuckling. “We won, Ellie. You can open your eyes now.” My eyelids opened slowly, but I was still glued to Gage’s back.

He took one of my hands and helped me off the mower. My butt felt numb and my legs wobbled like spaghetti, but I managed to stand anyway.

“Woo-wee!” the man we raced yelled as he jogged in our direction. “That was some ride!”

“It was!” Gage laughed. His eyes chinked as he stared at the man and I hadn’t noticed before, but that kind of smile made him look younger. Adorable.

“Well, you got your ticket in. I’m Darrell, by the way. It was fun racing with ya. Square dancin’ starts in five.” Darrell looked at me and winked. “Have fun, lil’ lady.”

I smiled. “I will.
Thanks.”

Darrell walked off and Gage turned to look at me. He held his elbow out again and I hooked my arm through his.

“You okay?” he asked.

I shrugged.
“Is it bad that I feel like I’m made of Jell-O right now?” I asked, grinning.

He let out a deep laugh as we neared the door, the tractor moving forward to let us in. “First time’s always like that.”

“How many times have you been here?”

“My family and I used to live in Texas for a while—before my dad moved his business to Virginia.”

“Oh.” He brought up his family a lot, but I wasn’t sure if I should ask about them. He always spoke in the past tense, as if they were no longer living.

Good thing we entered the barn and a few people were already in the middle dancing, providing a distraction from our conversation. Some people were chatting and some stood next to the table of food with plates and cups in hand. “Want a drink? Beer?”

I laughed dryly. “I’ve never had beer before.”

His eyes ex
panded. “Never? How the hell are you enjoying life right now? Didn’t you say you’re twenty-one?”

“Yes.”

“When did you turn twenty-one?” he asked, leading the way toward a decorated table with wide silver pails on top.

“January fourteenth.”

“It’s June and you’ve never had a beer before? I know Ben drinks them. You’ve never tried to sneak one?”

“Nope,” I said, popping my lips.

“I guess that’s another thing to change tonight.” Gage dug into the wide pail filled with ice and pulled out two beers. Uncapping them, he handed one to me before taking a sip of his.

I sniffed it and my nose pinched. “Smells like piss.”

He laughed. “Tastes like heaven. Try it.”

I stared at my bottle for a second before lifting the rim to my lips. It tasted bland at first, but as I took a few more sips, it wasn’t so bad. It cooled me down after the intense lawn mower race
that’d taken place seconds ago.

“See,” Gage said, lifting his bottle, “not so bad right?”

“It’s okay.” I smiled at him before turning to face the crowd, and for once I didn’t feel out of place. The women there had on the same kind of gingham dresses. Most of them wore their hair in pigtails just like mine, but they had on tons of makeup. The men were dressed like Gage—plaid button-up shirts, cowboy boots, and a hat to match. On Gage, it was sexy as hell. Who knew the country-boy style could look so good on him? I wanted to devour him even more, if that were humanly possible.

“All righty!” a woman yelled through a microphone from the DJ stand. “Round those partners up ‘cause the
square dancing is about to begin. Ladies, get pretty. Fellas, get sexy. It’s time to have a ball!”

I looked at Gage nervously, biting my lip. “How am I supposed to know what to do?” I asked.

“I’ll lead you.” He grabbed my bottle and set it on the table, leading me out onto the dance floor. “Just listen to the calls,” he murmured. Fiddles started playing and I became more and more nervous.
A hand moved in my peripheral and I looked down at it.

“G’evening again, lil’ lady,” the familiar deep voice said. I looked up and sure enough it was Darrell. “Lookin’ mighty worried. Don’t sweat it. After the first try, it gets easier.”

The fiddles grew louder as a man yelled through the mic to call everyone in for the last time. Unease consumed me, but as Gage pressed a hand against the small of my back and I looked up at him, I calmed down a bit. “It’s not so bad,” he said, winking. “Trust me.”

“All right, go ahead and give a bow to ya partner,” the man at the mic called. Gage’s hand was still in mine and he bowed, tipping his hat down a little. Giggling, I bowed back. “Okay, now bow to the other.”

I looked at Darrell who bowed at the same time as me. Okay, it was pretty easy so far. “Now join hands and circle around. Gone ‘head, take it on ‘round,” the man sang.

The music picked up and blared through the speakers and Gage
moved left while I moved with him. Our hands were still glued together and the room shifted with each step I took.
Okay. Still easy.

“Swing that partner high and low!”

The spinning circle stopped and Gage came forward to hook his arm around my waist, the other holding up my hand. He spun in small circles, grinning at me. I placed my arm on top of his shoulder and laughed as he winked.

“Now all our ladies step to the middle, then back it on up. Now step back and let the gentleman take over.”

Gage released me and I turned around to step in the middle. I couldn’t help but smile even more because all the women were excited. I rushed back to Gage’s side before he stepped forward, tipping his hat at the man in front of him.

He came back and the man yelled, “Go promenade around the ring.” With that, Gage hung on to my waist and
spun in circles again. Our free hands were clasped together in the air for the second time.

“Having fun?” he asked.

I nodded and then he lifted my arm to spin me in a quick three-sixty.

“Now join hands and swing it on ‘round.” We did as commanded. “Now promenade to cool it down.”

I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having doing a
square dance
. With Gage, it felt even more enjoyable. I wasn’t sure how, but he made me smile the entire time. I don’t think the smile ever left my glee-filled face.