by A. J. Marcus
“I need to go see the folks in the office,” Ed announced and turned to Adrian. “Can you stay here with the kids and critters?”
Adrian nodded. “Of course. Go, see what’s going on. We’ll hold the fort down here, won’t we, Eddy?”
The boy walked up and unexpectedly took Adrian’s hand. “That’s right, Dad, we’ll keep watch and everyone safe.” His little face was set in a stern look as he squared his narrow shoulders.
“Okay, I’ll be back as quickly as I can. Garret, tell your dad I’ll stop by and check on him afterwards.”
The big blond nodded and headed off.
“We’ll be here when you get back,” Adrian said.
Ed nodded, cracked a weak smile, and trotted off toward the main festival office.
Chapter 16
Police lights disappeared down the farm to market road as Ed neared the office. Several of the weekday security staff stood around the steps, smoking.
“Well, that’s one less nut job hanging around here,” one of them said.
“I bet their lawyers have him out in a couple of hours,” another, taller than the other two, replied. “You know those animal rights people have tons of lawyers backing them. Odds are he had some other people working with him that have already called in help that will meet them at the sheriff’s station.”
Ed ignored the security guys and walked on into the office. Margaret, the office manager, looked grim in the midst of the too-clean office. “Bob’s in his office.” She motioned to the door in the back. She didn’t even offer Ed her normal cheery smile as he walked in. “Johan’s with him, but go on back.”
“Look”—Bob’s raised voice carried through the partially open door—“we’re going to hire a couple more security guys. What more do you want?”
“I have to make sure my birds and my people are safe,” Johan replied as Ed knocked on the door. The door swung farther open, and Ed stepped into the office. With the two large men in it, the place was cramped. For a moment, Ed thought about stepping back out and talking with Margaret until they were finished, but this discussion involved the safety of his animals and people too. He deserved to be in on it.
“Ed, come on in.” Bob made a motion for him to close the door.
“Garret told me what happened,” Ed said, after the door was closed. He kept his voice level, hoping his tone would help the other two to lower theirs. “So you’re getting more security. How can we be sure your new security people will be safe?”
“What do you mean?” Bob’s voice dropped to an almost conversational level.
“What he means is that a lot of these groups have people in all kinds of jobs.” Johan butted in before Ed could explain. “They might have people who have security training just waiting for you to put out the call for more help. Then they show up with impeccable résumés and you hire them on the spot. Now they have people working on the inside.”
Bob sighed and put his hands on his jowls. “What would you have me do? We need to beef up security around here to keep everyone safe.”
Ed nodded. “But you have to be careful about how you do it. A couple of my guys work for the zoo. I can check with them and see if any of the zoo’s security guards might be looking for a bit of extra work. It’s not foolproof, but it’s probably better than getting folks off the street.”
“I’ve heard that some of these animal rights groups go to extremes to make things look bad, and to undermine stuff—” Bob started.
Johan cut him off. “You have no idea. I know of one rehab place where they had a volunteer worker deliberately make a huge mess, then went in and filmed it just to make the place look bad. Put the video up on the Internet, got tons of hits, and the place had to be shut down. They were helping thousands of animals and birds every year. They weren’t exploiting any of them. The animal rights plant got in and caused them all sorts of trouble.”
Ed nodded his agreement. “You warned us at the start of the year there might be trouble. I’ve been working short staffed, just with people I know, to make sure nothing happens from my end. With little Ciro, there’s too much chance of trouble to begin with. People see a baby elephant, to be honest, any elephant in this type of environment, they immediately assume it’s abused. They don’t stop to look at the conditions they’re kept in or examine the level of nutrition and care they get, they just jump to conclusions.”
“Ed, we all know your elephants aren’t abused, any more than my birds are abused,” Johan said. “That’s not the point.”
“Actually, that might be the point,” Bob said, lifting his head off his hands. Inside his beady eyes, a spark flashed. “Johan, you’ve given me a great idea, and it might be beneficial to all of us.”
There was something in that look Ed didn’t like. “What are you thinking, Bob?”
“You two run some of the cleanest animal show attractions I’ve ever seen,” the site owner explained. “That’s one of the reasons you two are here and not some of the other folks that do the same thing. Why, Ed, there’s half a dozen different outfits that do elephant rides for the different festivals around the country. I keep you on because you treat your animals with respect and keep a clean attraction. Same with you, Johan. I defy anyone with a brain or a lick of common sense to find fault with your birds. Sure, once in a while one takes off. At least they’re not so hungry they go after turkey legs.
“I heard about that at a faire a couple of years ago. We need to showcase how well your animals are kept, cared for, and loved. I can get some of the local news crews out here this weekend. They can interview you. Get video of your animals. See how they’re kept. It’ll look great. We can turn this whole silly incident into something good. Plus it’ll be free publicity for Scarborough.”
Ed knew there wasn’t anything wrong with his animals or his setup, but he still didn’t like the idea of people with video cameras swarming around things. “How can we be sure they’ll show things in a good light?”
Bob raised a hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll play up catching the one guy. With people looking this way and seeing how great things are done here, it’ll make him look even crazier, and make them think twice about trying anything else. You two run along. I’ve got calls to make.”
“We should still have some beefed-up security,” Johan protested.
“Ed, see what that guy you trust can come up with.” Bob paused as he pulled out his smartphone. “Get back to me as soon as you can.”
Johan looked ready to protest more, but Ed put a hand on his arm and nodded toward the door. On their way out of the office, they just nodded grimly at Margaret, who barely nodded in their direction.
Outside, the security guards had vanished. Ed hoped they were off patrolling the area. “So this guy came through your outside gate?” he asked, once they were a good distance from the office.
Johan nodded. “Yeah, over it, I suspect. I keep it locked from the inside, since normally either me, Garret, or one of our staff is back there most of the time to let people in.”
“So where were you and Garret when the guy got in?”
They angled to the gate in question. “I had to go hit the head, and Garret was working with one of the Harris’s hawks out front. He wants to teach it some new trick or something. When I got back, I came through the door that leads to our stage and saw the guy. Another second, he would’ve had that great horned out. I should’ve let him get that far. He didn’t have a glove on, and that bird has a grip that can bring most grown men to their knees. All it would’ve taken was catching an artery in the right place, and he would’ve bled out in a few minutes, and I could’ve said I took a longer trip to the head than what I did.”
Ed shook his head. “And then the owl would’ve had to be put down as a danger to people. It’s actually better that you got there when you did.
So what did he say, exactly?”
Johan stopped and unlocked the gate that led to his behind-the scenes. “The normal crap. You’ve heard the lines. ‘Yo
u’re imprisoning these wild animals.’ ‘They all deserve to be free.’ By the way, that owl he was about to free, can’t fly. One wing is fused. That’s why he’s an educational bird.”
“Hey, Dad.” Garret came up as they closed the gate. “So what’s Bob going to do?”
“He’s calling the press.”
The big blond man’s eyebrows nearly disappeared under his curly bangs. “What?”
“He’s calling the news stations to come out and do pieces on us and Ed to show what good attractions we are. How we care for the birds and animals. And that we aren’t abusing anything.”
“And if I can get him the name of a few safe security guards, he might hire more protection for us,” Ed added.
“Is he nuts?” Garret asked.
Johan shrugged. “Let’s not go there on site. He’s a businessman who sees an opportunity for a bit of free advertising. A way to turn a possible tragedy into publicity. From his point of view, it’s the thing to do. For us, it’s a bit more work. We need to try and get all our weekend guys out here this afternoon and get everything squeaky clean. Get all the travel boxes cleaned out. Get the best gloves and equipment out and ready to go. Stash anything that has any blemishes on it. We can make this work for us.”
“Now that you mention it, I should probably do the same thing,” Ed agreed. “Bryan won’t be back until morning, but I can see if my other guys are free.”
Johan followed him to the door that led to the falconer’s stage. “You keep us posted if anything happens down on your end of the festival grounds. You might let Dale know too, since he’s in charge of the jousters this year.”
Ed nodded. “I think I’ll do that. Thanks for sending Garret over to me. I wouldn’t have wanted to find out about this through the grapevine.” “Of course.” Johan closed the door.
With a sigh, Ed headed across the mostly empty festival grounds. Instead of heading northwest toward the elephant ride, he angled southwest, to the jousting arena. He wanted to get back to his animals and kids, but figured Adrian and Eddy could keep things under control until he got back. Dale and the jousters deserved to know there had been trouble. It wasn’t unheard of for the rights folks to go after the jousters, although the wild animal acts like the elephant rides and falconry demos were bigger, easier targets.
No clang of steel greeted Ed as he arrived at the jousting arena. The place was empty. He slipped through the rails that kept the public off the field and walked back behind the wall. The smell of horses and saddle soap hit him first. It was a good smell that reminded him of his own ranch and critters.
“Hey, Ed,” Dale called before the elephant trainer could spot him. “What brings you back here?” The jouster sat in a chair near a horse trailer, working over some tack with his new partner and a couple of the guys who played squires in the joust.
Ed walked over to them. “Some animal rights guy just tried to let some of Johan’s birds out.”
Dale fumbled with the leather strap in his hands. “What?
Everything’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Ed nodded. “The guy’s in police custody now. I figured you should know that Bob decided he’s going to make a bit of a media spectacle of the thing and have the news channels come out and do interviews, at least with me and Johan, to show how well our animals are kept and what nice attractions we run.”
“Well, shit,” Dale muttered. “He could at least warn the rest of us. Luckily, we haven’t had any rain this week, so everything’s mud free. That’s a small favor.”
“They may not even stop in over here,” Ed said.
Dale shook his head. “I doubt it. One thing everyone thinks of at the Ren faire is the jousters. I think I can whip everyone into shape quickly. Thanks for the warning, Ed.” He got up out of his chair. “Austin, see if you can round up the guys who are in camp. We’ll get this place cleaned up, just in case.”
Austin rose with a fluid grace that made it easy for Ed to understand why Dale fell for the man. He was just sexy. Between the easy grace and the long hair, he reminded Ed of Adrian. But he thought Adrian was sexier.
“So, to change the subject,” Dale said as he closed the distance between him and Ed. “How’re things going with your satyr?”
Ed nodded. “Pretty good.” The sudden change of subject caught him off guard. “We went out Wednesday, and he’s here today. I left him with Eddy and Trina when Garret came to tell me about the trouble.”
Dale nodded. “Well, if you two want to, Austin and I are planning on heading into Fort Worth next week to see some of the sights. Austin’s never been. It might be nice to double.”
“That might be interesting,” Ed agreed. “I’ll mention it to Adrian and see. Since he’s local, he might know some things we can do.” Ed paused and frowned. “I’ll also have to arrange for someone to stay with the elephants. I’m sure I can get Trish to watch Eddy, but with animal rights folks around—”
“If we need to, I’ll talk some of my guys into keeping an eye on things over there,” the joust coordinator offered. “If you want to go along, let me know, and we’ll make it happen.” A serious look crossed his dark features. “Look, Ed, you need to have a bit more of a life than just Eddy and the elephants. If you really like Adrian, then let’s make an effort for you two to spend time together.”
Sounds like a good idea. Ed nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll talk to Adrian and get back to you by Sunday after closing cannon.”
“Great.” Dale’s face relaxed into a smile. “Now, let me see if I can get my stuff sparkling before the news crews show up.”
As Ed headed toward the elephant ride, his thoughts ran in a jumbled marathon. I want to spend more time with Adrian. The elephants need to be protected. How much time can I spend with Adrian and still manage to not short Eddy’s time? Would it be safer to try and do the elephant ride with just Gwen and send Cara and Ciro home with Bryan when he goes back Sunday night? What do I need to do before the news crews get here to make a good impression?
“Eeeedddd!” a female voice shouted at him.
He turned. Mel and Jade waved at him from the gypsy stage. He waved back and started to continue on toward his destination.
“Ed, wait up.” Mel jumped off the stage and hurried toward him.
“What’s up, Mel?”
“We just heard that some guy tried to steal some of Johan’s birds.
Did you know about that?”
Ed nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been dealing with it for over an hour now.”
“Wow, so what’s Bob going to do about it?”
Glancing anxiously toward the elephant ride and not seeing any people or elephants around, Ed wanted to get down there and make sure everything was all right. “Can you gals walk down to the ride with me? That way I can explain it to you and Adrian at the same time.”
Mel’s face lit up. “I didn’t know Adrian was here. Sure, we just finished fixing a loose board that Gypsy spotted Sunday and swapped out some of the microphones.” She turned back toward the stage. “Come on, Jade, we’re going down to the elephant ride. Adrian’s here.”
Jade leapt off the stage and ran over to them. “Cool! Adrian’s here. I wonder if he has any new music.”
Chapter 17
With the taste of Ed still on his lips, Adrian navigated through the Friday night, Dallas traffic. He’d not wanted to leave for the night, particularly knowing he’d have to be back at the faire site early in the morning, but since his satyr garb was still at his apartment, he didn’t have much choice. Not to mention, if he wasn’t there to give Sebastian a ride, he’d never hear the end of it. The belly dancers had gone for pizza, since Ed hadn’t wanted to leave the animals unattended while they went for dinner. The extra time around the pachyderms had give Adrian more time to listen for Cara’s song, or songs, as he came to realize. The elephant’s melodies gnawed at his brain nearly as much as Ed did. He couldn’t decide what was more distracting, trying to make the sounds he heard from Cara into music h
e could share with the world, or the mild frustration he felt at not being able to spend as much time kissing Ed as he wanted to.
It was all he could do to force both things from his mind as he found himself in the middle of bar traffic. The patrons of the gay district were all heading for their weekend prowl. He’d forgotten to get off at his normal exit, and traffic ground down to a crawl before he could reach his apartment.
The cool air conditioning was like a slap in the face as Adrian walked into the lobby of his building. He’d been so wrapped up in things he hadn’t realized that the late April day had been one of the hottest yet in the year. As he rode up the elevator, he decided a quick shower was what he needed to take the edge off the day and help him relax enough to get some sleep.
Lukewarm water cascaded over him as the scent of rosemary filled the shower. The water reminded him of the shower Ed had given the elephants while Mel and Jade went for pizza. At the thought of the hunky elephant trainer, Adrian’s body stirred. Seconds later, his cock stood erect. He stared down at the hard eight-inch organ with the thick veins along its surface. Without thinking, he reached for the conditioner bottle, then stopped. I can remember Ed from the other night, all hard and hairy. It won’t take long to cum. Or, I can wait. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to get together this week. He’d never know, but I’ll have a much larger release if I wait. His cock pulsed at the thought of Ed’s gorgeous body. For years he’d been a slave to his hormones. When they ran high, he sought release. Adrian turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Even after he’d wrapped the towel around his waist and wandered into the living room, his cock was still hard.
Deeper inside of him, he still felt the vibrations of Cara’s songs. They wanted to get out. He stopped and stared over at his collection of flutes. He needed the deepest one. An elephant’s song wasn’t high pitched. It was low and patient. The instrument needed to be low and patient too.