At the end of a bloody trail, Johnny Redd finds an incredible secret. While struggling with a bullet in his chest, he crawls along the ground until he finds himself surrounded by a maze of quaint carnival tarps. Inside is a world of color, costumes, false hair, nails, eyelashes -- and a man who dresses like a woman. It’s a world of trickery, deception, and lies. Johnny makes it just inside the tent when his strength fails and he faints dead away. When he awakes, he’s reminded of the bizarre reality that surrounds him. It’s that he learns he has been taken care of by a man – er. woman -- by the name of Frenchy Starr. The name rolls from the tongue of this fallen angel, this princess of darkness, this twilight queen. She’s a mystery, a dangerously beautiful mystery, and Johnny slowly becomes ensnared in the trap which she sets. After one night of incredible love, a jealous fan shoots Frenchy. Thinking her dead, Johnny’s heart is broken and he leaves in search of something to fill the hole she left in his heart. Enter Kit Dalton.

Carnival Cowboy

“You want some coffee?” Kit asked as he got up to go to the stove.


“No, I don’t think so, but thanks.”


Johnny sat there hearing the sounds he made in the kitchen, wondering just how he was going to tell Kit everything without making him turn away in disgust. Sure, he could keep it to himself, and maybe he should, but it was too big. A little thing, a tiny thing that didn’t amount to much he might be able to accept, but this wasn’t something that could be swept under the carpet. For them to have a healthy relationship, and for the sake of their future together, he had to get it out.


When Kit got back with his coffee he sipped it slowly, waiting for Johnny to begin his story. When he didn’t, he finally put the cup down, and said, “So, what’s this deep, dark secret you’ve had locked up inside you since we’ve known each other?”


“It’s about a woman…and a man…and me.”


Kit’s eyes widened. “Are you talking about a…threesome?”


Chapter 20