Page 12 of The Circus

My stomach writhes and twists like worms in the grass after a downpour.

We needed to clean the main act up, make it more…sellable.

I attempt to swallow, but my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. My palms are clammy, my hands clenched so tightly my fingers ache. Vic opens the door, his face blurring into view, blotting out the ring behind him. In his eyes are resignation, and sorrow.

I’m…I’m still in high school.

I’d pleaded, but the reminder of my father dying alone on the streets while I rot away for attempted manslaughter had me stripping out of my sequined bodysuit and into a single strip of fabric.

Vic holds out his hand, and I slip mine into his, needing to feel anchored to this world right now. Not only will my life be in Teddy Poe’s hands…

He’s going to see me nearly naked.

I suppose everyone is, but for some reason, it hurts knowing he’s about to witness my downfall. Being bullied over the years made me withdraw into myself until only a hard shell remained. Whenever I’d be getting kicked, I’d peek out, praying someone would intervene for once. Every time, I’d fall into those twin tealpools, and every time, they’d look away. He’s just as much my bully as the worst of them.

The thought of him seeing me this vulnerable makes me want to vomit.

Vic’s hand is warm and calloused against mine. He gives my fingers a gentle squeeze, a silent reminder that he’s still here, still on my side. There’s just not much anyone can do once they make a deal with those two devils.

The lights circulating the ring become blinding as I step onto the springboard. Vic releases me, my heart pumping so hard I fear I may faint for the first time ever during this stunt, and not because I’m afraid of the knives, or pain, but because this feels too intimate to be witnessed by so many salivating patrons.

And it feels far too intimate to be sharing this moment with Teddy.

He stands alone in the ring, tall and broad shouldered in an ebony suit that matches my g-string and heels. A top hat rests on his head, an addition that makes him appear somehow more sinister than ever before. Like some dark, evil version of the Mad Hatter. Those familiar eyes dance with glee and a touch of mischief, never straying from mine as I take my measured steps forward in time with my heavy heartbeats, the music thudding all around us and drowning out the whispers from the risers.

He holds out his hand, the daunting slab of wood an omnipresent force behind him. My skin crawls in an unfamiliar way, knowing he is the one who will be strapping me down this time. I try to swallow again, only to find my tongue somehow even drier, and place my hand in his, our skin barely touching. Eyes still locked, his fingers cinch down on mine, and he pulls me closer, so close our noses almost touch, and his scent swirls around us. It’s calming, those notes of juniper and leather and smoke, and as his impish gaze rakes over my face, my cheeks flame to life.

“I’ve always wanted to throw knives at a pretty girl,” he says, voice cutting just a notch above the rumbling music, so deep and rich and velvety smooth right now. It’s sinister, and should be illegal how sexy he looks like this, and I curse myself for finding him attractive at all, but especially right now. Baring my teeth as my last defense, I yank my hand from his.

“If you’re going to miss, Teddy Poe, be sure to fucking kill me.”

When his grin blooms, his canine teeth appear, longer than normal and vampiric in nature. Another thing about him I find sinfully attractive. He chuckles, the sound dark and foreboding.

“Not today, Eden Clemm. I’m just getting started with you.”

And for once in my life, I’m glad those knives never sink into my skin.

EIGHT

TEDDY

“Theodore Alexander.”

“Fuck.”

I cough a cloud of putrid, skunky smoke, dispelling it with a wave of my hand and quickly ashing my joint on the concrete that surrounds the pool. She’s the only person in this world capable of sneaking up on me. Another trait she passed down to me.

In the light of the moon, the water glows, throwing various shapes across the back of the darkened house. I got home an hour ago, Dick still downtown greedily counting his earnings from our little performance.

And now, I smoke a joint, a pathetic attempt to rid my mind of Eden so I don’t storm into her house, pin her down, and carve her bloody before I fuck her into oblivion. Discovering where she lived was all too easy for a man like myself, and I didn’t even have to hack the school system. The idiot left a piece of mail addressed from the school in the women’s dressing room at the circus.

My mom rounds the corner, arms crossed against the dewy chill of the night, her slippers shushing against the ground as she comes to a halt and glares up at me.

“What?”

“You know what. No drugs.”

I grin, knowing she isn’t truly upset with me. She never is. We’re all one another has, and she understands my need for escape better than most. I hold up the cooling blunt for her to see.

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