Page 53 of The Circus

“Can this be our kingdom by the sea?” I say lowly against the crashing waves. Her eyes glisten at my quoting of the famous tragic love poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, she nods, hugging me back against the chill.

I just hope against all hope that when we’re free of the circus, some semblance of who we are in this moment still lingers in our souls, a drop of peace and happiness amidst chaos and destruction.

“You…saidsomething last night, something…interesting,” Eden says as we meander back to the asylum, still hand in hand. She glances up at me, our arms stretched between us as I allow her to lead the way. It seems she’s walked this path dozens of times, her muscle memory taking over as we talk aimlessly about stupid teenage shit. Shit that makes me feel normal for once in my life. This, however, has taken a sharp turn into what sounds semi-serious.

I quirk my brow.

“I’m sure I said a lot of interesting things,” I tease. She blushes, and I prod further. “Things about how good you taste, how tight your perfect little cunt is?—”

She whirls on me, gasping with shocked laughter, gently shoving my chest with both hands.

“Stop it,” she hisses, embarrassed. My grin flashes widely, and I reach down, ensnaring her hips with my hands.

My balls ache. So does my cock. School is going to be fucking torture this week, watching her flounce around in that little skirt with her knee high socks. I’ll definitely be fucking her under the bleachers during lunch. And every other chance I can get.Cash will have to get over it and get his dick sucked by Brant’s girlfriend some more.

“Fine, what did I say that was so intriguing to you, hmm?”

She can’t contain her grin no matter how hard she tries, and when she blinks up at me like she is, I know she wants something. And I know I’ll have no choice but to give it to her. Cash would call me pussy-whipped, but it’s far more heinous than that. If I could find a way for my soul to bury itself beneath her skin, I would.

“That you’d…hunt me.”

Oh, fuck.

A tremble slithers down my spine. The voices perk up from their slumber, satiated after last night, but only just.Chase her, fuck her bloody, make her scream against you, carve your name into her pretty skin, they all seethe.

“Yes, little ghost,” I say, voice slightly strained. Something flashes in her eyes, some type of understanding that not many would catch onto, but Eden is brilliant, and she sees it in me, how serious I am. “Why?”

Her own coy smirk plays on her lips, a deviousness unearthed before my eyes as the real Eden begins to flourish. Just more proof that we are meant to be, her and I. She can be that child she never got to be with me, and I can give her the protection and care to allow that.

“So…huntme.”

My eyes widen for a moment as desire flows hotly through my veins, my cock stiffening in my jeans. At this point, the poor fucker is going to fall off, being teased like this. But the logical side wars with that desire, because as much as Iwantto hurt her, I alsodon’twant to hurt her. It’s confusing as hell, these two sides of myself, but I know which one will eventually win.

It always does.

“Eden,” I warn in a low tone. She pushes away from me with a giggle, creating space between us that feels simultaneously cold and charged, my body humming the same way it does when I hunt down predators to sink my knives into. “Be careful.”

Pressing her lips together to stem some of her smile, she quirks her brow higher. “Do I get a head start?”

“Fucking hell,” I hiss, dropping my head back to stare at the darkened canopy above me. Every time I think this girl can’t get any more perfect, she goes and does shit like this. The sound of her cheap flip flop dragging over the pine needles and dirt has my eyes snapping back down to her, the killer in me awakening and attuned to every sound around me. Saliva pools in my mouth, and my muscles go tense and rigid. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

My voice is lower, a strained whisper on the breeze.

She crosses her arms and juts her pointed chin up, fighting a wicked smile. She has two little dimples when she does, and I melt at the sight, wanting to trace them with my tongue. Running my hand through my hair, I smooth down all the spikes she created last night while I made her scream my name. An anticipatory chill runs through me, knowing I’m about to make her scream again.

“I know you have secrets I need to earn, too,” she says, a serious glint slithering into her cunning eyes. “And I think this is part of it.”

Crossing my arms, I release a long breath through my nose, eyeing her up and down. Tattered black flip flops, no panties, and my Misfits band tee. She may know these woods like the back of her cute little hand, but the voices in me want to play, a cat chasing down a tiny mouse and forcing it to submit.

My smirk grows as she waits, wavering before me like the ghosts she sees, thunder rumbling over the mountains in the distance.

“One,” I say lowly. Her eyes spark, her body going rigid.

“Two,” I count ominously, taking a threatening step toward her. She backs away a pace, palms open and facing the forest floor.

“What happens if you catch me?” she says, that sultry voice breathless in dark desire. I chuckle, pushing up the sleeves of my hoodie.

“WhenI catch you,” I correct, my smile fading, only to be replaced by a stoic, ominous look that I feel taking root in my bones, “then I’m going to fuck you until you beg for me to stop.”

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