Page 97 of Lovers Fate

The lights dim, and then fire shoots out of what looks like cannons in the air eliciting gasps, and screams.

“Welcome to the Circus of Freaks,” a dark voice announces through the speakers.

I glance at the people in the rows next to me, to the left and right. Everyone craning their head not to miss anything. “My name is Draco. The lord of fire. First up is Kaden, the illusionist.”

I smile not knowing that was what he did. What he was known for. A tall figure walks up on stage and I recognize Kaden in a black coat. He is shirtless underneath and I didn’t realize he has so many tattoos like Draco.

He stops in the middle of the stage staring straight ahead. His face is painted black, his eyes white. His mouth blood red. His eyes float around the room until they stop directly on me. My heart starts hammering inside my chest. He tilts his head, smiles and looks up. All eyes follow and then, a dark figure wearing a black coat appears slowly like he is flying.

Gasps echo around the room as Draco lowers slowly by a harness with a single red rose the color of blood in his hand.

I smile and a wave of heat flows through my veins when he says, “come back to me.” He places the rose in my lap and images flip through my mind like a picture book. This stage, laughterfrom the people on them wearing makeup. Wide smiles from women and men. I can hear myself laugh leaning on a man with a broad muscled chest. I keep laughing and it’s not until the lights shift that I see them. Three men hanging with gags in their mouths.

“Do you think it hurts,” I hear Draco say next to me.

“It should hurt,” I hear myself say. “I hope it does.”

“You saved her,” Draco replies.

“We all did.”

I blink rapidly as the images fade. The three men cut up and bloody. Their eyes haunted in agony from the pain.

“Are you alright?” Draco says.

My eyes dart around the room. Everyone is watching us. I look down at the rose and pick it up. It doesn’t have any thorns. Like the last one. They never do.

“Yeah. I mean, yes.”‘

He leans in. “They should always hurt when they take something so precious.” Then he’s gone. Back to the show.

Dahlia appears on stage beautiful as ever. The others in the Circle of Freaks perform but it’s like a mirage as I process what I saw. What I felt.

It was like he was in my head and could see what I saw and felt, but that’s impossible.

After the show, security brought me back to Draco’s trailer. I take a seat and look around but the place is so clean, it looks like the model as a dealership. The only indication that someone stays in it, is the clown smiling on the bed, the fully stocked fridge, and of course the smell. His smell. Bergamot.

I get up and walk to the bed and sit on the edge picking up the clown. I smile liking the way it smiles. Like it knows secrets. I lay on my side, staring at its eyes and I didn’t realize how tired I was because I find my eyes drifting off. I try to keep them awake until he shows up but it’s futile. I’m so tired and his bed is socomfortable. The white fluffy comforter feels like I’m floating on a cloud.

Something severs my deep sleep. Lips soft and warm over the skin on my neck. Goose bumps envelop my skin. My eyes open and I met with intense dark eyes. I can smell his damp skin fresh from a shower. His fair skin with no trace of makeup. I must have fallen asleep for a while.

“Can I?” he asks as he slides his hand over my winter tights and stops at my hip.

My body felt alive. My mind relaxed in the wake of sleep. It was like my past didn’t matter but in a way it did because this moment was linked to it somehow without realizing it. It was a crossroad of what I wanted and shouldn’t do. But I wanted it. I wanted him to be everything my heart hoped for. I wanted to be held by him. Be loved by him for whatever reason and this was the beginning. The beginning of my life. What happened in my short life didn’t matter. Only this. Him and me. At this moment.

It was a connection I couldn’t escape from. It didn’t matter if it was wrong or right but it felt right.

“Yes,” I hear myself say.

I didn’t have to tell him it was my first time having sex. It was like he knew, like he pieced it together.

He removes my shoes, my tights, my panties, and finally my shirt and bra. I’m naked and he’s shirtless. My nipples rub lightly against the smooth muscle of his chest as his gaze slowly slides down my naked body.

“You’re beautiful, Athena,” he says softly.

“Is that what you tell all the girls?”

He smiles and my chest squeezes at how gorgeous he is. He raises himself up on one arm and picks up the clown. “You should ask him? He knows but to answer your question. No. I don’t tell all the girls they’re beautiful because there is only one. In my eyes, there will only be one.”

---