Page 74 of Freak Show

Any self-respecting Texan never left home without one.

I mean, who knew when you were going to need to cut a steak and you wouldn’t have any knife to do it with? Enter the pocketknife.

I’d carried the same one for years.

I was just thankful that the team plane didn’t have any regulations on sharp objects making it onto the plane.

I flipped the knife open and handed it to her hilt first.

She didn’t reach to take it.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t want to open it,” she grumbled. “Best possible scenario, it’s an embarrassing dildo. Worst, it’s blackmail photos or something that I’ll be super embarrassed to open. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “And this is probably around the time I should tell you that I have some freakin’ weirdo that sends me packages. All of them obscene. And now I don’t open anything anymore. Because it’s either from my sister or the weirdo, and they’re both really bad options.”

I didn’t like her sister. I didn’t like even more that she had some person sending her random gifts that were disgusting.

“Tell me more about this ‘admirer,’” I urged as I glanced at the box.

She’d played it off well, acting as if it was no big deal. But I sensed that it was.

She blew out a frustrated breath, long and loud, her hair ruffling around her face as she did.

“I started getting packages about six months ago,” she admitted. “Hades and I used to do a show together, but I decided to change my routine up and only performed with the cats on my own. That’s right around the time that I started getting these packages.”

“Go on,” I urged, wanting to hear more.

“Well, so…I don’t know when it actually started. At first, I was ignoring them because I thought they were coming from Hades—she’s pretty bad about sending me stuff I don’t like. Anyway, one day I got a wild hair and started opening everything. And each package just got more obscene. The longer I opened, the sicker to my stomach I became. Keene saw everything, threw every single package away, and started monitoring the packages—or trying to. Somehow they still got onto the bus, or given to someone. Then wound up finding their way to me.”

“Did y’all try to find out where they were coming from?” I asked.

“We did. We even went to the police. They said that they couldn’t do anything. That there was no next move for them. Maybe, with time, we could’ve worked with a department had we been able to stay in one spot. But we move around so much that it’s impossible.”

I inwardly cursed. I knew she was right, yet that didn’t make me feel any better.

If she was this hesitant to open it, then maybe we should throw it away…

“Fuck it.” She grabbed the knife and hacked into the box.

I blinked when I saw what was inside.

“Um, underwear?” I asked curiously.

Her face flamed and she threw the box to the side.

“What is it?” I asked as a note flipped free of the box in her haste to push it off the bed.

“Nothing,” she grumbled.

I flipped open the note and blinked at the words.

Tony,

Figured you’d want the period panties since you’ll be gone so long. Let me know if you need anything else.

Hades

“Period panties?” I asked.

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