Page 89 of Freak Show

I huffed out a humorless laugh. “Then let’s eat, then I’ll have my cookie for dessert, then we’ll get started.” I paused. “Did the cats get fed yet?”

“They did,” Crimson said as she came up to my side with an empty container in her hands. One that we usually used for the frozen rats we used to feed the snake. “Snake is fed, too. They miss you, though. That little asshole Coco ate and ran, not even stopping to look at me in thank you.”

Together we walked toward Hades and Val who each had a platter of food in front of them.

Neither one of them had touched it yet.

To say that all the Singh girls had issues with food would be an understatement. Our dad had definitely done a number on us, always making sure that we stayed looking ‘good’ according to him.

“Why aren’t y’all eating?” Crimson said as she sat down and took a giant biscuit.

Hades and Val stopped snickering the moment I walked into the sister huddle.

“What are you two laughing at?” I griped as I shimmied to the coffee that was on the edge of the food trailer.

Coffey gave me a chin lift and went back to manning the grill.

The grill that Coco was definitely looking at and licking her lips.

Val nudged Hades, and then Hades sighed.

“Well…” She looked at me, then quickly looked away.

“Tell her, or I will,” Val ordered, her eyes now narrowed.

Val was our big sister. Generally, we tried to give her what she wanted, because if you didn’t, she was going to make you wish you did.

But I didn’t need the nudge from Val to know something was up. Hades was acting shifty. And that was her lying face.

“Well, what?” I asked.

“I might, or might not have, fibbed a little yesterday.” She looked away, biting her lip. “I was just really mad at you for taking off and leaving us with a shit ton of work because you couldn’t take a joke…and I’m sorry for being how I am.”

I had no clue what she was talking about.

Val nudged me and I looked over to find her holding out an iPad.

On that iPad was a photo of the same girl as yesterday that’d been with Slone. Only this time, she was with a very handsome blonde guy that looked vaguely familiar.

“Who is that?” I asked, not quite understanding.

“That’s Thor’s wife,” Val drawled. “And that photo Hades showed you was photoshopped.”

“The one of Slone?” I found myself asking very casually.

Meanwhile, inside my chest, I was losing my absolute shit.

If she said yes, I wasn’t going to be responsible for my actions.

“Yes,” she answered, not looking sorry at all.

Maybe if I was in my right frame of mind, I would’ve looked at the photo harder, and realized that it was photoshopped.

Now that I was thinking about it, I remembered Slone telling me that he had a single suit that he wore everywhere, and it was the only one he planned on getting.

The suit he was talking about was black. The one he was ‘photographed’ in was navy blue.

I fisted my hands and stared in rising anger at her, hoping she’d take back what she’d just said, but knowing she wasn’t going to.

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