Page 47 of Circus From Hell

Arlo shoos my hand away when I try to grab him.

“Do you need help with your leg, Karma?” he asks gently.

She shakes her head, filtering the thread through the small hole of the needle. With steady hands, she reattaches her leg, using little stitches back and forth as if she’s sewing a dress and not her own leg.

“That’s impressive,” Arlo says with a smile, and it’s only now that I watch him—really watch him—that I see the way he looks at her. It’s unwavering. No wonder he was so desperate to see the show tonight or to follow her. He looks completely enamoured.

My gut twists. Am I jealous? I wasn’t jealous when I held her jaw open to take his cock. So why do I care now?

“Are you okay in there, Soren?” my caring stepbrother asks, tilting his head to see deeper into the cage. Soren suspiciously narrows his eyes on him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He doesn’t seem too desperate to get out of the cage.

“What did you mean by ‘needed emptying’?” I question, because I’m still glancing at the liquid around Karma’s mouth. The cum.

“Soren’s balls were swelling,” Karma says as she focuses on tying the thread into a knot, and I clock the fact that she’s getting a better grasp on her tongue. “He needed to release.”

“Right…” I drawl. Because that’s not strange at all.

Snake jumps up Arlo’s arm and nestles against his neck. He laughs, patting the top of the rat’s little head with a finger.

The air goes still as Karma raises her head, eyes focused on the door behind us. We all watch her, waiting for whatever it is that’s caught her attention.

“He’s here,” she whispers. “Spiral.”

The door swings open. Black and white hair pops into the room first. It’s the one who was looking for Karma the other day.

He stops when he sees us, a mix of confusion and shock on his face that quickly morphs into anger.

I have to suppress my hatred and fear for clowns. I really don’t like them.

“What the fuck?” the clown shrieks.

“Leave, Ssspiral.”

His fists clench by his sides. “What are you doing in here, Karma?”

“I’ve come to see Soren.”

“The fish?”

“I’m not a fish,” the voice inside the cage grumbles. “And don’t talk to her like that.”

He laughs loudly. “Oh yeah? Or what? You gonna shout at me from behind those little bars?”

“Soren’s right,” Arlo says, standing and turning to face the clown. I nearly reach forward to grab him because this new fucker does not seem stable, but his hardened gaze makes me pause. “Leave Karma alone.”

The clown blinks at Arlo, then me, and then Karma on the floor. “Tell your boys to leave or I’ll kill them.”

“No,” she snaps, dragging herself up and stepping in front of Arlo. “The only perssson who gets to kill them isss me.” Arlo blinks at the back of her head before she adds, “If I wanted that.”

The clown bursts out laughing. “You can’t stop yourself! You’re a rabid dog, Karma. You have no self-control. If it weren’t for me and Kreo, you would have killed the entire circus by now! I don’t believe for one second that you won’t kill these two as well. You should let them go before you take their lives.”

He says it like he cares, like he’s looking out for us, but I see straight through his façade. I see the way he tracks her body. I see the way he hones in on the cum around her mouth. I see the jealousy in his eyes. Arlo and Soren—and apparently me—are a threat, and he doesn’t appreciate that.

I try to push away my fear of clowns. It was bullied into me by a man I was supposed to trust, and now every time I see one of the bastards, my hackles rise. But so long as Karma’s evil glare is pinned on the clown and not Arlo and me, then I can take him down easily.

“You don’t care who she kills,” I interject. His eyes narrow on me, tracking my body, and I have to hand it to him—his stare is impressively unnerving. “You’re jealous.”