Page 91 of Circus From Hell

Soren’s head tilts aside, and he smirks. “Oh really? So it looks like we have the whole day to entertain ourselves.”

That needy feeling I woke up with in my stomach returns tenfold, and when I reach out, desperate for him to join me on the mattress, I notice my hands are covered in blood. Shit, when did I hunt?

“It’s from last night,” Soren explains as he sits beside me. It’s awkward for him because the mattress is on the floor and his legs are so long. “You really freaked Arlo out.”

My stomach twists with a sensation I’m not used to. One I don’t like. It’s not pain—which I now know feels like having your entire existence pulled apart thanks to Spiral’s drugs—although it’s teetering on the edge of painful. It’s more like a tugging that makes me want to rip out the stitches of my smile so I can frown.

I rack my mind, trying to remember what happened. It comes back to me in flashes, and that fear, that terror I could smell and see on Arlo, makes the internal guilty tugging intensify.

“I don’t like hurting Arlo,” I whisper. “He’s too sssweet.”

“We agreed we’d think of a fix before it gets that far again. But he’s okay. He’s not upset with you.”

I nod slowly. “What about Micha?”

“He seemed weirdly calm about the whole thing when he realised Arlo wasn’t hurt. There was a moment where we thought he was dead. I think that fucked him up the most.”

“Micha is close with Arlo. They love each other.”

“Yes, they do, darling.” He places his hand on the side of my face, staring deeply into my eyes. “Can I kiss you yet? I’ve been dying to since I got out of that cage.”

I’ve only kissed Arlo, and I liked the way it felt, so I push Soren back onto the mattress and straddle his waist. My bare cunt rubs against the hard muscle of his stomach, the pressure adding fuel to the fire inside of me. He smiles wide, gripping my hips, and I lean down, my pigtails dropping to shield us and rattle my bells.

“I love that sound,” he whispers, his breath fanning over my nose. My skin prickles and heat swirls in my stomach at the realisation. Someone likes my bells. “They tell me you’re here with me; that’s my favourite reminder.”

His wide hand reaches around to the back of my head, dragging me down to meet his lips. It’s hard to kiss with these stitches, but Soren doesn’t complain, and when my tongue instinctively wraps around his and tugs, he groans into my mouth.

“I wish I wasn’t so tall.”

He is particularly huge compared to me. The only one who comes close is Micha, and even then, Soren wins by a mile.

I inch back and ask, “Why?”

“Because you’re too short to grind on my cock and kiss me at the same time.”

A thought passes through my mind, but I don’t like it. As badly as I want to do it, it would include taking off my collar. I never take off my collar. I’m naked aside from the black ruffles around my neck with pink and green balls, and I keep it on for a reason.

I’m okay with my stitches. It doesn’t bother me that I fall apart—literally. But the stitching in my neck, the one that keeps my head attached to my body, makes me feel uncomfortable to see. Kreo has taken my head off before to see what’ll happen, and my body continues to act as if it’s still connected, but he told me to never let it fall off, that I’d struggle to reattach. Seeing it is like the final reminder that I’m not truly alive.

“You look deep in thought,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to the stitch on the left side of my lips. “Spill those thoughts from your pretty little head, my darling.”

“I shouldn’t,” I whisper. “It’s naughty.”

“We’re naughty, Karma.”

“It would scare you.”

“Nothing you’ve done has scared me so far.”

I sit back and stare into his bright blue eyes. He lifts his muscled arms and puts them behind his head, the veins bulging, making me want to bite and lick. The corner of his lips lifts in that dastardly cocky smirk he wears like a weapon. He tracks my body, looking me up and down, over and over, like he can’t get enough.

“Show me what you can do,” he urges, and the devotion in his voice seals the deal.

This is a show of trust no one has received from me.

I reach back and pop open the tiny clip of my black collar, slowly dragging it away and dropping it to the floor. Soren tracks every miniscule movement, and nothing avoids his gaze.

“You’re the most stunning creature alive.”