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Both women stared back at me, and an eerily familiar, glazed-over look appeared on their faces, but neither of them said anything—it was almost as if they knew something I didn’t, but they also didn’t want to tell me just what that something was. I threw my hands up in disgust, marching toward the door and shoving it open.
“Wait, love, where ya goin’?” Halfrieda asked, jumping up to run after me.
“To get some answers,” I replied curtly before slamming the door shut. “To finally get some answers.”
***
Heading toward the caboose was a surefire way to run into Laurent or Rex.
I wondered who would make the better audience for the conversation I was determined to have. Laurent was kinder, but completely aloof. Rex could be temperamental, but at least I’d gotten some information out of him before. And that was more than I could say for Laurent.
My choice was made the moment I kicked open the door of the caboose. Rex was leaning against the caboose railing, staring up at the starry sky. He jumped out of his skin at my sudden, unrestrained entrance. Once he recovered, his normal, irritated countenance returned. He turned to face me with his natural scowl in place, but his expression softened when he realized it was me.
“Bindi, what are you doing here?”
Instead of replying, I joined him at the railing. We stood there in silence, enjoying the relative quiet and soothing vibration of the train’s motion for what felt like an eternity. I waited for the words to prompt my tongue, but for some reason, they weren’t available. Instead, I studied Rex and took in his bandages, which were still bloody from the glass that had shattered when he’d rescued me from the flooding tank. So the Indestructible Man seemed to also be the Slow-Healing Man. Regardless, the tension between us was tangible.
“So,” I finally spoke up, “how’s Maleah doing?”
“She’ll be fine, I think,” Rex replied curtly. “Good thing she’s an acrobat. She knows how to take a fall, I’ll give her that. She has some bruises and a sprained wrist, but she’ll be fine after a few weeks. It could have been much worse.” He looked down at me with one drawn brow.
“That being said, she’s mad as hell. But not half as mad as her sister. Mariah’s convinced someone purposely sabotaged the equipment.”
“Someone,” I snickered, shaking my head. “You mean me.”
He cocked his head to the side. “She’s gunning for you.”
I nodded, kicking myself for not asking the real question on my mind. I was worried about Valida, though. As angry as I was at her, I didn’t want to get her into trouble, especially because in her mind she did what she did to avenge me, even if I’d pointedly asked her not to. “Do you know what happened?” I asked cautiously. “Why Maleah fell, I mean.”
Rex shrugged his massive shoulders. “Could’ve been faulty equipment from the start and we just failed to notice it in time. The trapeze artists are supposed to inspect their own equipment prior to every performance, but neither of the twins ever do and they definitely didn’t do it in this case. That’s on them.”
“Hmm.”
He cocked his head to the other side. “But it’s also possible that someone messed with it. Wouldn’t take long to partially cut a cable with a hacksaw, I suppose. And the twins haven’t exactly endeared themselves to the other troupe members.”
“I thought it was just me they hated?”
He shook his head. “Someone nicknamed them the ‘Pampered Princesses’.” He took a breath then. “So, someone could have messed with their equipment.”
I swallowed.
“Or… maybe it’s just time to buy new gear.” Rex shifted his body so his back was propped against the railing. “Shit like this happens sometimes. That’s the name of the game. Performing at a circus can be risky business and sometimes people get hurt. That’s unfortunate, but it’s just the way it is.”
“Yeah…” I continued staring out into the night, catching a few stars in the black sky. “Um, Rex…”
Rex didn’t give me a chance to say anything more. Instead, he turned to face me squarely as he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for how I acted before. It wasn’t professional and it was especially unfair to you.” There was a genuine sadness shimmering through his eyes as he spoke. “And I’m sorry if you feel like Laurent and I keep secrets from you. We’re not trying to push you away. It’s just…” He bit his lip and turned away from me. “It’s complicated.”
I straightened upright, trying to catch his gaze. “Well, if you just tell me what’s going on, then maybe you wouldn’t have to apologize and maybe I wouldn’t keep trying to figure out all the answers on my own.”
Rex hung his head in silence, staring at the train tracks as they whizzed by.
“You want me to trust you, to feel things for you,” I continued. “But how in the world am I supposed to do that if I don’t understand what’s going on with you and… And with Laurent and with this circus? Strange things go on here that I can’t explain. That no one can explain and yet… yet everyone seems to just ignore it or pretend like everything is normal. But it’s not normal.”
Rex rubbed the back of his neck like he did when he was frustrated. He was quiet for a few seconds, his attention riveted to the tracks. “Kid…”
“Just tell me something,” I begged. “Just one secret. I want to understand, Rex.”
He faced me then. “What do you want to understand?”
