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I licked my dry lips, then started to get into the van, but my sores and bruises made themselves known before I’d even lifted my leg partially off the ground.
“Ow,” I murmured.
The pain only made the panic worse.
I did not want to let him out of my sight.
I wasn’t sure why him over my brother, but I felt this connection to him that literally made me want to latch on and never let go.
“Hurting?” he asked as he caught me around the waist and bodily lifted me into the van.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m going to be right behind you,” he vowed as he set me in the seat.
I swallowed hard, feeling a sudden rising of even more panic at the thought of him letting me go.
Before I could get too far into my panic attack, he caught my hand and pressed it to his heart. “Feel that?”
I felt my eyes sting. “Yes.”
His heart was pounding beneath my hand, strong and steady.
“I wouldn’t let you go right now if I didn’t think you’d be safe with your brother,” he promised. “He’ll get you home. Safe. I’ll be right behind you.”
“P-promise?” I asked.
He held out his pinkie finger. “Promise with all my heart.”
I blew out a shaky breath, then turned in my seat until I was facing forward.
He reached around me to grasp my seat belt, then plugged it in before patting my thigh gently.
Keene waited until I was settled into the truck before he got in himself.
“I’ll be right back there,” he promised before shutting the door.
Keene waited until Coffey was on his bike and right next to us before he pulled away.
“You have five sisters,” Keene said to break the quiet.
I blinked.
“Five?” I breathed.
“Five,” he said. “Caristonia, Valhalla, Zipporah, Crimson, and Hades.”
“Oh,” I said. “And are they all back at the, um, circus?”
His lips twitched. “It does sound really far-fetched, I know. But yes. We all live on a large tour bus together.” His eyes went to the rearview mirror, and I flinched when I saw the motorcycle get caught by a light and Keene make it.
Keene started to slow down, but I waved him on. “It’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.”
I would.
Right?
“As for Coffey,” he said as he kept looking back just as much as he looked forward. “He’s our new chef. I know we didn’t finish talking about it.”
“Our new chef?” I asked.
“A few months ago, our old chef quit because he was looking to stay home more with his ailing mother. When we were in Coffey’s hometown, you made him an offer to become our cook, and he took you up on it.” He then went on to explain what had happened from the moment Coffey arrived to the moment I woke up in the hospital.
“Did I kill a person?” I whispered.
Surely, that would be something I’d remember…right?
Then again, I feel like I should probably remember the man that knocked me up, as well as the fact that I had six siblings that I lived in a circus with.
“No,” he replied firmly. “Mary was found dead, body having been moved, in our stock trailer where we keep our practice equipment. Your silks were in there, and that’s where you went to get your equipment out to practice. When you opened the door, Mary fell out, drained of blood. At first, we were worried that she’d been trapped in there, but then we found out that her body had been placed there after death, and she had a bullet wound. You don’t even know how to operate a gun, let alone shoot someone.”
He pulled onto a gravel road, and my mouth all but fell open when we pulled right up to a full-blown, in-use circus.
“Wow,” I breathed, taking it all in.
There were lights and tents, places to hang around and more tents.
“Is that a tiger?” I breathed when I caught sight of the white animal.
“Yes,” he said. “Coco and Melon. You know them. You are the one that feeds them three-quarters of the time.”
“Wow,” I repeated. “Do I do any acts with them?”
Keene shook his head. “No, that’s Tony. Caristonia.”
“Oh,” I breathed. “Well, that’s a bummer.”
He laughed. “Coco and Melon are great, but they take time and effort, and they’re very stubborn, and the only one out of all of us that can handle the headaches that they are is Tony.”
Okay, when he put it like that, the act itself didn’t sound as cool.
I continued to look around.
Nothing struck me as familiar like I’d hoped.
In fact, everything looked very unfamiliar, and the sight of the tour bus with my sisters inside of it in front of me made me want to vomit.
The roar of the bike as it pulled up next to us caused my elevated heart rate to slow.
Coffey was here.
He walked right up to me and stared at Keene as he worked his arm around my waist. “I have to go cook. There’s a place to sleep at my trailer, right?”
