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I wished I would go out with the flu.
When I turned to grab a dish towel, I found it sitting next to a non-descript cardboard box with no mailing address and a single word on it: Caristonia.
Son of a bitch.
The package had arrived somewhere between the start of the circus and the end of the circus.
How this guy kept getting past security, I didn’t know. But it was time to figure it out.
Clenching my hands into fists, I decided to text Folsom to ask her where Hannibal was currently located.
It wasn’t like Keene would give me access to his phone to give me his number.
Keene was a private guy, and he hated when people invaded his personal space.
Even though I liked messing with my family, I didn’t cross their lines.
And that was Keene’s line.
“I’m not opening it, you’re opening it,” I heard Crimson say.
I felt my eyelid start to twitch, something that usually only happened when I got super tired and stressed.
Rubbing my fingers over my eyes aggressively, I walked to the knife drawer, pulled out a kitchen knife, then ripped the box open.
Like always, there was a note inside addressed to Tony.
This time the note said:
Saw this and thought of you. You’d be beautiful in it. If you don’t wear it, I’ll get mad.
I gagged at the panties that were crotchless, then picked through the rest of the contents with the tip of the knife.
A very distinct smell—one that no one would miss if they’d ever had sex before—wafted up from the box as I sifted through the contents.
I groaned when I saw the puddle of dried fluid stuck to the plastic at the bottom of the box.
“So gross,” I grumbled as I stared at it. “So fuckin’ gross.”
Jaw now set in a hard line, I pulled a trash bag from under the counter and dumped all of the box’s contents into it.
Dropping it on the ground next to the front door of the bus, I went to the sink and washed my hands all over again. Twice.
“Why do you look so murderous today?” Keene asked as he came in through the door.
I tossed him a dismissive glance and walked past him to the bunk that was mine.
Once there, I plugged my phone in to charge, then went into the shared room to grab a change of clothes.
The next stop was the bathhouse that we usually made sure to have at each stop.
Turning the water up to scald, I stood under the spray and wondered what I’d done in my previous life to deserve the one I had now.
CHAPTER 3
As the proud owner of a big heart and a fat ass, my life should not be this hard.
-T-shirt
HADES
“Are you sure Coco was poisoned?” I heard said.
My eyes flicked open at the sound of voices outside the bus, and I groaned and rolled over at hearing Coco’s name mentioned.
Coco was one of two tigers that we had with the circus. One was a white tiger, and the other was a normal Bengal one with a rich orange coat.
I hadn’t gotten to bed until well after four this morning, and the last thing I was able to do right then was come up with cognitive brain power to form coherent thoughts.
“Yes, fairly sure,” I heard some new male voice say. “It’s more than obvious due to the symptoms the tiger is showing.”
I rubbed my eyes in hopes it would clear the sleep, and pushed my way out of the bunk.
The first stop was to get dressed fully and brush my teeth.
I needed to have a certain level of balance in my world, and those were two things I could fully control.
When I was done, I went out the back entrance to escape to the bathrooms—because there were just some things you didn’t do in the bus’s bathroom if you could help it.
That was why, when I came back around, purse, phone and overnight essential bag in hand, and heard what they had to say next, it froze me in my tracks.
“Do you think this could have been Hades?” Slone asked, making me pause mid-stride on my way around the bus.
“Hades would know that radiator fluid would be enticing to an animal, sure,” I heard my sister reply.
My stomach clenched.
“Did they say whether they thought Coco would make it?” I heard Keene ask.
“Not that I know of,” Slone replied. “But Coco wasn’t looking too good. There’s every possibility that she could die.”
“So do you think it was her? Because you left?” Slone asked.
“Maybe,” I heard Tony reply.
I’m sorry, but what?
Were they saying they thought I’d poisoned Coco?
Really?
How could they think it was me?
When had I ever hurt another living being?
Sure, I’d been a little rowdy with them, but I hadn’t physically hurt them in any way.
And the cats?
I loved those beasts.
And fuck them for not immediately telling Slone it wasn’t me.
