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At least, I’d tried to, anyway.
Yet, each day, there he was.
I’d gone back to my own apartment that next morning, secure in the knowledge that I needed to have nothing to do with him if I was ever going to get over him.
Because that was what I was going to do.
I was going to live the rest of my days without him. I’d done a lot of the unhappy things in my life, and I deserved better than a man who wasn’t willing to take that road with me in the end.
I should’ve known from the beginning it’d never work out. I mean, the man was a freakin’ killer billionaire. If there was anything on this planet that made him out of my league and no good for me, that was it.
A: I didn’t fit into his world.
B: he was right. He had some scary people in this world that would go out of their way to eliminate him if they could. It would be best if I did my due diligence and stayed away while I still could.
Yet, each day, it became harder and harder to stay away.
Which was why yesterday, I’d finally broken down and opened my door when he’d knocked.
He’d come in, slammed it closed behind him, and had kissed me breathless.
Then he’d fucked me senseless.
This morning, when I’d woken up alone, I knew rather quickly that allowing him entrance into my life wasn’t going to be the correct answer for this.
Going cold turkey, and possibly leaving altogether, might be the better way to go.
Alas, the circus must go on, and we had a soft opening in two and a half weeks.
That was why we were having a practice run with employees’ friends and family tonight. Whoever had the time to watch.
Usually, Hades was the tight rope walker, and Zip was her backup. But tonight, it was my show, as well as the acrobatics and contortion I’d be doing in three, two, one…
I bent backward, my head touching the back of my knee.
The crowd gasped, and I felt a burn in my belly as I stretched farther than I had in a while.
I flipped, my head going from the downward position, to upward.
Facing the crowd, I bent double over the ring, my face now nearly pressed to my own ass.
Then the ring was spinning, the people at the top taking advantage as they twisted from where the rope was secured to the rafters.
I didn’t usually like spinning, but people thought it was way better than sitting still, so I allowed it to some extent.
But, just as I expected them to stop, they didn’t.
They kept spinning and spinning until I had no other choice but to hold my position for much longer than I expected or wanted to.
The crowd cheered, and luckily my brother and Hades finally paid enough attention to what was going on to know that I was about to fall right the fuck off the ring if they didn’t stop it.
I heard a loud curse from above me, then the ring slowed its spinning.
I had to stay, holding myself on the rings with my arms straight for much longer than I expected, the ring finally coming to a slow, gentle stop on its own.
But it didn’t matter.
I’d already lost any and all desire to be on the ring anymore.
Sadly, I couldn’t just get down seeing as I was fifty feet in the freakin’ air.
It took me some time to sit up and get my mind on track again.
Luckily, they pulled me right up into the rafters, Keene’s strong arms doing the pulling.
When I finally came back online, I heard Hades arguing with someone, letting them know that they were no longer welcome at the circus and to meet with security—her man—before departure.
Keene wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me onto the scaffolding above the circus, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning into his arms.
“You okay?” he asked.
I couldn’t nod.
I could only sit there and wait for the room to stop spinning.
Keene let me lean, talking to me softly as I came back to myself.
My heart was utterly pounding in my chest, and it wasn’t until long minutes later that I heard him talking about Winston.
“…sitting in the crowd, staring up here like he’s about to lose his shit,” Keene said. “Something you’d like to share about you and Osborn?”
I blinked.
Was there?
No.
“There’s nothing between us,” I said. “He’s just invested now that you brought him in.”
He snorted, obviously not believing my words any more than I did.
“That’s why he is still looking, I’m sure,” he drawled.
I didn’t bother to look.
To look was to admit that I wanted him to be looking, and that was a dangerous situation to be in.
“What happened?” I asked to change the subject.
Keene grumbled something under his breath.
“One of the assembly crew was up here, and the one who was supposed to be up here doing the assisting for this act had to ‘use the shitter’ according to Jessup Smith. Jessup took over and lied to us about him knowing how to do this. Even though he was told to stop multiple times by Hades and never listened. Hades called for me, and it took me this long to get up here. I’m sorry,” he apologized.
