by Kat Cotton
“We should go,” Duke said.
I stood up and Duke took my arm. “Help me back to the van. I think I’ve overdone it today.” When I moved closer to him, he put his arm around my neck. “But don’t tell anyone.”
Chapter 18
WHEN DUKE AND I GOT back, Lilly smirked at us. She could smirk all she liked. It didn’t mean anything.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked. “Earnest wants to see you.”
I shuddered. I sure didn’t want to see him. We went through to the kitchen and found Earnest out in the back courtyard with his dogs.
The two dogs laid in the sun and I stared at them, wondering exactly what they were.
“We’ve been invited to perform a special show,” Earnest said. “The festival committee contacted me. One of the acts in the finale has had to pull out due to a critical mime injury and they need a replacement.”
I wanted to know exactly what a critical mime injury would be. Mime didn’t exactly seem that dangerous. Maybe they got locked in an invisible box or something.
“So, accept,” Duke said.
I also wasn’t sure of what the problem was. We had nothing booked for the next ten days after we finished here and it wasn’t like Earnest to want to discuss a decision.
“There’s one slight problem,” Earnest said. “They want the Wheel of Death.”
In other words, they wanted Duke not him.
“I’ll be fine to perform,” Duke said.
“Are you sure about that?” I asked. “It takes intense concentration and an insane level of skill. You might think you’re ready to perform but I’m not so sure I want you throwing knives at me.”
“Around you,” Duke said.
“When’s the finale?” I asked.
“This Saturday night,” Earnest said. “Three days’ time.”
There was no way Duke could do it.
“You need a cane to walk so the show is out of the question,” I said.
“I agree,” Earnest said.
I hated that he agreed with me and I wanted to change my mind just to spite him but I didn’t want Duke throwing knives at me even more.
“I’m sure Duke will be able to do it,” Lilly said.
I scowled at her. It was easy for her to say that. She wouldn’t be at any risk.
“He doesn’t have the required equipment with him so that’s that,” Earnest said.
The Wheel had stayed in the back of the trailer in the town house garage and Earnest didn’t know we had it with us. He seemed to think that the matter was final but the look on Duke’s face said otherwise. I didn’t like that one bit. But, for now, Duke let it rest.
That night was our last performance at the festival. Again, everything went smoothly but to a half-empty house. After Duke’s advice, my routine had improved. Not that any of the audience particularly cared but it made me feel good to know I’d improved.
Afterward, we packed up our gear from the dressing room but planned to come back the next day to load out the rest of our equipment.
I wanted to go back to the town house and sleep but Lilly grabbed me.
“We’re going out,” she said. “Wear something plain. Oh, wait, I don’t need to tell you that.”
Lilly wanting to dress plain got me curious. I wasn’t even sure what her idea of plain clothes would be. I had on jeans and a hoodie. That worked for me.
We got back to the town house and I waited for Lilly to change. She knocked on my door, wearing black pants and a black turtleneck. She even had on flat shoes. I didn’t know she owned shoes that weren’t heels. Her hair had been pinned up under a cap.
“Wow, you look like a cat burglar,” I said.
Then Nuno joined us and he wore a similar outfit. Those outfits might make them harder to see in the dark but, in any other situation, they looked so obviously like they were up to no good.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a secret,” Lilly said. “But it’s very important.”
I didn’t like the sound of that but I followed along with them. It was only when we were in the van, I realized what she was doing.
“We’re going to the circus, right?”
“We need to investigate and you have to help us.”
“No. No way. Turn this van around.”
“Don’t be silly, Jayne. We’ll only be there for a short time and it’s going to be really helpful for Duke.”
I couldn’t believe this. My stomach churned. It churned a lot. My throat went dry and I swallowed. This would not go well.
“Pull over,” I screamed.
“Really, Jayne, you’re being —” She turned around. “Oh shit, Nuno, pull over.”
I jumped out of the van, barely able to contain myself. Luckily, I didn’t vomit until I got to the roadside. Nuno jumped out of the van and rubbed my back. Part of me screamed not to let him. He was a potential murderer and couldn’t be trusted. But that part of my mind was totally overruled by the contents of my stomach spewing out of my body.
“Are you okay?” Lilly called from the van.
“Yes... no...”
I hugged myself, just wanting this to stop. Nuno handed me a bottle of water and I rinsed out my mouth then spat the water. I took another gulp, swallowing this time. Then I leaned against the van to steady myself. Nuno took the water from my hand and held the cool bottle against my forehead.
Had I really suspected him? How could someone so considerate be a murderer?
“Thanks,” I said, my voice rough and weak.
He leaned against the van beside me, smiling to let me know I could take as much time as I liked. Lilly stayed in the van. I’m pretty sure she didn’t deal well with sickness. Tough. She’d tricked me into coming with them, ignoring anything I’d said. If it’d been something simple, I’d have been happy to follow her lead but this was a hard line I couldn’t cross.
Finally, I felt well enough to get back in the van.
“I’m not going to that circus,” I said.
“Shit, who’s going to pick the lock for us now,” Lilly said. Then she swung around in her seat to face me. “There’s a trailer with something in it. Something held under way more security than anything else on site. We need to see what’s in that trailer.”
“I can’t do it,” I said. “But I can teach you. It’s not that difficult once you get the knack. When we get back to the town house, I’ll give you a lesson.”
That seemed to make her happy. It sure made me happy. I’d have a shower and feel human again.
When we got back though, we had trouble of a different kind.
Earnest.
When we pulled into the garage, the headlights of the van hit him. He’d been waiting for us to return— and he was not happy.
The trailer door had been opened and, with all our other gear still at the venue, the only thing in the trailer was the Wheel of Death.
Oops.
Chapter 19
“WHAT’S THE MEANING of this?” he asked.
We cringed like school kids caught smoking. I looked at Lilly and Nuno.
“I’m not sure,” Lilly said. “Ask Nuno. He’s the one who packed the trailer.”
Earnest folded his arms. “That’s not funny, Lilly,” he said.
The way he scowled at us made me shiver. Having a potential murderer angry at you wasn’t exactly fun and I still felt weak from throwing up.
“We packed it just in case Duke returned. We all thought he would. It’s not like we intended for him to use it in the act. It just made us feel a bit better to have it along.”
“Really?” Earnest raised his eyebrows. No chuckles now.
“Yes, really. Think about it. I’m the one with the most at risk here. And there is no way I’m going to participate in this act until I’m sure Duke is one hundred percent better. I’m not putting my life at risk just to make Duke feel better.”
He nodded. “That makes sense. You’d be a fool to work with him as he is. He might seem to be recovering
but I fear his brain is addled.”
I wanted to say Earnest’s brain was addled but I kept my mouth shut. This wasn’t a time for smartass comments.
“I need to reiterate that I’m the one in charge here and my word goes. There will be consequences for anyone who disobeys me.”
Nuno cringe. I’d never noticed before but Nuno seemed terrified of Earnest. Surely if you were accomplices in a murder you wouldn’t be that scared of someone. Maybe he’d been forced into it and he had more reason to be scared of Earnest than I had.
Lilly kept side-eying me, a warning to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t need her warning, though.
“I guess there’s not much I can do about this now but in future—”
The door connecting the garage to the town house opened.
“Ah, everyone’s here,” Duke said. Then his eyes lit up. “My Wheel.”
Duke rushed forward, as though he wanted to hug the Wheel but Earnest jumped in front of the trailer, trying to hide the Wheel from Duke’s gaze.
Too little, too late. Duke had seen it and there was no going back.
“Duke didn’t know?” Earnest asked us.
“Not until now,” I replied. “You let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.”
Duke ignored Earnest and climbed into the trailer.
“Did you bring my knives?” he asked.
He found the box and opened it. His expression changed as he touched those knives. He ran his hand over the box, looking at them like a mother looks at her baby.
“Put those down,” Earnest said but his voice lacked authority. No wonder since he spoke to someone holding a box of very sharp knives.
“We can do the show,” Duke said.
“We can’t.” Earnest stood firm.
Duke didn’t answer but twitched his mouth in way that suggested he wouldn’t take orders from Earnest.
Lilly grinned then turned to Nuno. She pointed at Earnest and held up five fingers. Five dollars on Earnest to win? She was betting on this? That seemed wrong and insensitive... and stupid. And there was no way Earnest would beat Duke. Couldn’t she see the way Duke stroked those knives?
I pointed at Duke and held up five fingers. This was no betting matter but if there was betting, I needed to be in on the action.
The four of us went back inside with this matter far from settled.
“I’ll call the festival director tomorrow and let him know the offer has been declined,” Earnest said.
“We need to do it,” Duke said. “We need the money and we need to stick around here. The festival people will only pay for this town house while we’re performing. Do you want to pay out of your own pocket?”
Earnest had no answer to that.
“Maybe we should do a test run to see if Duke’s capable,” Lilly said.
“Are you volunteering to be the target girl?” I asked her. “Because that seems only fair.”
Lilly would never, ever willing do that.
“Hardly. You know what happens when I get on that Wheel. I’d be worse than you were earlier.”
As I thought.
Earnest had made cups of tea for everyone and he set them on the table. I didn’t think this was a time for tea drinking but I took the cup from him.
“Nuno could do it,” I said.
Nuno nodded his head. He seemed pretty keen to get on the Wheel. I had no idea why. No sane person would agree to do it at the best of times.
“Jayne will do it,” Duke said.
I screwed up my nose. “You know those powers don’t work on me. And there’s no way. No way in hell.”
“It’s just a test,” Lilly said. “It’s not like Duke has to do the act at full strength.”
That was easy for her to say. And, hey wait, she bet against Duke. She expected him to fail. If that was the case, then why did she want me on the Wheel? I really needed to add Lilly to my list of people I couldn’t trust. It was easy to forget where her loyalties lay but I’m pretty sure any loyalties Lilly had laid firmly with Lilly. Not Duke, not Nuno, not anyone else.
“There’s nothing you can say to persuade me to do this. Nothing at all.”
Lilly laughed then she leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I know why you don’t want to go back to the circus.”
Shit. She knew? She couldn’t know everything but she knew something. That was blackmail and wrong but I couldn’t argue with her without alerting the others that I hid something.
I grimaced. How much could those knives hurt anyway? Chances were if Duke missed, he’d only get my leg or my arm not any vital organs. And Nuno was on hand with his healing powers.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
I shot Lilly a dirty look, though. She’d pay for this.
Duke took the tea cup from my hand before I even got a chance to take a sip. Then tried to pull me up.
“Nuno, take the van out of the garage,” Duke said. “We’ll do this in there. Jayne, you come with me and we’ll prepare.”
Duke seemed a lot less addled now that he had a task to do.
The two of us went into the garage. Nuno helped unload the Wheel from the trailer then took the van out of the garage. That left Duke and I alone.
Duke cupped my face in his hand. “Trust in me, Jayne. I won’t hurt you. I can do this.”
“I only have your word for it,” I said. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or that I think you’re incompetent, it’s just I don’t want to be impaled by a knife.”
Damn him, he might not be able to use those powers on me but the way he held my gaze befuddled the heck out of me. I didn’t have a thing for Duke. I didn’t date dead men, for starters. The whole concept grossed me out. But those eyes and the way his mustache moved as he smiled... I’d thought of Duke as an invalid since he returned but that all got swept away when he stared at me like this.
It wasn’t fair. I had so little experience with men and he made my insides swirl. This was a blatant attempt to make me do what he wanted but what did he want? I’d agreed to attempt the act. Lilly had made sure of that. And no matter how much you filled a person with heat and longing, that didn’t make knife impalement any more attractive.
Instead of letting go, he brushed my cheek with his thumb.
Yikes. That sent a shiver down my body, tingling my spine and curling my toes. Not a shiver of lust but something much stronger. I wanted to pull away, not used to these kinds of feelings. Maybe the knife impalement would be less painful in the long run than having Duke mess with me like this.
As I turned away, he grabbed my wrists.
I looked up at him, wondering where this was going. We needed to get ready to perform. But he kept tight hold of me, his fingers burning into my flesh. I gulped. I didn’t want to get into this with him but I couldn’t pull away either.
When he moved closer, I knew I couldn’t resist him. My heart raced and every beat seemed to say he’s going to kiss me, he’s going to kiss me.
Then he did it.
Even though I’d expected it, the reality of his lips on my mine hit me like a ton of bricks. So much emotion flooded through my body. Buzzing and whirling and floating. He kissed me gently, his lips barely brushing mine, but I pressed my body into his, wanting more.
Damn it. Damn the lot of them. I could barely hold on with the world fluttering around me.
I could lose myself in Duke. I might not trust him and I might not know what he was but I did know I never wanted that kiss to stop.
Then the garage door opened.
I broke away. If that was Lilly, I’d never hear the end of this. She’d been right. I did have a thing for Duke. I couldn’t hide it from myself any longer.
But it wasn’t Lilly. It was far worse.
Akira.
Chapter 20
I HAD NO IDEA WHY AKIRA was at the town house. This place was strictly off limits for him. And he could stop staring at me like that. I’d moved away from Duke but tried to control my expression. I needed to look like I’d ju
st been busted by a random stranger, not someone I knew well.
I wanted to tell Akira to stop. He barely knew me. He shouldn’t be so angry about me kissing someone. He shouldn’t be here and he shouldn’t have been walking in on me.
“Can we help you?” Duke asked.
He looked from me to Akira and back again. I’d hoped he wouldn’t notice the tension between us but he obviously suspected something.
“You left your phone in the dressing room today,” Akira said. “The staff gave me your details so I could drop it back to you.”
I was sure I hadn’t left my phone anywhere which meant Akira had to have something really important to tell me. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, though. I hoped I didn’t have to remind him to read the policy manual on interaction between officers’ undercover.
“Where’s the phone?” Duke asked.
Akira ran his fingers through his hair. “I left it in the car. I wasn’t sure this was the right place.”
That sounded strange even to me but I walked out to the car with Akira.
“What’s this about?” I hissed.
“The local cops have dug up a lot of evidence against that Earnest guy,” he said. “I wanted to check that you are okay.” He opened the car door leaning over the frame. “You are okay?”
“I’m fine. You can’t do this. Now I have to walk back in there but you don’t actually have my phone. What if it actually rings while I’m out here. That’s going to look suspicious as hell.”
“Just say I made a mistake. It wasn’t your phone.”
He smiled but smiling didn’t cut it. He’d put his feelings before the job and that was not on.
“I’m okay but you’re really screwing up by being here. You know I’m going to have to discuss with Larry. If you’re worried about Earnest then you should realize the worst possible scenario is for him to work out I’m undercover.”
I folded my arms, waiting for him to explain. I’d freaked seeing him. Not just because he’d caught me with Duke but because seeing him turn up made me assume the worst.