Page 47 of One for the Money
I retain my balance, wait for the music and Dario’s cue,and I leap, flipping and twisting in the air to grasp his wrists and swing beneath him.
It’s definitely my imagination when I hear a small noise of relief from thirty feet below me. There’s no way my ears picked up on that.
We flip off the bar, back to my platform, and stand back to back, arms up high. The crowd goes wild, and as we prep for our joint tightrope routine, Dario grins widely at me, leaning close to whisper in my ear.
“Keep showing off, I think it’s working.”
I’m feeling rejuvenatedafter the ice bath, which I’ve come to look forward to but would never admit, and dressed in a pair of track pants when I hear laughter coming from the big top.
“Oh, are we partying?” Dario calls out, skipping ahead of me into the tent.
In the middle of the ring is Jude, holding a bottle of water tightly around the neck as he glares at Alex. She’s got a coy smile on her face, and her head is cocked to the side.
“Absolutely not!” he growls, shaking his head. “No fucking way.”
“Oh, come on, boss,” Quinton says, taking a drag from a joint and holding it out to the Omega.
She shakes her head and waves it off. “Not this time. Can’t be stoned if one of you fucks a dare up,” she says, dismissing him. “And come on, Jude. You picked dare.”
This time? Did they toke up together? Does the good doctor gethigh?
“Well, I wouldn’t have if I had known you’d dare me to let them throw knives at me!”
Dario and I make it to the center of the ring, where Jude, Alex, Matteo, and Quinton are sprawled on the floor. All of them are drinking beer, except for Jude, which is no surprise, and the doctor, who has a bottle of cola in her hand.
“Oh, are we playing truth or dare? Without me? It’s my favorite game, you know,” Dario says, skipping into the middle of the ring before flopping down on the ground. I’m about to turn to leave when he locks eyes with me. “I dare you to stay, brother.”
I stifle my groan. I’m going to look like a douche if I bail, so even though I would prefer not to socialize with the Omega, I grab a stool and sit on the edge of the group. Attention falls back on Jude.
“I’ll use rubber knives,” Matteo says. “You won’t get hurt.” He leans into Quinton’s side. The Alpha tilts his head so it rests on top of the Beta’s. That kind of casual affection is foreign to me. I don’t know if I could ever be that comfortable with anyone other than Dario.
“The wheel will break,” Jude says, switching gears and trying a different tactic. “I’m too fucking heavy for it.”
Jude is a big guy, for sure, but those wheels are built solid. There is no way he’d break it.
Eventually, after much cajoling, he lets Matteo strap him in and turn the wheel on at a very slow speed. Quickly, our showrunner’s face turns green, and Matteo throws two knives, which are very much not rubber, at him.
“Motherfucker!” Jude shouts when they sink into the wood. “You lied!”
Matteo is laughing so hard he has to wipe tears from his eyes. “Of course, I lied. Rubber knives wouldn’t workfor the trick.” He unlatches Jude after shutting the wheel off, who stumbles around, hand over his mouth.
“I’m gonna be fucking sick.”
Alex hops to her feet and sprints out of the tent, coming back just seconds later with her medical bag. She pulls a pill out and holds it out to Jude. “This will help the nausea.” He takes it from her, a softness I’ve never seen before flashing in his eyes.
Matteo grins and throws himself back down beside Quinton. “Okay, my turn,” the Beta says, looking at Alex. “Dr. Alex Shields. Truth… or dare?”
She crosses her arms over her chest and wrinkles her nose. I hate when she does that nose thing. It’s cute, and I don’t want to find her cute. “I don’t want anything thrown at me, so I guess truth.”
“Why did youreallyjoin the circus?”
The Omega turns deathly pale, and her eyes widen. “I changed my mind, I want dare.”
“You can’t change your mind,” I scoff. “That’s against the rules.”
“You weren’t here when we made the rules,” Quinton says, throwing a glare at me. “She can change if she wants to.”
I roll my eyes but don’t bother saying anything else. I won’t win this.
