Page 63 of Two For the Show
It seems like the people love a masked man.
“He bridges Rex’s act, which can get creepy and is almost a type of body horror to some people, with Quinton and Matteo’s act. They’ve got that inherent feeling of danger that Guy inspires and some of the ‘how does the body do that’ incredulousity that Rex has with Q’s sword swallowing, but especially when they do the body suspension.”
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way my stomach dropped when I saw Quinton hanging from the ceiling by his actual skin.
“That makes a lot of sense. You’ve put a ton of thought into this, huh?”
“Did you think I drew their names out of that hideous hat?” he asks, flicking up the brim of the ringmaster hat teasingly. “I’ve been doing this for twenty years now. Designing the show and keeping it flowing and entertaining is as much of an art as some of these acts are.”
I position myself so I can lean my head onto his shoulder. “So you’re putting a lot of faith in me by letting me crash the show, huh?”
He tickles my side teasingly. “I sure am, so don’t mess it up, Omega.”
Once our laughter fades, Jude reaches over and grabs my hand without looking at me. “Alex, I want to apologize for the way I treated you when you first came here. It may surprise you to find out that I’m a little bit of a control freak, and you sure did upend things.”
“I never blamed you for it. I know I was cagey, and I did purposefully deceive you. Even if you made itreallyeasy to do.”
“In my defense, you’ve seen how much these guys get hurt! I needed a doctor, and I didn’t have time to be picky.” He stands up and grabs my empty water bottle, tossing it into a trashcan that’s off the side of one of the aisles. “Now, come on. From the top, Omega.”
Chapter 26
My troupe sitsin the stands, chattering away as I stand in the center ring, feeling more nervous than I have since I had to tell them all I fucked up and hired a female Omega as our doctor.
I’m worried about their reactions.
And then I look into Alex’s dark eyes, where she sits next to Matteo, and they bolster my confidence. I have to do this.
I can’t keep this from my family any longer.
“Thank you all for coming today. As you all know, Dr. Alex is back with us.” There’s a pleased rumbling from my team, which lightens some of my tension. “We didn’t protect her last time she was here. I didn’t protect her. And I have no doubt most of you have seen the news stories about her. I am especially grateful none of you has called in a tip about her.”
That we know of.
But I have to assume that if they did, those three assholes would be on our doorstep already.
“It’s not our place to question why she’s here,” Guy says in a scratchy voice. “We’ve all got our demons.”
There’s a reason Guy wears a mask during the show. He doesn’t want anyone to see his face, to know who he is. It took him three years to stop wearing it around the rest of us. Now, it’s only for the shows, but when he first joined us, it was any time he stepped out of his trailer.
“Alex will be performing in our show once we reach San Diego for the last show of the tour.”
“Oh shit, doing what?” Trevor asks excitedly. “Can she stand in the middle of the Globe?”
Alex’s face pales, and I shoot that down real fast. “Absolutely not. She’s only performing with a few acts.”
Trevor’s eyes twinkle, and I can tell immediately he knows which acts. Alex told me he found out about all of them, and he’s done a good job keeping his mouth shut, but it’s time to let everyone know. I don’t want anyone hearing it from him.
“Alex is my Omega.” The words rush out of me in a whoosh. It takes a minute for my team to react.
“I knew it!” Rex shouts, jumping to his feet. “Pay up!” He holds his hand out to Paul.
Paul grumbles and pulls his wallet from his pocket. He shoves a couple of bills into Rex’s extended palm. “Yeah, yeah. You called it.”
Alex sputters out a laugh. “Did you have a bet about me?”
“You and Jude, yeah. And well… that isn’t all of it, is it?” Rex’s eyes, eyes sparkling. “Because I got a couple of other bets out there, you know.”
I fuss, scrubbing my hand down my face. “I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like we’ve been subtle. Well, let’s hear it. Who have you also bet for?”
