Page 86 of Two For the Show
Knives fly through the air and ‘thunk’ into the wooden target as he hurls them over and over at me.
But when his arm goes backward to launch the last blade at me, Alex grabs his wrist. “Maestro,” she purrs. “Let me.”
I can see the slight tremor in her hand. No one outside of the three of us, since Jude has retreated to the wings to lick his wounds and nurse his pride at being fooled by us, would notice. But I do.
She’s terrified she’s going to miss and hurt me.
I know she won’t. We’ve practiced this over and over. We know exactly where the target will be at the point during the song when she needs to let it fly.
But I hold my breath all the same, knowing that if she misses, she’ll never forgive herself.
As she lets the knife fly, I watch it arc through the air in slow motion, careful not to move even a millimeter.
It embeds itself into the wood right above my head, probably giving me a bit of a haircut at the same time.
The audience is screaming their applause now, and Alex nearly loses the battle with gravity in relief.
We don’t have time to bask in our success. The show must go on.
“If you’ve seen our show before,” Matteo says as a roadie unhooks me from the target, “you know that this is the part of the performance that Quick Cut shows you what he’s really made of. But tonight, he won’t be alone.”
I run across the ring and pull Alex into my arms, kissing her passionately. Our bodies press tightly together, our tongues tangling, and the audience fades away.
Since she returned, with no suppressants in her system, I’ve felt like a new man. I know the Rot is there, but for thefirst time in years, I don’t feel the need to medicate myself. The small aches and pains are nothing. Not with her around.
I hear more than see the suspension bar drop down to a reachable distance. Matteo grabs my hair and yanks me backward, and I fall to my knees. He cuts my shirt down the back and pushes it off my shoulders. With practiced, expert hands, he gets me ready for a rope suspension. Alex kneels in front of me, stroking my face, as he wraps and ties my arms behind my back before moving down to my hips. Once the waist harness is complete, he hauls me up, leaving me hanging with my back arched as he runs ropes from my arms to the bar and then does an intricate tie around my leg to keep one of my feet up.
I love this moment. This feeling of weightlessness. It’s like everything around me quiets, and all I can feel is the pressure of the hemp rope against my skin. This isn’t the most comfortable position I’ve ever been suspended in, but I know it strikes a beautiful, striking image.
My brain goes to mush as I hang there, luxuriating in the feeling of submission that comes with being completely restrained. I know I should be watching him as he works on Alex, because they’re so beautiful together, but my eyes drift closed as I travel into that quiet space I fall into when I submit.
I can hear the murmuring and gasps of the crowd and the added pressure to the bar as he hauls Alex up by her hips, close enough to me that I could touch her if my arms weren’t tied. This is when I open my eyes.
Her face is blissed out, eyes half-lidded, as our bodies reach for each other. With both of our arms restrained, we can’t reach for each other, but our faces are close enough that we can arch our backs and press our lips together.
I want to kiss her deeply, to show her how much shemeans to me without words, but we’re literally restrained in a way that we can’t. We can only brush our lips against one another.
Matteo walks between us, grabbing Alex’s face and kissing her passionately. She lets out a soft little moan that has me nearly begging Matteo to cut me down so I can take care of our girl. But of course, I can’t. Not with all these people watching.
Besides, we fucked enough times after the rehearsals for me to know that we’ll scratch the itch once we’re done here.
When our Beta switches his attention to me, dragging his tongue across the seam of my lips and then biting down on my lower one, my brain finally clues in to the audience. There are camera flashes galore and lots of applause as he pulls away from me and straightens his back, standing between us.
“Quick Cut, Omega, you are both so beautiful like this. So perfect. Too perfect for any eyes but my own.”
The lights cut again, and the bar lowers so our bodies rest on the ground. Matteo doesn’t care about preserving his rope. He cuts us down and out of the ropes quickly, and we all slip out of the ring before the lights come up on Jude, all by himself as he prepares to announce the next act.
Chapter 35
The show finisheswith the motorcycle crew in the Globe of Steel. Yeah, I’m glad Jude put his foot down about me standing in the middle of that. I’d have pissed myself.
As Jude thanks the audience for coming, the twins, Quinton, Matteo, and I walk forward, heads held high, and flank him.
“What you’ve seen here tonight isn’t a normal night at the circus,” our Prime Alpha says, wrapping his arm around my waist. “This is the formal introduction of my pack to the world. Everything you may have heard about Dr. Alex Shields and her disappearance is a lie. Consider this our bonding party, which we’ve decided to share with everyone. From here on out, I am no longer Jude Oliver.”
I spin and stare at my Alpha. What is he saying?
“I am not Dario Reynolds.”
