Freakshow

Chapter Twenty Three

"I won't allow it," Cairo growled the moment I'd outlined his father's proposal. "It's a ridiculous fucking idea Liv, and one that puts you directly in the line of fire. There's no way."

"I need to stay with the Cirque," I argued, "I would have free time to see you and we could possibly get somewhere with the disappearances going on around here. Your father said he'd ship me back to Canada otherwise. Besides, he told me it was something you were totally okay with."

He pulled back, looked me up and down and said, "Are you fucking kidding me? How would I ever be okay with that? I shut After Dark down the moment I came back from school. It's disgusting to pander to rich, bored assholes and abuse our Cirque family just to make money."

"So it wasn't something you were fine with?" I was sitting on his bed next to him. Orion, seemingly allowing us time to speak about it, had gone into the city for a few hours. Of course he had lied about Cairo's support for After Dark, what else could I expect from a man such as him?

"It most certainly isn't," he replied, cupping my face in his hands. "I can't stand the thought of my father's hands on you. I can't stand the thought of you being in danger. I feel like he's leading us towards a trap, and we're wandering straight into it. Can't you see that?"

"I see that I need to be near you, Cai," I whispered, "I can't be sent back to Canada. He kept my passport, so I'm here illegally. I have no money, he keeps giving me the run around on that too. I know he's using me to keep you in line, and I know he sees me as a threat, but I don't see any other way for us to deal with this. I know he's dangerous, but you'll be there with me, okay?"

Cairo's eyes seemed to roll in his head as he struggled with the emotions that were playing out all over his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, calmed his trembling hands, and took a deep breath.

"I don't know how you do it," he said slowly, "But every time you explain something to me it makes so much sense. I know this is the wrong move, Liv, but I can't seem to tell you no."

"It's my witchy ways," I said and leaned forward to sneak a kiss before he opened his eyes.

His lids snapped open and he looked surprised, but only for a moment. The one place he didn't seem conflicted was with me, in this way. Sex, and love, it was all so glaringly obvious to us both that there was no problem when we were together.

Even his pending marriage, I had a strange feeling that it wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't let it happen. I had no idea how I would stand in the face of hundreds of years of Cirque tradition, combined with his mother's last wishes and his father's desperate need for money, but I knew I would.

Cairo's fingers traced paths along my arms, making my flesh prickle with goosebumps. I still felt no pain, you could stab me or slice my skin and I would see the blood as an abstract concept, but when Cai touched me, my body felt it.

My blood felt it. My skin prickled and every hair on my head felt lighter, as though he infused his own brand of magic into every cell of my defective body.

With him, I felt complete and normal, and that was more of a turn on than anything else I could have found.

And by normal, it was my own brand of normal. I was perfect with Cai, perfect as I was, and I would never feel pressured to change a damn thing around him.

He sunk back onto his bed and pulled me with him, so I was straddling his broad body, leaning over him and kissing him.

He pulled me further and I felt like I was falling into him, the ocean of Cai, like a great body of water that could barely contain our love.

"I love you," he breathed against my lips, his hands cupping my ass and pulling me against his hardness. We were fully clothed, and yet somehow it felt more sensual, more connectedness than if we were bare naked.