Chapter Seven

 

 

 

“So what’re you in for?” Caroline asked. She turned around in Riley’s arms and grabbed the top of his shorts, yanking at the button then teasing the top of the zipper.

He just shook his head and looked away, but he canted his hips toward her hands nevertheless.

“Hey, look, I just drank two margaritas. I’m as chill as I’m ever going to be. Whatever you did, I’m probably in a much better state to hear about it now than later when I’m regretting being born,” Caroline said.

“I’ll make you regret being born,” Colm muttered. He climbed onto the spider, determinedly not facing their direction.

“You… Not even you can kill my buzz right now, so whatever you are, it can zip its lips while I enjoy feeling up this fine young man,” Caroline said. She returned to her fascination at the way Riley’s cock reacted to her pulling the zipper up and down, not enough to let it fall free, just enough to get a glimpse of the thick cock in the shadows.

“Um, can we wait to tell the story until after—?” Riley asked. “Ah!”

She jerked the zipper all the way down. The metal teeth scraped over the bottom of the shaft, but any pain did nothing to make his erection flag. It popped out—full, hard and tempting.

Caroline’s mouth watered as she remembered what it had been like to taste him. This time, there was no cock ring to keep him hard past his endurance. It wasn’t nearly as angry-looking as before, but it certainly looked juicy and ready to burst, as though a little press of her teeth would be enough to spill threads of pre-cum over the sides.

“If we waited until after you got what you wanted, maybe you wouldn’t tell me,” Caroline said.

Colm barked a cold laugh. “She’s got your number, slave.”

“Hey, you’re as much a slave as me,” Riley shot back. “You did bad too, otherwise we wouldn’t have both been put in the same punishment.”

“It just begs the question even more, meatsack,” Colm said. “What’d you do that was so bad, you got put in the carousel with me?”

“Down on the floor,” Caroline said to Riley. She tugged at his shorts. They bunched at his thighs. He practically had to peel them off. Yes, Lady Sasha had definitely sold someone’s soul to the devil to make those shorts hug his ass and package so damn well.

Riley lowered himself to the platform then onto his back when Caroline pushed him down by his chest. She lingered, massaging the muscles there before bringing the tips of her fingers to his small, dark brown nipples, focusing her massage just over them. Closing his eyes, Riley groaned. He clutched at his cock to stroke it, but she batted his hand away.

“Tell me what you did,” Caroline said.

“I don’t want to say it,” Riley admitted.

“Why? Can’t be more horrible than Madoc,” she said.

“But you don’t want to have sex with him. I’m afraid that if I tell you, you won’t…you know.”

“Suck you off like a popsicle?” Caroline finished for him. “Maybe not. Depends on what you have to tell. But how lucky do you think you’re going to get if you don’t tell?” She settled between his legs and licked a line up the prominent ridge of his cock. She stopped before she reached the more sensitive head.

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you,” Riley cried out.

“Weak,” Colm scoffed.

“But you’re not going to like it,” Riley continued, ignoring Colm.

Caroline propped herself up on his thighs. “Why? Did you murder a man?”

“No,” Riley said. “But I could have. It was an accident—a stupid, juvenile accident.”

“Balls. It was on purpose and you know it,” Colm said. “I might have been wood impaled on a pole at the time, but I remember what happened.”

“But I wouldn’t have meant to kill anyone,” Riley protested. “I didn’t think anyone would be hurt. It was a dare. My friends and my cousins dared me to… Oh God, there’s no good way to say it.”

“There’s no way to say it that makes you come out smelling like a rose because you’re shit, and shit smells like shit,” Colm said. “Just tell her what you did.”

“None of us liked the freaks,” Riley finally said. “We thought they were funny. We mocked them, threatened to throw food at them, insulted them. When one of us did something, the others needed to do something bigger. I think we’d had a lot of ale, but we were like that sober, too. Finally, Felix dared me to set fire to the tents while the performance was going on. All the tents. I did the oddity tents first, while we laughed about how stupid and dumb everyone here was, that they had been born idiots—although we said it worse than that, of course. But the small tents weren’t enough. They dared me to do the big one too.”

Caroline paused in her idle stroking of the soft hair on Riley’s legs. “You mean you were going to burn down the big top while people were inside? All the people?”

“I told you it was stupid. I wasn’t thinking anyone would get hurt. I don’t think any of us were thinking at all. We just wanted to get back at the freaks.”

“For being freaks?” she asked.

“Yeah. It made sense then. Lots of stupid things made sense,” Riley said. “Most of my friends managed to get out before Bell and the clowns caught us. The Ringmaster didn’t come out because he was still in the show. But Felix and I didn’t make it over the fence before Bell stopped us. He asked us whether Felix had dared me and whether I had done it. He said if we told the truth, he would spare us. Felix said he didn’t know what was going on and that Bell had the wrong guys. And Bell, he…” Riley rested his head on the platform and stared up into the lights. He swallowed thickly. “He gave Felix to the clowns.”

“And?” Caroline asked.

“They ate him right in front of me,” Riley said.

“Wait, huh? You mean those signs are for real?” Caroline asked. “The clowns really eat people?”

“Don’t all clowns?” Colm muttered.

“I told him I did it,” Riley said. “I broke down and begged for mercy. I had no dignity, only fear. I wish I could say I felt ashamed, but I didn’t. I was just caught and didn’t want to die. Not like that. Bell told me to make a wish, a specific wish to become what the circus needed of me and to suffer whatever punishment he wanted to give me. I did.

“Next moment, I was made of wood. I could feel everything as though I wasn’t, although I didn’t get hungry or thirsty or heatstroke or frostbite. But I was hard all the time, and I was cold, hot, wet, dry with the weather. I felt people on my back and heels spurring me forward. I could hear everyone yelling around me. I felt the ache of the bit in my mouth. But I couldn’t speak or move my eyes or ease any of my discomfort. I couldn’t yell for help. The first time I was made flesh again was two nights ago, when you met me in the night and touched me.”

Riley shrugged, his nostrils red, but he kept his emotions under control. “I don’t know how long it’s been. Years, I guess. It all blends together and sometimes doesn’t feel real at all. It doesn’t matter. I’ve had lots of time to regret, to develop the shame I should have felt before. To figure out how stupid it was to think the freaks had to suffer for looking the way they did and that we were the ones to punish them, that it would be funny instead of cruel. But I know now. I can never take it back. I can never undo what I almost did. I could have ended up in jail for the rest of my life if this had been a normal circus. I think that would have been kinder, but I’d also have had deaths on my conscience. For that, I’ll take what Bell gives me if it means they get to live. One too many people died that night as it is.”

“Years?” Colm said. “You were there for years? I was there before you were. I’ve been on this carousel for decades, boy.”

“And I’m sure you deserved every last day with what you did—or planned to do,” Caroline replied.

“Bell would agree with you, but he’s always self-righteous, the narcissistic bastard,” Colm said.

“Why are you even here now?” Caroline asked. “You’re not harshing my buzz yet, but you’re getting there. You don’t even want to be with me. You’ve got all night to be a real boy, so shoo, fly. You’re free to go about whatever demony business you have in mind, as long as it’s not here, because I’m going to give my guy a blow job.” She turned back to Riley. “I think it’s awful what you did, but you did your time, as they say. And I really want your cock right now. Call it a craving.”

“I can’t believe you’re real,” Riley said, straining up to look at her while his cock twitched and lengthened even more, as though straining to be in her mouth.

“That’s my line.”

But this time, even though the world was fuzzy on the edges and she was back in that dreamlike state, she knew that when she ran her tongue over the tip of his cock, it was real—blissfully solid, musky, a little salty, a little bitter, but real. She moaned in pleasure as she took the whole head in her mouth.

Riley’s breath hitched. He pushed his hips up, but she rested her arms over his thighs. She couldn’t hope to hold him down, small as she was in comparison, but she gripped his waist so that every time he thrust up, he moved her with him. Only she could control how much of him she took in.

But as she bobbed over the top half of his cock, holding it with her thumb and forefinger around the base, Caroline squirmed against the platform. There was nothing for her to press her own hips against, nothing to touch and titillate where the blood flowed so sweetly between her legs. The buzz in her clit was as soft and gentle as the buzz in her head. She didn’t know whether she could come tonight with the tequila in her system, but God, she wanted someone to touch her.

Caroline crawled to her knees and twisted her mouth as she sucked up his heavy erection. He threaded his fingers through her hair. His hand was almost as big as her face, two of his strong fingers almost the width of his cock. Caroline whimpered when he tightened them into a fist as she released him. His cock plopped out of her mouth and against his stomach with a wet slap. But she didn’t want to stop. All she wanted to do was climb over his leg to straddle his thigh.

She mashed her folds and clit against the firm muscle just above his knee. He loosened his hand in her hair when she wrapped her own grip around the fat base of his erection, squeezing like the ring she’d rescued him from.

Riley grunted, grimacing as though in terrible pain, but his cock seeped the thin fluid of pre-cum that told her how much he liked it.

Then she waited until he opened his eyes again to meet her gaze. Caroline lowered her mouth over him and smiled, grazing her teeth lightly under the thick part of the head. He jerked, which caused him to pull at her hair, and that pulled her teeth up harder against the sensitive head. He shouted, then again when she sucked at him, her mouth all soft in insincere apology.

“God, you’re going to kill me. You’re such a tease,” Riley groaned.

“Tease? I’m giving you what you wanted, aren’t I?” Caroline asked. She spit on the head and stroked him roughly, smearing her saliva and his pre-cum over the shaft. She liked the way she could feel his pulse in her hand.

“Not a bad thing,” Riley said. “Just… Ah, fuck! I’m going to come. It’s too… Yes, pull it, damn it, just like that. Give it to me rough.”

Riley hadn’t been the more articulate of the two men when she’d thought he was a dream. She hadn’t expected she’d like it when he started getting all demanding.

Caroline kept her grip tight, her mouth poised above the glistening slit. She could tell he liked what she wanted to do, because he didn’t blink, even when he clearly wanted his head to fall back and his eyes to close. She preferred to swallow than clean cum off her face, but she didn’t hate it, and she certainly didn’t hate the look he gave her.

Even though he was going to mark her, he looked like he’d do anything for her because she was willing. A girl could fall in love with that look. She had back when she’d learned a man’s cock wouldn’t break and that she liked the sounds men made when they were about to fall apart, their pleasure literally in her hands.

Rubbing the head against her tongue, she coaxed his climax from him. She pulled back slightly when the first spurt hit her mouth, then licked her lips as the rest hit her mouth and neck. Caroline only belatedly remembered to hold back her hair. She’d just got her hair done. She didn’t need any more product in there.

“Fuck yes.” Riley had doubled over as he came, and now he fell back. “I can’t tell you… Years. Whole years, hard all the time. And it’s like I can’t get any satisfaction unless you’re the one doing it. Having a four-year-long erection gets old, but goddamn if you don’t make it feel good again.”

Caroline rocked against his thigh, her arousal simmering with each pass, but right now, she honestly didn’t need anything more. All she needed was this drowsy contentment, staring down at a man exquisitely hard from every perspective, except where he’d softened, and that looked replete against his thigh. It made her irrationally proud that she had done that for him—irrational, because as far as she could tell, it had never been too difficult to bring her partners to orgasm, with the occasional exception. But this was a man who hadn’t had an orgasm in years, so she decided to let herself have that victory.

“For fuck’s sake, let’s just sing Kumbaya and wave our ribbon wands. Our blessed savior has freed us. It’s not like we’re still prisoners or anything, just at a gentler hand—so to speak,” Colm said. He slid nimbly from his spider mount and stalked to the carousel’s edge.

Seeing him from the side made it impossible not to notice that his erection hadn’t gone away. Far from it.

“Either way, you poor bastard,” Colm muttered, “you’re not free and she’s not your savior.”

“You were the one who said it, not me,” Caroline said. “I just thought you were a dream. I’m not trying to save anyone. I’m only trying to get through the year.”

“Oh yeah, a year pushing a few buttons and playing with a weak boy toy who doesn’t even have the staying power to do anything for you is really quite the punishment,” Colm said. He clenched his hands into pale-knuckled fists. “Damn it.”

He punched a golden-painted horse this time. Then he winced, shaking his hand. This horse didn’t react either, although its expression seemed inexplicably sardonic after Colm hit it.

“I never said I was being punished. That doesn’t mean I was setting out to join a demonic circus when I left home,” Caroline said. “I think I’ve earned a little ennui. Now I need to pee and possibly collapse, because I’m sobering up and you can go fuck a duck for all I care right now.” She picked herself up off Riley and patted his thigh. “You, however, are welcome to join me in my ungainly collapse in the cabin under the carousel. I don’t know whether sleep’s on your agenda or whether you can even sleep at all.” When one couldn’t move for years, Caroline imagined there wasn’t much else to do besides sleep away the time.

“Is there something to eat? I’m not hungry but…I haven’t eaten all this time,” Riley said. He struggled to reach his shorts then stared at them as though wondering whether they were really worth putting on, all things considered.

“Yeah, the fridge is stocked. Probably not with anything substantial, but I can get you more food tomorrow evening. I can even feed you too if you’re not still in a snit about my being responsible for you,” Caroline said to Colm.

“I thought we were the ones supposed to be waiting on you hand and foot so that we can please you,” Colm spat.

“And I thought you were part of my carousel to take care of,” Caroline said.

“It’s Bell’s carousel. You’re just the jewel he decided to pin on it,” Colm said.

“You say the nicest things without meaning to.” She passed by him. From a foot away, she could sense the heat coming from him, fever that burned as he glared down at her with eyes that seemed like they wanted to glow. “I’m still responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly. Do you want me to get you dinner tomorrow or not?”

Colm lifted a hand as though he was going to strangle her. And with the way his fingers flexed, that was clearly in his mind.

All he did, though, was run his fingers through the sticky mess that Riley had left on her neck and up to her chin. He was not tender or gentle, but Caroline didn’t move or wrench away. His pupils dilated as he gazed at her mouth, at the lips that he must have seen grow thin around Riley’s cock. Her mouth, that he had tasted so thoroughly when he’d thought she was the key to freedom and not just another lock. Her mouth, that he now filled with his smeared fingers.

He pushed rudely into her, as though trying to make her gag or at least pull away. But Caroline sucked at his fingers, licking the tacky fluid from them, remnants of the pleasure Riley had spent and Colm couldn’t have—because he hadn’t let himself and because she wouldn’t give it to him again without a damn good reason to after tonight. He’d missed his shot at having her pliant.

She was definitely sobering up, anger and numbness rising like a flooding well.

“Do you know how many times I’ve tried to hurt you tonight?” Colm whispered. He curled his fingers up against her hard palate, pulling her closer to him. “I couldn’t move. Everything I do to try to treat you the way you should be treated, as a human at the feet of a demon, I am left paralyzed.”

She closed her hand around his wrist, taking his fingers out of her mouth. “Somehow,” she said, “I don’t mind. Now get your hands off me.”

He held his hands up. It was clearly not his choice to do so. “I’m not going to be imprisoned forever.”

“You don’t have to be imprisoned forever. Only as long as I live,” she said. She jumped off the carousel.

“Just because the boy’s penitent doesn’t make him pure. And just because you’re awake doesn’t make you any less wicked,” Colm called after her.

“What I don’t get is why you care,” Caroline replied.

 

* * * *

 

In the morning, Riley was gone, magicked up and away back into his spot in the carousel—at least that’s what she assumed. But she stretched luxuriously in her small bed. She still smelled him on her. His scent permeated her clothes, and Colm hadn’t completely wiped her clean of what Riley had left behind.

She washed it off in Kitty’s shower, but that was okay. He’d be there again tonight.

He’d laid with her in the narrow bed, his arms wrapped around her over the blankets. The air conditioning had kept him from overheating her. It had been good to sleep with a man again, to have intimacy without necessarily having sex. They’d had that up on the carousel.

Here, she’d just fallen asleep with him against her, around her.

A girl could get used to it.

The next three days that she had off—since she wasn’t a performer and didn’t have to rehearse—made it even easier for her to get used to the fact that around eight o’clock every night, two men would appear on the carousel.

Colm mostly disappeared right after, fleeing from her before she could give him food or say anything. He wouldn’t even look at her. He carried an expression of such disgust, Caroline found it difficult to remember she’d once seen him nearly crippled with desire for her.

One of those nights, he came back with more stripes over the welts healing on his side and places on his legs where the leather trousers had been torn anew.

As far as Caroline was concerned, Colm could do whatever he liked, and she could enjoy the way the trousers hugged his ass as he walked away.

She’d honestly thought she’d get tired of sex with Riley, because like Colm, whenever he turned back into a man, he was still hard as wood every time. She’d thought the novelty would wear off and the sex would get repetitive fast. But she wasn’t even close to being done with him.

He never pushed, never pleaded, not like he had that first night, which told her how much agony he’d been in, to beg her. Even so, she could tell he was uncomfortable. Those shorts didn’t help either, but she didn’t have anything else for him to change into.

He also didn’t say anything to her about it, never requested anything more than dinner, after which he would wait for her to undo the fastenings and either stroke or suck him off or kiss him breathless as she straddled him. He never took, never asked, never said no, never seemed like he didn’t need it—he took anything she offered him as a precious, priceless gift, as though every gesture wasn’t to even be hoped for.

The thing was, maybe sometimes Caroline didn’t want to be a delicate piece of glass to be gently handled.

The sex was fantastic. She’d never thought sex could be this good, both giving and receiving, but it was. She wasn’t complaining about that.

It just seemed there was something missing, and she didn’t know how to articulate it to a man who was obviously more than willing to give her anything she asked for.

There was one other thing besides sex with Riley that she did during all her downtime—aside from finally going on a coffee run, because she’d thought if she didn’t get a frappe in her system, she was going to spontaneously combust.

Caroline had started to sit down at the carousel controls to learn the board.

She studied the different light options and wrote down what speeds felt good to her with each of the twelve songs available. She determined which songs she liked so that she could listen to them less frequently. After listening to the songs she wasn’t crazy about over and over, that would make the songs she liked even better when she let herself play them.

By Thursday, she’d set up three programs for the carousel different from the autopilot setting. She was satisfied with her small measure of productivity. She wasn’t sure what she would do when all twelve programs had been set up and there was little else for her to do, but she guessed that was what her hotspot was for.

At least her evenings were busy.

On Friday morning after breakfast, Caroline visited Kitty again. Lady Sasha had apparently been inspired by Caroline’s casual wardrobe and added another corset bodice into the mix—plain black with velvet scroll accents. Like the peacock bodice, it covered her shoulders, although the start of the front fastenings was lower than Caroline was used to. Kitty advised pairing it with a dramatic red or even a purplish blue lipstick. Like the S and M dress, this particular corset struck Caroline as more punk than steampunk, but she wasn’t going to complain. Who didn’t want to look like Selene?

It was nice to have something that put her visually in-between the cast and the staff. The peacock bodice was gorgeous, and she planned to wear the hell out of it, but Caroline wasn’t cast, no matter how Madoc viewed her. She wasn’t performing a role—just pushing buttons while wearing a smile and something for some of the patrons to enjoy. Madoc wanted her more visible than the crew, but that didn’t make her part of the show—just another eccentric part of the carousel.

 

* * * *

 

When the next Thursday came around and the gates opened at noon, she was in the cage ready for customers. It was slow until a little before five because of all the people who had jobs. Arcanium wasn’t considered as family-friendly as the carnivals that hitched up in parking lots, so they didn’t get much of the stay-at-home crowd. Which wasn’t to say that Caroline didn’t have a steady stream of people riding the carousel.

After just one week, she already worked the controls much more confidently, the board comprehensible and intuitive to her after all the experimentation.

Once five o’clock rolled around, the carousel definitely became fuller and louder, with more raucous riders. Fortunately, Caroline didn’t need to stop the worst offenders—the ones who tried to leap from mount to mount, ride more than two people per mount, steal the reins, scratch or ink the paint, carve in the wood or litter their napkins and wrappers in the corners. The staff did a walk-through after each cycle, and Geoff and two other crew members had an uncanny ability to notice the signs of imminent defacement. One of them would jump on and stand in front of the person or people to discourage them from doing anything where they’d get caught. They would forcibly remove the person if he or she—usually a teenage he—decided to push the boundaries. Sometimes they would end up expelled from the circus, but most often, they were simply banned from the carousel for the rest of the day.

The worst Caroline had to deal with were the occasional catcalls and wolf whistles when she bent over in her plain black corset and leather pants. As long as they didn’t try to get in and no one carved her men, she ignored them and smiled in the other direction. She trusted Madoc about as far as she could throw him, but when he said she was safe, she mostly believed him. She couldn’t say how much of his omniscience was just an act intended to add to his air of mystery, but she thought some of it was true.

At the very least, the staff assigned to the carousel had better eyes than she did, and they were strong. She could trust them.

Caroline made it through the day until the performance, at which point she turned off the music—blessing the silence—and all but the base lighting. A few stragglers applauded her when she left the cage. It was oddly touching. She held onto one of the poles on the edge of the carousel and gave them a showman’s bow. Then she went to grab dinner from one of the food booths before they closed down. They stayed open a little longer for her now. She’d feel guilty, but they never acted put out. The only reason other cast members didn’t join her was because they usually grabbed a little something after performances, not before.

She sat on one of the benches at a cluster of tables for the food booth customers and used the ebook section of her tablet to read. She could be checking her social pages or email, but that had been getting harder to do lately.

She hadn’t been forbidden to communicate with anyone, although she understood that keeping Arcanium’s secrets was part of the fine print of the contract she’d signed, under the heading of ‘confidentiality agreement’ or something. But when she couldn’t tell anyone that she’d joined the circus in the first place, that made responding to people’s inquiries surprisingly hard. No, she wouldn’t be joining Jodi’s birthday bash. Yes, Jess was looking so big, and yes, she wanted to be there for the next babysitting gig, but she couldn’t make it, since she was in another state now. Wow, Sarah and Eugene were getting married. Too bad she couldn’t go to the wedding in November.

It was just better when she didn’t get connected the way she used to, extricating herself from her former life by not reminding herself of what she missed. Sure, she’d been willing to sacrifice the people in her old life when she’d initially joined Arcanium, but that was before she’d lost her escape route and learned she was surrounded by demons. Caroline couldn’t just quit or move or do any of the things her friends and family could do in bad situations.

They wouldn’t understand, and now she couldn’t quite understand them anymore, with their normal lives, normal problems.

Strange how she hadn’t changed much—a dye job, costumes, an entry-level gig and a boyfriend, no limbs lost or arcane skills gained—but being a part of Arcanium had changed everything anyway.

Caroline waited to move from the picnic tables until the audience had dispersed and she heard the more familiar voices of the cast from a distance. Lady Sasha and Lord Mikhail had left a pall of sexual tension over the circus after the performance, as usual. It was as thick as the summer humidity already forming dew under her bare feet. Some nights were more intense than others. This one had her reading from a certain section of her virtual bookshelf. Caroline would be more than ready for Riley tonight. In fact, she’d climb him like Everest.

After putting her tablet in its case and slinging her purse over her shoulder, she walked back to the carousel with a sensual swing to her hips. Just the abrupt sound of the leather and the friction of her thighs against each other called attention to the hot throb pressed to the seam at the apex.

Caroline stepped up onto the carousel. She saw movement on the other side, and she was about to call to Riley when she noticed the steaming pink pile at the cage gate.

She covered her mouth after the initial scream. The first time she’d screamed, it had been understandable. This time, she was annoyed—at herself for screaming and at whoever was responsible for the clump of intestines and what looked like a liver presented to her. It had to be for her, not for any of the carousel staff or Riley. It could be for Colm, now that she thought about it, but it felt like it was meant for her, placed in front of her cage like a sacrifice offering. But she still didn’t have a damn clue why.

The smell of raw meat, still fresh enough for her to feel warmth above it, made her stumble back. She covered her mouth to convince her body it didn’t need to hurl.

The next time she screamed, it was more a shriek of frustration.

“Damn it, what’s the deal?” she yelled into the darkness. “What kind of sick joke is this?”

“What happened?” Riley asked. He barreled to her side of the carousel. He stopped short when he realized what Caroline was looking at.

“How nice. Can’t recognize human organs when he smells them,” Colm said, weaving through some of the mounts as though stalking prey.

“Oh God, these are human?” Caroline asked.

“Of course they are. What did you think it was?” Colm said.

“Pig,” she replied. “I thought it was a joke. Or some kind of hazing for the new girl—although why a place like this would need hazing is beyond me. And here I thought you were in pure avoidance mode.”

“I was drawn by your screams,” Colm said. “I thought I’d see something entertaining.”

“Nice,” Caroline said. “Now I have to find Geoff to get this cleaned up. I’m not letting it sit out here until morning. It’s already gross without it rotting and getting the smell everywhere. ‘Hey, kids, want to ride on an abattoir?’”

“Now that sounds appealing,” Colm murmured, holding onto the poles of the squid and a red-eyed black horse on either side of him as he took in the scene.

“You would think so,” Caroline said.

“I’ll look for one of the staff,” Riley said.

Caroline almost stopped him from leaving. He was as affected by the sex demons’ greater magic tonight as she was, and he was having trouble standing completely upright with another part of his anatomy doing most of that instead.

However, even though she was also affected, the pile of intestines had kind of killed the mood. And she also didn’t want to stick around human remains, in case whoever left it came back.

“No, I’ll get them,” Caroline said. “And here it was actually a pretty good day until the murders.”

“Multiple?” Colm asked.

“I got some lungs and a heart last week. God, I was looking at actual human parts,” Caroline said. She buried her face in her shaking hands.

“Sounds like you have an admirer,” Colm said. He climbed onto the black horse and sat sidesaddle. “Heart, lungs, liver, intestines.”

“How do vital organs translate into valentines?” she asked. “I mean, aside from the heart, which is just gruesome when it’s literal.”

“You’re in their heart, their soul, their gut, every breath they take,” Colm said. “It’s almost sweet.”

“It’s not you, is it? Tell me you didn’t do this, Colm,” Caroline said.

“Do I look like I’m begging to kiss your ass, princess?”

“That wasn’t a ‘no’.”

“No. I didn’t do it. If I were to leave anato-grams, I’m far more likely to leave limbs or a head. Less of a chance they’d be confused for pig,” Colm replied. “And it sends a far more threatening message.”

“More threatening than freshly harvested organs? There’s someone out there right now who’s dead and missing pieces of themselves, and I’m supposed to not be threatened?”

“I told you. This is the artwork of an admirer,” Colm said. “Look how it’s displayed.”

“I’d rather not. Only a demon would think that this was art.”

Which brought up a very disturbing thought—these human remains weren’t cast or crew, since people would notice if someone was missing. But the one doing this was most likely a demon. And if it was a demon, it was probably from Arcanium.

That narrowed her suspect list down, but it did nothing to assuage her fear. Madoc had promised this would be dealt with, the same way he’d promised she’d be safe. That put a bit of a damper on her already limited trust.

“I’m going to get Madoc,” Caroline decided. “Riley, if you could find someone from the crew and get them to send my people over… We need to get this taken care of now.”

“I’ll just stay and admire the handiwork, then,” Colm said. “No one appreciates good art anymore.”

“You are having way too much fun right now,” Caroline said.

Colm smiled as though he didn’t just have human teeth, the fiercest smile she’d seen from him since their first night.

“Since I can’t slaughter, I have a marked appreciation for slaughter secondhand,” Colm replied.

Caroline couldn’t tell if Colm made a grand noise about how much of a demon he was in order to intimidate her and compensate for whatever power Madoc had taken from him or whether he was just being honest.

“Whatever.” Caroline nodded to Riley, who went in the direction of the food booths. Caroline headed toward the trailers.

When she reached Madoc’s trailer, neither he nor Maya were in it. She looked around, but she could see no sign of them.

“Excuse me, but do you know where Madoc is?” Caroline asked, brushing the fire-eater’s arm as he passed by her.

She couldn’t help her alarmed reaction when he turned to her, exposing up close the shiny, pink burn scars stark on his dark face and arms. Caroline tried not to show it, though.

She wasn’t sure whether such intense scars were the best advertisement for a successful fire-eater, but it did bring home the fact that he was using real fire, no tricks. He was probably one of the cast who was being punished. If she were jinn and wanted to punish someone, she’d probably ensure his pretty face got a few burns too.

The man nodded and pointed at the big top. He didn’t open his mouth. Maybe he’d injured himself again. His lips were scarred as well. Poor guy looked like he’d climbed in through the window of a burning building and been caught in a flare.

Caroline thanked him and jogged toward the backstage entrance.

A hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed her wrist before she could open the tent flap. The person’s other hand covered her mouth to keep her from crying out. She was dragged to the side then shoved against the canvas of the tent. It was sturdy and well-grounded, almost as strong as actual walls.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Colm said softly. His breath was warm, and his lips brushed against the shell of her ear when he spoke. “Hear that?”

She hadn’t completely giving up on wriggling out of his grasp, but she stilled long enough to listen through the canvas. On the other side, she heard all the telltale sounds of enthusiastic sex. Once she recognized it, she tried not to listen too closely, especially when she thought she heard more than two people. That conjured up images she didn’t want.

Of course, she didn’t have much choice.

Caroline bit her lip and pulled away from the tent so she couldn’t hear them as well anymore. But she couldn’t get away from the lean but immovable, hot body pressing against her.

“Bell, playing with his human pet and showing her off like a prize mare,” Colm whispered. “She seems to be up to just about anything. If he weren’t in love with her, I’d be envious.”

Let go, she thought, protesting the hand covering her mouth. She struggled in his arms until he removed his hand and whirled her around. He still held her wrist hard enough to grind the bones.

“I understand their abandon,” Colm said. “The incubus and succubus must be feeding. You can always tell, because it becomes unbearable.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Caroline snapped.

Colm crowded her against the canvas again. Without warning or hesitation, he slipped his hand between her thighs and stroked her almost hard enough to hurt, nearly lifting her off the ground with each stroke. The white noise of her arousal become deafening in her body. Her mouth fell open with a gasp, and she clutched his shoulders, digging her nails in.

“Don’t act coy, wicked girl. I can smell you,” Colm said. “In fact, your scent permeates the whole circus. I don’t know whether it’s just that way for me because Bell’s a fucking prick or whether every other demon in Arcanium simply has iron-willed self-control that I have no interest in cultivating.”

“Maybe that’s why you ended up a human horse on a carousel while they get applause. Ever think of that?” Caroline asked breathlessly.

She tossed her head back as he yanked her to him. His erection pressed into her hip, but he still worked his hand over her.

“Do you know why I can do this? Because you want it.” He lunged forward and bit the base of her neck hard, but Caroline grabbed his hair to urge him to stay.

“Then why are you still such an ass?” Caroline asked.

“Obviously because you like it when I’m an ass.” He licked a lingering line up her neck to her ear. “Prince Dull and Charming can be all nice and sweet and needy for you. Bell took what I was away from me, but he still hasn’t castrated who I am. I’m not going to lick your boots, princess.”

“Good thing I don’t have a fondness for foot fetishists,” she said. “Hey, I thought you didn’t like me and were trying to avoid me at all costs because I’m too human.”

Colm brought his hand to her neck. He didn’t squeeze, but he threatened to until he lowered her to her knees. Her eyes were level with the barely contained cock in his torn pants. “I tried to avoid you—and I don’t like you. But you live where I’m bound, and I don’t have to like you to want your cunt around my cock, your breasts in my hands and that sweet mouth beneath me so that I can take every single inch of you and make you mine.”

“And if I told you to let me go and kneel before me?”

“Fuck you, bitch,” Colm spat, but he joined her down on the ground as though pulled by invisible ropes. The most intriguing part of his anger was that she couldn’t force him to do anything like this, so he had to want it too.

“That’s the idea,” Caroline replied.

She shoved him back, knocking him off-balance. He sprawled on the ground, all ungainly limb, and Caroline crawled over him to hold him down. If he decided that he didn’t want her there, he was bigger and stronger than she was, not to mention with fewer scruples. He could push her off in a heartbeat. Instead, he grabbed the straps of her bodice and pulled her down over his chest. He used his whole body to envelop her, to cage her in his embrace as their mouths met in a furious, exhilarating battle.

It wasn’t that Riley lacked passion or a willingness to please. But Caroline thought that he lacked…initiative. Creativity. Raw, carnal, even indifferent desire. Colm took pleasure in her body and wasn’t afraid to take what he wanted—and he knew that if he did take it, she more than wanted him to.

Caroline didn’t blame Riley. He sometimes seemed so out of his element, out of sync, helpless in his own desperation. He was young, not much older than she was, and he still seemed to be riding aimlessly on the current of his arousal, his repertoire not quite developed. Caroline didn’t have as much experience as Colm, and she was a little younger than Riley, but she had imagination—and, it seemed, a lust for variety that she hadn’t realized she had.

A girl learned something new every day.

Like how fast another man could get her out of skintight leather pants when it took her a lot more effort. While she was over him, he undid the fastenings and pushed them over her ass. Then he effortlessly flipped them over and, in the same motion, peeled her pants and underwear down the rest of her legs. It was a simple matter of removing her sandals then discarding everything around them.

Caroline didn’t like the rough grass and gravel against her backside. It made her wonder what was getting in where. She curled her leg around his and rolled them over again.

Colm laughed with a rasp like claws through cotton when she grasped his erection through his own tight trousers.

“You’ve been watching me with Riley. I know you have. You’ve watched the way I take him down, the way I suck him like a melting ice cream cone. I know you’ve dreamed about shoving this big cock down my throat,” Caroline said, making her voice husky.

Colm swallowed thickly.

“You’ve been jealous as hell he’s getting all the attention and not you, that his cock gets all the love while yours stays painfully untouched.”

She worked his buttons open one-handed. Colm groaned in relief as she folded back the placket of his trousers, freeing his cock.

“But guess what? That’s not happening tonight,” Caroline whispered near his lips. She smiled when he growled with frustration.

“You are not leaving me like this,” Colm said.

“Who said anything about leaving?” Caroline asked, straddling his hips. Her folds spread to either side of his erection, wet over him. She caressed his cock with her softness and tantalized herself with his heat. When she rolled her hips, her clit brushed against the shaft. She let her head drop, her hair hanging in colorful curtains on either side of her face.

She used and teased him for her own pleasure until he grabbed the base of his cock, aimed, then pushed up into her before she was ready. But her pussy was, sheathing him as tightly as she could. He clutched her hips, grunting as he braced his feet against the ground to plunge up into her.

He’d caught her by surprise. Each thrust pushed a cry out of her while she scrabbled for purchase on his chest and shoulders.

Colm insinuated his hand between them and rubbed firm circles over her clit, making her hips buck. Just when she thought she’d regained her control, he did something else unexpected that made pleasure shoot strong as lightning through her, and all control exploded.

Then he moved those fingers farther down, stroking her pussy lips where they embraced his grinding cock. She felt him dig his fingers in to join his cock, stretching her to the point of discomfort, even as he pressed the heel of his palm against her clit to keep her under the thumb of her own arousal, the reins in his hands.

“You love that, don’t you, wicked girl?” he said. He strained up and licked the corner of her mouth. “Love the way I fill you. Even my cock isn’t enough. I bet you’d beg for the one I once had, before the demon was stripped from me. Maybe I can talk Ciarán into showing you what a real demon is capable of. For now, I guess you’re just going to have to content yourself with the worst I can do.”

He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down over his cock and fingers. His lips were parted as though to taste her wail in the air.

“God, I knew you’d be like this, even when it wasn’t a dream. We’re right in front of the caravan, mistress of mine, and you’re just getting louder and louder… I think you want them to come out and look at you, watch you screw the demon they hate. Too bad it’s the other way around.”

Colm whipped them over again, covering her body with his and withdrawing his slick cock from her. That left her open with nothing but his fingers inside, furiously probing and curling until she whined. She begged him with her hips to fill her again.

He held her down with his free hand on her chest above the corset fastenings and slowly pulled each finger from her cunt. Her fragrant arousal smelled as strong as the scent of sweat on his skin when he held his fingers before her to see how she’d coated him. Then, just as deliberately, he licked and sucked all the juices from his hand, the same way he had made her taste herself.

At the same time, he undid the eyelets of her corset until it sprung open, exposing the distended nipples and the places where the tight material had creased patterns onto her breasts and abdomen like light henna.

“Mmm, that’s a tasty sight indeed, tasty as your dripping little cunt,” he murmured. “You want me back inside you? You want me fucking you into the ground?” He bit her nipple, pulling it up with his teeth until tears sprang up in her eyes. This time, it damn well hurt bad, but the ache in her cunt only intensified.

Caroline hit him over the side of his head with an open hand. Not as hard as she could—she wanted him startled, not concussed. He stumbled to the side. She rolled him the rest of the way over, held his cock then sank over him.

Colm was laughing again. Her breasts quivered as she rode him, and he pinched, twisted and abused her nipples until they were swollen and painful. She slid her hands up his chest to his throat. He stared into her eyes as she circled his neck with her small hands and pressed.

“Yes,” he hissed. “Yes, my wicked girl.”

She felt him try to swallow, try to breathe. She wasn’t closing him off, but she also wasn’t making it easy for him. He covered her hands with his, squeezing her hands closer and tighter before knocking her arms out and wrapping his around her.

Colm sat them up so that her kneeling legs were on either side of his hips. “The things I could teach you,” he purred. “And I think you’re willing to learn, aren’t you, pet?”

“Funny. I thought you were my pet,” Caroline said. She tightened all her muscles around his cock.

He nearly fell back again. The cords of his neck stood out, but then he shoved his cock up hard, almost unseating her. He licked her lower lip as though to catch the high-pitched moan from her open mouth. He pinched her chin with the hand that he had cleaned, then her lip, then slipped three fingers into her mouth. She tasted the undernote of her arousal, and she sucked those plundering fingers with abandon. She had almost full control over how she rode his cock, but he was the one fucking her face. It was a carnal, frantic game of tug-of-war, each trying to devastate the other, only succeeding in bringing their pleasure to the edge of the cliff.

“Hey!”

Caroline recognized Riley’s voice, although she couldn’t remember him sounding that angry before. She tried to turn to him, but Colm wouldn’t let her. She moaned as his insistent hand followed her, forcing her head back with each thrust of his fingers. Colm was displaying her to Riley, displaying his dominance, his possession. All she could do was hold on. With Riley watching, she thrashed over Colm’s cock, slamming down over him and taking his fingers in as though she were starving to be filled from both ends by him.

He kissed her hand on his shoulder as she shuddered through her climax. Her moans were stifled with the fingers in her mouth.

She didn’t stop, drawing out the quakes of the orgasm, until Colm jerked forward, wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her down over his cock. He groaned open-mouthed into her hair with each twitch as he spent himself deep inside her.

He didn’t immediately release her mouth. Instead, he pushed farther in until she bit down to keep from gagging. He hummed in amusement. Even then, his insolence demanded that he withdraw slowly, dragging his fingers out of her so that he could smear her saliva over her lips to show how hungry she’d been for him.

“You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that?” Caroline muttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You’re welcome,” Colm replied.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be able to do that,” Riley said. It was difficult for a man in short leather shorts and an erection to appear imposing, but he did his best. “You’re not supposed to hurt her.”

“No. I’m not supposed to harm her,” Colm said. “Important distinction, butch.” He brushed Caroline’s hair back away from her neck and kissed it.

Caroline could tell he did it for Riley’s benefit. Her body didn’t care. She fluttered around his cock as it slowly softened inside her.

“Get your hands off her!” Riley lunged forward. He grabbed at Colm, yanking him away from Caroline’s neck.

Caroline fell back off him.

Riley hauled Colm up by his arm and flung him to his feet. Colm didn’t even try to balance himself, just charged at Riley and swung his fist, hitting him in the cheekbone before Riley could go after him. Colm had speed. Riley was still hard and distracted because of it.

But Riley rallied back. He barreled after Colm like a bull to a cape and hit Colm with his shoulder under the ribs. Colm went flying back, somersaulting to his knees. Colm was fast, but Riley was stronger. On his hands and knees, Colm held his stomach and gasped for air.

Riley ran at Colm again to get him while he was down.

“Riley,” Caroline called softly.

It wasn’t that she was worried Riley was going to really hurt Colm. Madoc wouldn’t let it get that far. But there was no need for there to be any fight at all. So she did what she knew would get Riley’s attention, especially with his cock standing and his jealousy at its peak.

A normal person would think she’d be finished after that cat-in-heat battle with Colm—at the very least exhausted. But when Riley showed up, his large, muscled body gleaming in the moonlight and his erection a persistent bulge in his pants, it was as though she’d awakened once again.

She was standing there with Colm’s cum sliding down her already wet thighs. But she still wanted Riley so much that her mouth watered and her belly heated with desire from watching his muscles move—and imagining what he looked like when he was moving over her, inside her. It didn’t help at all that she knew what he felt like. It just made her want it more, because she remembered how good it would be.

Riley stopped mid-attack, his hand at the nape of Colm’s neck, and looked over his shoulder.

The leather bodice slid down her arms and fell to the ground. She was completely naked now, a good enough distance from the two men that they could see the whole of her. While they stared, she stroked down her shoulders to her breasts, lifted them up, catching the nipples between her fingers. Then farther down, over her abdomen to her mound, where she slid her fingers through the sticky mess between her legs.

“I know I’ve made you wait,” Caroline said. “I wasn’t able to speak to Madoc because he’s busy, but I’m sure we can fill our time until he’s available, don’t you?”

“Um, I told one of the staff that you… He’s cleaning things up and…they’ll let Madoc know.” Riley was stammering. That was always a good sign. “Why were you— Am I not enough? Am I not good enough? Because if he didn’t force you, then you let him…?”

“What if another woman were to join us right now?” Caroline asked, walking toward Riley with as sinuous a sway as she could muster. “If you could have Lady Sasha next to me, would you take her?”

“This dog stain isn’t an incubus,” Riley said. He shook Colm, who pawed him off now that Riley wasn’t in destroyer mode anymore. “He hates you. You hate him.”

“He resents me. I dislike him. That doesn’t make much of a difference as long as he’s considerate,” she replied.

“I’m insulted,” Colm said. “If you thought that was considerate, I obviously need to up my game.”

“Shut up,” Caroline said. “Don’t pretend you don’t give a damn about me, because that wouldn’t have been as fucking awesome as it was if you weren’t interested in giving as much pleasure as you take. So don’t even insult me by lying about it.”

“You ever heard of hate sex, princess?” Colm said.

“Tell me the truth, then, Colm,” Caroline demanded. “Do you really hate me? Or do you just wish you did?”

Caroline didn’t mean to drop the W-word, and she realized she’d done it too late. Colm only needed to say the word, and if Bell heard them and granted the wish, maybe Colm could wash his hands of any residual attraction he had toward Caroline that had led to their rough-and-tumble encounter.

She sighed in relief when he only responded to the opportunity by a muttered insult she couldn’t hear. He ducked his head and kicked the ground, because that he was allowed to do.

“Okay then. If you have a problem with other demons, Riley, could you honestly say no to, say, Maya if she took all her clothes off and told you to take her?” Caroline asked Riley.

She’d chosen Maya because Caroline had the sneaking suspicion Riley might have been an inadvertent voyeur to a few things Madoc and Maya had done together before Caroline had become the carousel engineer. Her suspicion was confirmed when Riley’s erection jerked in his shorts. He licked his lips and swallowed, but he couldn’t meet her eyes this time either.

“I had you first, Riley,” Caroline said. She was close enough to touch him, and she did, brushing her fingertips along his ridiculously sculpted abdomen. Seriously, what did this guy do before he was a mount in a circus carousel? “Remember? I thought it was a dream. Then I had him and thought the same thing. He’s different. Not better. I’ve had both of you. And as long as we’re all stuck here and bound to the carousel—and now that Colm isn’t too bad to have me—give me one good reason I shouldn’t be able to satisfy both of you. Because I know that would satisfy me.”

“He’s evil,” Riley insisted.

“How evil can he be when he can’t do anything?” Caroline asked.

“Hey!” Colm exclaimed from where he had broken away from them.

Riley shook his head. “He’d be evil if he could. He’d be evil in a heartbeat.”

“See, he gets it,” Colm said, pointing at Riley. For a brief moment, they were in alliance. It was almost cute.

“And you’re such a saint, Riley?” Caroline asked.

“That’s not fair,” Colm said, just as indignant at being compared to Riley as Riley was being at being compared to Colm.

“Isn’t it? You might have learned your lesson about arson and consequences, but that doesn’t make you wise or perfect. Can you honestly tell me that you haven’t just been trying to please me to get in good with the boss? Maybe some of the times were genuine, and maybe you’re warming up to getting good sex on the regular. Heaven knows I am. But would you be nearly as nice if I wasn’t supposed to be some kind of savior to you?” Caroline asked. She crossed her arms over her chest.

Riley’s and Colm’s gazes were immediately drawn to her breasts. Predictable. But useful.

“Not to mention, if he’s been trying to please you, he’s been doing a piss-poor job of it,” Colm said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Riley asked. Both men were sniping at each other again, but some of the bite had leached from their barbs because they didn’t take their eyes off her to do it.

“I’ve watched what the two of you do. All I can say is it’s a good thing she likes sucking cock and getting fucked, otherwise she’d be totally bored with you, amigo.”

“You’re high—and evil. Have I mentioned evil?” Riley retorted.

“And you’re unoriginal and—what was the opposite of the word you used?—inconsiderate. Pleasing a woman is about more than getting what you want,” Colm said.

“What the fuck, man? Who are you to tell me how to please a woman?”

“You’re never going to get better instruction than from a demon—or an ex-demon, as the fucking case may be,” Colm said.

“What do you care?” Riley asked.

“I don’t,” Colm said. “Just an observation.”

“What does being a demon have anything to do with it?” Caroline asked.

“Sex and money are two of the biggest motivators in the world to do bad things,” Colm replied. “You think demons would get anywhere if they offered only a little money and mediocre sex?”

“But you’re technically not a demon anymore,” Caroline said. “What’s the use of caring about how good the sex is for me?”

“A matter of personal pride,” Colm said. “It makes me look really good when I am that good. Besides, I’m sure our inadequate friend has discovered that sex is always better with a partner who’s enthusiastically enjoying herself. Or maybe he hasn’t discovered it yet. Maybe the pathetic oaf can’t tell the difference.”

Caroline was pretty sure Colm realized he’d basically said that her pleasure was important to him—albeit with a selfish spin—which was why he’d insulted Riley into going after him, just to offset his generosity.

She tucked her hand under the waistband of Riley’s shorts. It was a tight fit, but she caressed the bulbous tip of his cock to distract him once more from Colm’s goading.

“Is it true?” Riley asked. “Am I not enough?”

“There’s always room for improvement,” she said, standing on her toes to reply breathily in his ear. His cock jumped against her fingers.

“Am I really that bad?” Riley said. His face fell, and he tried to back away from her.

“You think I’d have sex sometimes multiple times every night with you if I thought you were bad?” Caroline asked. She didn’t let him get away. She burrowed her hand farther down his pants to stroke more of him, and she brought her other hand around to knead at his firm, round ass as well show her appreciation. She kissed his chin then chased his mouth before smiling against him. “Just because I like fucking him doesn’t mean I don’t like fucking you.”

“I don’t like it. You fucking him, I mean. I don’t get it,” Riley said.

“You don’t have to get it. I don’t get Megan Fox. There will always be mysteries in this universe. But will it kill you if I take care of both my mounts like I’ve been charged to do?” Caroline mouthed his earlobe, kissing, licking, nibbling and sucking until he sighed in helpless pleasure. “We’ve got an incubus and a succubus working on us—maybe all the time—so my libido is a little crazy. I think we can all relate. Just because I’m letting him in doesn’t mean I’m going to shut you out. Far from it.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind if you get my sloppy seconds, pup,” Colm said.

“Ignore him,” Caroline whispered. She took hold of his cock and squeezed its hot hardness until he shifted, gasping. “He’s just mad you had me first and so many times. Either way, though, it’s not a contest. And remember this—I’m no prize. You’re mine.”

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” Riley groaned. Her breasts rubbed against his chest, sticking a little from their sweat. He seemed captivated by the sight of it.

“I’m also not your key,” Caroline said. “That’s Madoc, not me. Just…if Madoc hadn’t told you that you were at my mercy, would you still want me?”

“How can you ask that? Seriously? You’re fucking hot, Caroline. You’re gorgeous. You’re nice when you don’t have to be, and you obviously enjoy yourself when we’re having sex. Why would anyone in his right mind say no? He’d have to be crazy or gay, and I’m not either of those things. It’s not just the magic, if that’s what you’re asking,” Riley said.

“Well, part of it is the magic,” Caroline murmured. She slid her hand deeper down his pants to cup his balls, caress them, massage them, while his cock throbbed against her wrist.

“Okay, it’s not just the magic. I mean, I could ask you if you just want me because the magic makes you horny. I wouldn’t say no to you if it’s true…but it wouldn’t be the same.”

“Ego a little bruised?” Caroline asked.

He shrugged with a shy smile. “I’m only human.”

“Believe me, it’s not just the magic. You’re, like, the mixture of all my fantasy guys at once. Even outside of the circus, I’d be hungry just looking at you.”

“Yeah?” His smile broadened.

It was hard to believe a man as ripped as he was could look sweet, but those dark eyes carried amazing warmth now that some of the desperation had faded from them. It wasn’t that his need had gone. Definitely not. But maybe her giving him permission not to grovel had helped, no matter how much pre-cum he seeped onto her hand.

She nodded, grinning back. “Yeah, it was like Christmas and my birthday all at once. And it’s even better in reality. How often does that happen?”

She pulled her hand out and unbuttoned the leather to strip the shorts off him. When she stood up again, they were both as naked as Adam and Eve in full sight of the caravan and the big top, and she didn’t give a flying fox that anyone could see her. She only cared that Riley pulled her against him again, and she could feel him almost all over her. If she could have her way, she’d wrap him around her like a blanket.

His kiss was slow and heated, contrasting to the urgent press of his cock against her belly. He groaned into her mouth as though she was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted and he couldn’t get enough. Some of the things he did felt either scripted or needy, caught between trying to please and wanting to come, but the sounds that he made…those were always sincere and made her toes curl.

“But he’s like your Halloween, isn’t he?” Riley said. He leaned his forehead against hers. His eyes were closed, but his large hands were gentle over her back. “That’s what it is.”

“I’m still not sure what he is,” Caroline said.

“You know, I’m right here. I can hear you talking,” Colm interjected.

Caroline jumped. He was behind her, much closer than she’d thought he was.

“At least you’ve made an impression if we’re talking about you behind your back,” Caroline said.

Colm closed in on her from behind. He dug his fingers into her shoulders like a deep-muscle massage. She winced then exhaled when he gave her neck an open-mouthed kiss laced with the dangerous press of teeth.

“The important thing, wicked girl, is that you’ve made room for a demon at all. I thought you’ve been avoiding them,” Colm said. “I’m honored it’s me, especially since Madoc’s been making eyes. But he doesn’t get you.”

“You were the one who said no to me first, if you’ll recall?” Caroline said. “We all may be here for different reasons, but we’re bound to the carousel in one way or another. None of us are crazy happy about it. Whatever we feel for the rest of the circus, does it sound too radical that we can at least enjoy each other?”

She was really asking both men, but in a way, she was also asking it of herself. Madoc had been the one who’d first said she should make the most of what she had here, but her inexplicably insatiable desire for both men had brought the matter home for her. She was here. She wasn’t getting out.

She wanted Riley and Colm, and they both wanted her—for better or worse, on all three of their parts.

“Are you kidding? You’re the best thing that’s happened to me since I discovered cheese sandwiches could be grilled,” Riley said. “I’ve been on your train from the beginning, ever since you showed up, even more since we were allowed to come out at night and actually got to touch you—and you touched me. Acknowledged that I was real, still a man and not a toy made out of wood.”

“I don’t think that was ever in doubt for me,” Caroline said.

She gave a little cry when he grabbed the backs of her thighs, lifting her up and spreading her legs to wrap around his hips. His cock nudged at her folds, blindly searching.

Caroline wriggled to get them into position. Both of them groaned in tandem as she encircled him. He’d had to wait longer and with far more talk than they usually spared. Although she’d been well used by Colm, it was heaven to have Riley inside her. He didn’t reach the same places, but she loved the fat base of him, surprising her with the stretch every time he pounded into her.

Riley was so damn strong. He barely had to strain to hold her to his chest and thrust his cock in a steady rhythm. Colm still made himself known, a hand to her spine, a kiss to her back, a fist in her hair to push her against Riley’s neck, but he didn’t interfere.

“Yes, God, yes, you feel so fucking good,” she said to the beat of his thrusts. She wasn’t doing it for Riley’s benefit to stroke his conflicted ego. She meant every word she moaned and wanted him to know it. And it did spur him on, until they were meeting each other with sharp slaps of their bodies together, friction driving the electricity of their pleasure over the surface of their skin.

Riley finally caught her mouth to drink in her moans and mix them with his own. She tightened her thighs around his sides, shuddering as her orgasm spiraled inside her and around him, ripping out in every direction until she had to break their kiss to gasp for breath.

She spasmed in an aftershock when Colm closed his teeth at the base of her neck, growling as though he could taste her climax.

Riley’s knees buckled, but he braced himself in a crouch, holding himself up until he couldn’t hold back any more. He crushed her with his prodigious arms as he fell to his knees, and she took his face in her hands and kissed him through his own exclamations, like earth-shaking groans from deep in his chest. After he had emptied every last bit of his pleasure into her, he met her kiss with a ferocity that startled her, since he’d already released any urgency he might have had.

Then he hitched her up off him and let her down. She was a mess, covered in dry dirt and grass, sweat, dew. Then there was the mingling of all three of them smeared over her thighs.

She could and intended to go to Kitty’s trailer to clean up. If Riley could fit in the shower, she thought Kitty wouldn’t mind if Riley and Colm cleaned themselves up a bit too if they wanted. However, as Riley kissed her and Colm left teeth marks on her skin—as though determined to counteract any tenderness she might think he had for her—Caroline felt better than she had in weeks.

Including before Arcanium.