I bring her hand to my mouth and place a kiss on her fingers. The action grounds me in the present.
“If you think being the leader’s sons spared us from anything, you’re wrong,” I continue bitterly. “We were always the cult’s whipping boys. If there was an example to be made, we were volunteered.”
We’re quiet for a while, the engine and the road under our tires the only sound in the cabin. I never had to share my past with anyone before. The only people who mattered lived it with me.
“You said your mom died soon after you were born…” Jules says after a while. “But what about Silas’s mom? What happened to her?”
My fingers tighten around Jules’s until she makes a muffled noise of protest.
I wince. “Mm. Sorry, baby.”
“It’s alright,” she says cautiously. “You don’t have to tell me.”
I pull into the empty lot where we’ll set up camp for the next couple of weeks, leading the convoy behind me. It takes us a day to set up shop—a perfect opportunity for what I have planned for my girl tonight. Everyone but her knows about it, and it’s a miracle she hasn’t noticed the way the crew has been eyeing her all day.
As soon as I engage the handbrake, I turn to face her. Finally, I can pull her into my arms and take her mouth like I’ve been wanting to since we hit the road.
“That’s a part of Silas’s story,” I say belatedly. “You’ll have the opportunity to ask him once we start planning dear ole dad’s demise.”
“Alright,” she concedes with a soft smile. “Want to eat my pussy while the crew works around us?”
Growling, I pull her into my lap, my cock already half-mast from our kiss and my constant fantasies about her. I barely get my hands under her borrowed shirt when there’s an insistent knock on the driver’s side door.
“Hey! Fuck later. There’s work to do, slackers!”
Grumbling, I tear myself away from Jules’s lips, resting my forehead against hers. We’re both still breathing heavily, and I’m definitely going to have blue balls.
“I’m going to hit him with a stake mallet,” I mutter, picturing Cole’s eyes rolling into the back of his head while he slumps over, passed out. It barely soothes my temper.
Jules giggles. “Nah. You’d regret it.”
Debatable.
“To be continued, Little Sapphire,” I promise her.
Her eyes sparkle with lust. “I can’t wait.”
I can’t wait either. She has no idea the show she’s going to put on tonight.
33
JULES
I’m in our trailer, stuffing my face with potato chips and working on a book idea I’ve had, when there’s a knock at the door. I wipe my hand on my leggings like a complete barbarian and open it to reveal Jack, the friendly mechanic from my first night with Elias. That feels so long ago now.
“Hey, you,” I greet him. “Elias isn’t here. I think they’re setting up the Big Top for tomorrow?”
Jack’s grin makes me fight back the urge to bite my lip. There’s something predatory about it, and it appeals to that dark part of me that Elias woke up.
“Oh, we’re done with the Big Top,” he drawls. “That’s why I’m here, actually. Bossman wants you there.”
My eyebrow pops up. “Really? Oh, okay.” I look down at my white T-shirt and black leggings, my feet in flip flops. I wiggle my toes. “Should I change?”
“Nope,” Jack replies, popping thep. “You’re fine in whatever.”
“Alright,” I say, suddenly feeling nervous. What’s going on?
Jack leads me to the Big Top, chit-chatting about nothing particular. When we get close to the large tent, I notice deep orchestral chanting and melodies coming from it.
