Page 51 of Dance for Me
Looking up into his eyes, she slowly presses the ends together, the blades beginning their slow cut through flesh. I can feel Bob’s mouth open and close under my hand, mostly grunts and groans as he tries to hold it together.
“I didn’t have a seat at their table, so I broke it. One by one, I dismantled businesses and crumbled marriages. I emptied bank accounts and stole high profile clients to pass onto rival companies. One by one, I emptied their seats, until all that was left was the shell of a club that once served the men I ruined and replaced.”
She releases the cutters, the springs pulling the blades back, crimson shining on their surface.
“Now, your littleJesterwants to use whatIbuilt as a prop while they build up their kingdom?I will not be used,” Harper grits out, the last few words emphasized by the cutters slowly gliding further down his finger until it reaches the second knuckle.
“So, I’ll say it again, who is the Jester? I want a name.” She looks at me and I cautiously remove my hand from around his mouth, giving him the opportunity to answer.
“Go to hell,” he spits out. Harper takes a deep breath, relaxing her posture, turning her face from his to lock eyes with me. In a flash she pushes down on each side of the cutter, severing the finger as my hand clamps down around Bobs mouth once more. His tough guy act cracks as he screams into my palm, his pain pouring out through his cry. Our gaze stays locked in place as Wade steps forward to hand Harper a towel, pressing it against the nub in the middle of Bob’s hand, blood streaming around the arm of the chair to pool at it’s feet.
She doesn’t care about Bob right now, he will survive. All her focus is locked on me, her eyes searching my face for any hint of what I’m feeling. This is what she’s been waiting for, the moment that I decide it’s all too much, that she’s too much, and leave.
I don’t know what to say, opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water, all the words I reach for feeling inadequate. I know the cost of what the Jester threatens, more than she gives me credit for. She wants to protectCirque, but I just want to protect her. The only way to do either is to get answers, through whatever means necessary.
Words are empty.
I free my other hand from Bob’s hair and reach out to the back of her neck, pulling her towards me over Bob’s shoulder, yanking his head to the opposite side as I crash her lips to mine. It’s rushed and frantic, but it’s heavy. Carrying the weight of all the expectations and worries we’ve both been holding for so long. Letting them drift away as my mouth moves over hers, tongue flicking out to part the seam of her mouth, deepening the kiss. I hear a deep cough behind us, a reminder from Wade of where we are, and more importantly, what we are in the middle of.
I nip lightly at her bottom lip before I give her neck a final squeeze and let go, pulling Bobs head back front and center with the hand that still hold his mouth shut as I lean back tomy position. Harper’s eyes stay closed and lips stay parted for another beat before she smiles wide, opening her eyes slowly. Like waking up from a dream before getting dropped into a nightmare. But she looks more composed than before, if that’s possible. Like my support gave her the permission she needed to reallyhave fun.
Bob’s breathing is evening back out, the towel still pressed against his bleeding hand is shifting from white to red.
“Bob, be reasonable. I just need a name, that’s it. One little name and then you walk out of here in one piece,” Harper offers. “Well now two pieces, but I think we can stop there can’t we Bob?” Tilting her face to catch Bob’s eye. He lets his head drop in front of him and then shakes it once. Twice.
“Disappointing Bob. You think the Jester is the worst thing out there? Are you afraid of them Bob?” Harper asks, leaning closer to whisper in his ear, eyes catching mine as she speaks. “You don’t know fear. But you will.”
Harper is still pressed against his ear when I hear the unmistakable clink of a belt loosening. Bob’s head snaps up so quickly he almost headbutts me, his panic rising as Harper leans back and brings the cigar cutter up to his face, now coated with his blood, snapping it twice before her other hand works open the button of his jeans.
He's trying to speak through my hand, his head wildly thrown side to side to shake me off, in a hurry to spill his secrets.
Harper looks at me and nods once, my hand lifting immediately.
“You don’t understand, some of the stash was taken and now she’s on the warpath to get it back. If she even thinks I’ve bee talking to someone, I’m dead.”
“Tragic,” Harper shakes her head as the telltale sounds of a zipper lowering pierces the air.
“I only know her name, that’s it. I don’t even know that it’sthe Jester, but it’s the only name I know. I’ve never met her, I swear.”
Harper lifts an eyebrow in question at Bob, waiting for the name that will solve all of our problems.
“Mathers! Harper Mathers!”
25
HARPER
The last of Wade’s men stride out of the office, plastic sheeting folded between them. The privacy we demanded feeling more and more like an unnecessary precaution the longer I sit with theinformationwe gathered.
A whole lot of nothing.
All the planning, the secrecy, the bloodshed, just to hammer another nail in my coffin. The Jester isn’t content to simply useCirqueas a cover. They want everything I am, wrapped up to use as one big shield. Smart really, to make sure when the ship goes down, the captain has no choice but to sink with it. And why would they look elsewhere when everything about me screamsguilty.
The shipment receipts, the product designed to mockCirque, a recent employee getting sent to rehab, the camerasconvenientlynot picking up anything out of the ordinary…and now my name.
Myname.
They are painting a target on my back and I’m running in circles chasing my own tail.
