Page 123 of Galaxy Circus Act One

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Lila

It takes me several hours and both bottles of champagne to tell Susie everything I’ve been through in the last two weeks. The expressions on her face have ranged from skeptical, to outraged, to downright disbelief, but I think I finally convince her when she faints after I shift into my half form.

Shifting back, I calmly drink my champagne and wait for her to wake up. I begin to worry when she doesn’t immediately return to the land of the living, so I slap her face a couple of times, and she groans before jolting upright and scanning my body with intense scrutiny. She then looks down at the champagne and blinks a couple of times.

“I think I may have had too much to drink. I’m seeing things,” she mutters, placing a hand to her forehead, trying to sort everything out, and I shake my head.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but nope, it was all true.” She blinks before nodding slowly like she understands what I’m saying but doesn’treallyunderstand.

“Okay, okay, alien circus, okay. And you’re not human and… wow.”

“Yup, could have knocked me over with a feather. But here we are. Still want to be my friend?” I look at her cautiously, studying her expression, because even though we’re kinda sorta joking around about it right now, I’m not really sure if this will sit well with her. That makes me wonder what the outcome will be when she makes her decision.

She’s quiet for a moment before a huge grin crosses her face. “Fuck yeah, Lila! You are the coolest bitch I know, and you havetentacles. Tentacles! That is fucking awesome.” A sense of relief flows through me, and I sag against the seat. God! I was braced for rejection, and I know that Xavier could have removed everything from her mind, but I still would have known that she thought I was a freak.

“But I need you to tell me more about these men of yours. Holy shit, I love Mark and all, but I can’t help but be jealous of the fact that you are getting three, soon to be four, different dicks daily. And a vampire? I need all the deets on being bitten by one. Is it like the books say it is?”

“You know you can’t tell anyone about this, right?”

Her gaze slides to the other room and she frowns. “I don’t like keeping secrets from Mark, and this is fucking huge.”

“I’m sorry, Susie, but I don’t know if my grandpas will give me permission to share this information. There’s more at stake than you realize.”

“Maybe you better have your warlock remove all the details before we say goodbye. It would eat away at me if I knew and couldn’t talk to him about it.” A swift wave of sadness rolls over me, followed by one of understanding. I wouldn’t want to keep a secret so big from my guys either, though the one about the orb is pretty huge. That, however, is a matter of galaxy wide security.

“Okay, but for now, let’s go to the show with your memories intact so you can have the full experience. I can get Xavier to remove them after,” I suggest, a little sad at her decision, but I completely understand. I hate having to hide the orb information from my guys too. Actually, that reminds me, now that Cas and I are mated, we can talk about it, and I make a note to do just that the next time we get a few moments alone.

Susie quickly agrees to my suggestion, excited to be able to watch the show while knowing how everything works.

“I need to head over to the circus. Why don’t you go catch an hour or two with Mark before you need to get up and get ready for the show? I’ve arranged for a car to pick you up, and I’ll meet you in the foyer and show you to my grandpas’ front row seats.” We hug it out and I head to the bedroom.

“Lila, why are you going to the bedroom? I thought you said you needed to go to the circus?” Susie asks suspiciously, and I turn and wink at her.

“Going to get my teleporting warlock boyfriend to come and get me.”

Her mouth drops open at my nonchalance, and she shakes her head. “That is going to take some getting used to.” She leaves me, and I continue on, sending Xavier a message from my watch. When I get to the room, he’s already there, and he takes one look at my face and opens his arms.

“Oh,phoeall, I can feel everything. Come here so I can make you feel better.” I allow him to wrap my arms around me and hold me while all my sadness and relief pour out of me and into him. He shudders as the power of the emotions hits him.

“Fuck, I hate that you feel this way, but God, it feels good and you fill me up like no one ever has before.” His voice is ragged as he places a kiss against my hair.

“She wants to see the show, and then she would like you to take away everything I told her. She doesn’t want to lie to herboyfriend, and I understand that,” I explain, and he strokes a gentle hand over my back. “I’m just not sure how I’m going to explain being out of contact with her for so long. This has been the longest two weeks, and we were still on the same planet. I can’t go for months without speaking to her.”

The stress and anxiety of wiping away her memories eats at me more than I expected it to. But being with her today and finally getting to spill my secrets was a relief my psyche had been craving. I’m not sure I want to go back to how things were.

“We will work something out for you, sweetheart. Even if I have to charter a shuttle to bring us within calling distance of the Earth once a week while we are off planet, I will. I don’t even have to charter one, I’ll just steal my parents’. They won’t care. You are their best friends’ daughter and my intimate. They will do whatever they can to help. We might even be able to spell her phone to accept a warlock call to talk across the galaxy. Leave it with me, I will figure something out,” he promises.

I hear a noise out in the living area and smile. I knew Susie wouldn’t be able to resist coming to have a peek, but before she can, Xavier moves us to my quarters in the circus pod.

“Holy shit.” I look around my room at all the bags piled onto every surface. “I didn’t realize I bought so much stuff,” I comment, picking up a bag from the bed and dumping it on the floor.

“Good thing my living space on the mothership is big. We’ve got a couple of hours before I need to be down in the foyer. Want to nap with me since you don’t have to be in the show and get ready?” I ask him, and a grin slides across his lips. “Well, not unless they decide to bring Htead out tonight,” I quickly add, and the grin drops.

“Those fucking idiots. Your grandpas chewed their asses out, and they are lucky they even still have a spot in the show. I don’t think it will happen again.”

I strip down to my underwear, and Xavier’s eyes light up, but before he can act on it, I slide between my blankets and pat the other side of the bed. “Come on, you insatiable warlock. I’m exhausted, come be the big spoon to my little spoon.”