Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Hence them starting the permanent circus.
It was a mixture between Cirque De Solei and a strip club.
Though there was no actual nudity, there was quite a bit of flesh breaking out all over the place.
And the entire event was eighteen plus.
They also did fifteen shows a year in various locations around the country, but they didn’t have another of those coming up for two weeks.
“Then, a few nights ago, we had a couple of drunk guys try to storm the stage.” He rubbed between his eyes as if there was a headache that’d formed there that got bigger the longer he talked about his issues. “They grabbed a dancer and sexually assaulted her on stage. Though it didn’t get much further than groping, it was enough that she quit and refused to come back until we have proper security. Something that my dad was lax about because he felt like it gave people a better experience when they weren’t constantly watched over by people that kept them in line.”
“Wow,” I replied. “Your dad didn’t care about the safety of his people?”
“My dad cared about money, pure and simple. Hell, that was why I left and joined the military. I was tired of the traveling circus life. Tired of the constant ‘fill in here’ or ‘do that until I can find a replacement’ there. I don’t like being free labor. And honestly, I’d shut this whole damn thing down if so many families didn’t depend on it.”
I respected him more for that.
“You got out?” I asked.
Crew scrubbed his hands down his face. “Not really.”
Crew Vegas was a Navy SEAL. He’d been a SEAL for only four years when the news of his father’s death had come to him. Now he was facing two possibilities. Fixing what was wrong with his father’s business in his allotted ten days, or get out.
Which likely also put him in a bad mood.
You didn’t get out of the military when you loved it that much unless there was no other option or you were forced to.
And Crew was definitely being forced to, if my background checks were anything to go by.
“You care if we take a look around?” I asked. “Familiarize the place to me? Then tonight, I’ll come back for a show, and then you can let me observe for myself where I think things need to be fixed.”
Crew nodded. “Thanks, man.”
He showed me around the area, and it was surprisingly way nicer than I’d expected of a risqué circus.
When we were done, we parted in the parking lot, and Crew’s eyes went behind me.
And, as if she was conjured by my thoughts, when I walked out to the parking lot toward my bike, I saw her sitting on my seat with her arms crossed.
“Who’s that?” Crew asked.
Considering I’d told him I was single and had no immediate plans of remedying that, seeing a girl leaning against my bike like she owned it was surprising.
“That,” I said softly, “is trouble.”
CHAPTER 5
She makes me melt like a popsicle on the Fourth of July.
-Hannibal’s secret thoughts
HANNIBAL
I didn’t know what it was about Hades Singh that had me so interested in her, but I knew when it started.
When I was overseas doing what I did best—recovery work—I’d met Keene Singh.
Keene had been in the military for about ten years, meanwhile I’d been there so long I felt like I was one promotion away from being desk-bound.
Luckily, at the time, I’d been on the way out, ready and willing to do anything not to be sidelined like the upper brass had in store for me.
Anyway, I’d been focused on me at that time, and I’d been lost in thought when I’d walked up on Keene talking about his sisters.
I’m not quite sure what made me stay there and look at the photos he was passing around, but I had.
And it hadn’t been any of the other exotic beauties that’d caught my eyes. And, just sayin’, but my God, every last one of them were captivatingly beautiful—well, all but one.
Though, I’d like to point out that the ‘one’ wasn’t ugly.
In fact, she was pretty, but in a non-conventional way.
She was regular sized for a woman, skinny with regular breasts and regular ass. She had long black hair that wasn’t glossy, but wasn’t dull either. She had regular blue eyes, regular length hair, regular everything, really.
But all that regular had fit into one perfectly formed person.
A person that, for some reason, had been the first to draw my eye.
From that moment on, I’d found myself befriending Keene just to get more info on his sister.
And I had.
But Keene wasn’t a dumbass, and he’d totally caught on to what I was doing.
Though we’d become friendly, it hadn’t taken him long to blow me off, mostly because he really loved his family. He was super protective of them.