Chapter 4

I hadn't planned on spending my morning at the police station being asked a million and one questions regarding what had happened an hour earlier.

Nor had I expected to come across who had to be the most handsome man in the world. His short, blueish-gray hair reminded me of the ocean I'd seen yesterday when the sunlight hit the waves just right. It was an unnatural hair color, but he wore it so naturally that I couldn't imagine his hair to be any other shade.

Everything about the man was eye-catching. He looked a few years older than me. He was tall, like, extremely tall—probably even taller than our ringmaster—and bulky. I wouldn't consider myself petite, but I felt tiny next to him.

The vast size difference should have scared me, but it didn't. Hispresence made me feel safe and cozy, and that was probably why I sounded like an idiot when I tried to talk to him.

I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that he had to run out of there. Judging by the loud yelling coming from his phone, I figured he wasn't lying about being in a rush, but god did I wish we had more time together.

"You sure you're okay?" Aisha asked for the thousandth time since leaving the police station.

"I swear, you're more protective than my mom sometimes," I teased, though I secretly loved it. She wasn't the most expressive person about her emotions, but it was moments like these that I had no doubt that she cared about me.

She rolled her eyes, and her lips tugged in a tiny smirk. "You're lying to yourself if you think your mom isn't going to baby you for the next week. Hell, I'll be surprised if she even lets you out of her sight."

I groaned, knowing she was absolutely right. Mom was gonna freak out when she heard about this.

Aisha came to the circus when she was fourteen. I'd been a dumb kid who'd never been far from home. I knew the outside world could be harsh, but I didn't really know. I wasn't aware of just how much the circus and my parents sheltered me from all of that. I was lucky in that aspect…Aisha wasn't.

She might be taller than me now, but she was a whole lot smaller than me when she'd first arrived at the circus, despite being a year older. She'd been so wary of everyone at first, but something about her eyes—so full of hope and determination to survive—had me wanting to be her friend.

It wasn't easy to get her to open up, but she eventually did. And even if she claimed it was because myclinginess had finally worn her down and she had no choice but to accept her fate, she wasn't someone who could be forced into something she didn't want, not even when she was just a kid.

If there was anything I learned about myself from wearing Aisha down, it was that I wasn't one to give up without a fight. As we left the art supply store with our items in hand, my thoughts wandered back to the tall man.

It was a coincidence that we met, but I wondered if I could stage another meeting.He'd given me his business card and told me to call, after all. I palmed my pants pocket, then stopped in my tracks.

"What the fuck, man?" Aisha said, knocking into me from behind.

Great. Now I had a bump on the front and back of my head.

I rubbed the spot her chin clashed onto the back of my head and turned to her with a sad expression.

"Shit, did I hurt you?" she asked, instantly going into panic mode.

"You know how you always say I'm an airhead?" I asked.

"Yeah?" she replied, looking confused.

"You might have been right. Who else would blueball themselves as hard as me?" I cried out. Aisha looked at me like I'd totally lost my marbles and maybe I had.

Otherwise, how could I give away the steaming hot man's business card to the police without even jotting down his number first? Sure, my head had been spinning from all the questions they were throwing at me, and I wasn't even thinking when I handed the card of the victim of the crime over to them when they asked.

And that was the problem. I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to give the officers whatever they asked for so I could get out of there. It hadn't even crossed my mind to write down the handsome guy's number or even look at his name for that matter, before handing over the business card.

I couldn't say the world was out to get me this time, when I was quiteliterally the reason for my own downfall.

Aisha endured thirty seconds of my grumblings before dragging me by the arm to her motorcycle. I was still blaming myself for fucking up such a good opportunity that I hadn't even realized that we'd returned to the circus grounds.

However, I was quickly pulled back to reality when Aisha informed my mother of what had happened while we were in town, which had Mom fretting around me with worry. I didn't reply to her quick-fire questions, but threw myself directly into her arms instead.

She instantly pulled me into a tight hug, squeezing me half-dry like I wasn't fifty pounds heavier than her.

"Oh, my poor baby," Mom cooed as she stroked my hair. She probably thought I was scared by the attempted robbery I'd interrupted, not that I lost my chance topotentially hook up with the hottest guy I'd ever met.

And it would stay like that. I might need my mom's comfort, but she didn't need to know all the thoughts that were swirling inside my head. Honestly, I wished I didn't have to deal with these thoughts either.

Momeventually left with Dad to inform our ringmaster along with our head of security about the incident. I thought they were being a tad bit overcautious, considering the likelihood of a human breaking past Farren was laughable.

Farren was a giantgargoyle nearing seven feet tall, and I was very glad he was on our side. Whoever was foolish enough to even try to do anything bad within our grounds would not have a good time dealing with him, but better them than me.

I didn't see my parents for the rest of the day while we prepared for the grand opening day of the circus at our new site. Growing up and traveling with the circus, I was used to the grind by now. We traveled on the road for the first few days of the week, had about a day of rest, and were set up for business by Thursday.

We never stopped at one location for more than three weeks before heading to our next destination. It was routine, something I'd done a thousand times before, but this time, there was something different about our location.

Each place we visited had its ownunique beauty, making me itch to sketch it, and this place was the same. But, for some reason, this place held my interest more than any other place had.

I'd become obsessed with a freaking whale the first day we arrived, and now there was a particular man who was set on taking over my thoughts.

As I walked through the carnival to my shift at the Ferris wheel, I knew who would be featuring in my sketches tonight.