Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Yeah, he felt bad.
“I’ll answer later,” I said as I got out and gestured for him to follow me.
Once I inputted the code to get in, I invited him to have a seat while I finished grabbing all of my things.
“I’m not saying that I’m going to head wherever you are going…” I said. “But I will take that ride to the airport after you’re done at Banner’s place.”
His eyes twinkled as he took me in.
I’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt.
They were simple, yet I didn’t miss the look of interest that flared in his eyes when he took a good long look at my body.
I knew what he saw.
I was curvy—though not in a true curvy girl way—an “I have large hips and round tits” kind of way. There was no extra meat on my bones at all. Then there was the long, curly black hair that I’d allowed to fall down to dry around my back and shoulders.
“Has anyone told you that you look exactly like Pocahontas?” he wondered.
“Yes,” I smirked at him as I shouldered my bag. “Ready?”
“Yep,” he answered. “Why do you not look surprised by my question?”
I allowed him to close the door to the bus and lock it as I trudged down the stairs toward his truck.
We were in the truck before I answered him. “Because I think I get that at least once a night from one random stranger or another. It’s definitely not original anymore.”
“Your eyes are different than hers,” he said as he put it in reverse and backed out of the field where our bus was sitting. “Pale blue eyes…Pocahontas had brown.”
I felt the corners of my lips go up at the thought of him knowing Pocahontas so well that he could remember the color of her eyes.
“You watch Disney movies that much that you remember that insignificant of a detail?” I wondered.
“I have a young daughter. Let’s just say, it would be sacrilegious if I didn’t know some details about the movies we watched over and over again,” he replied in answer.
“So how does one get caught up in the circus when she doesn’t like it?” he asked curiously.
I thought about that question for a long moment before saying, “Well, I guess it all started when my mom met my dad. My mom was young and influenced easily, and my dad had this weird grand notion that he was hot shit. That everyone wanted to be with him, and everyone loved the circus as much as he did. Which my mother did not. She just loved him.”
Pausing in my story as we headed to the tiger area, I pointed to the large bunny that took off like a shot, and his eyes followed it as he kept rolling. Seconds later, Coco appeared chasing after it. She took one large leap toward it, and seconds later the poor bunny took his last breath.
“Um…” Slone came to a rolling stop. “Are we sure they are allowed out?”
He sounded somewhat alarmed, so I stopped my original story and explained.
“See that collar around Coco’s neck?” I asked.
He studied the big cat that was now enjoying his meal. “Yeah.”
“That isn’t a shock collar. It’s a perimeter collar. When they get too far away from home base, which is in the bus, it starts emitting a very high-pitched sound which they hate. Their ears are very sensitive.”
“Do they roam free like that when there are people here?” he asked curiously.
“They do sometimes.” I shrugged. “It really depends on how many people. If there are just friends, like Banner’s friends and y’all, we let them go out. But we do tell those people that they’re out. Today, the others let them out after we left, so that’s why we didn’t ask y’all first.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Do you want to say goodbye to them?”
I clicked my seat belt in place.
“No.” I shook my head. “Coco’s eating. I do not interfere or stop her from eating, even to say bye. The prey drive is high when she’s in hunting mode, and I know better than to mess with her. I don’t want her to confuse me with prey.”
“You sound knowledgeable in the subject,” he surmised.
“I am.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “I have a degree in zoology.”
His brows went up high, as if he was surprised to hear me say that.
“You have a degree in zoology, and you’re working at a circus?” he asked. “Is that what you want?”
I was already shaking my head.
“Back to my story from earlier,” I said as I pointed to the top of a tree where Melon was snoozing. “There’s Melon. Very top branch.”
“Wow,” he breathed. “Still freaky to see them out, though. Do you want to see her?”
I giggled, then said, “Melon’s sleeping, and I doubt I could get her to come down at all, even if I wanted to. She’s stubborn and has a will of steel.”