Carousel Read online

  “You mean I get two hot men all to myself?” Caroline asked. She leaned against the larger man she’d been touching and nuzzled him with her cheek. He tentatively slipped his arm around her and stroked her shoulder as though he were afraid to touch her wrong. “While that’s kind of gross, where do I sign up?”

  “You already have,” Madoc replied with an indulgent smile. “It’s up to you what to do with these men after the performances begin and the rest of the circus exhibits have closed. You are their engineer. You are their mistress now. Their duty is to please you. Their desire is to please you, because you are their savior, and it is in their nature to desire their savior.”

  “You’re really dramatic. Has anyone ever told you that? Like, so dramatic it’s kind of hard to tell if you’re serious or just screwing around with me again,” Caroline said.

  “I have been told that, yes.”

  “No,” Colm snapped, slamming his fist into the side of the nearest horse. “No, you’re not going to do this to me. You already roped me into service, stripped me of my power, made me a common plaything and beast of burden to the swell of humanity, but you will not make me kneel before a human woman in servitude. The bit of slavery is a bitter one, but I’d rather stay entrapped in that wooden form than consent to such an arrangement. You will not bring me lower.”

  “It seems fifty years of imprisonment and torture was not enough for you,” Madoc said. “Would you really rather I put you back as a mount? After all, I was under the impression you’d already knelt before her in servitude—and of your own accord.”

  “You will not chain me to a human!” Colm screamed, slicing through the air with his open hand as though to cut Caroline down. “I will not bow to your perverse whim.”

  “I thought you wanted to be a part of this circus,” Madoc said. He pressed in on Colm, still unshaken by his anger. “Wasn’t that what got you into this mess in the first place?”

  “You’ve had your pound of flesh,” Colm said. “You got what you wanted. Will it ever be enough? But you would let me have a taste of freedom then chain me once more? And to her.”

  “You took your pleasure with her well enough when you thought she’d set you free. You will not derive less pleasure when she’s holding your reins.”

  “Just because you’ve chained yourself to a human woman doesn’t mean that’s what the rest of us want.”

  Madoc shoved Colm against the brass cage. Colm sprawled against it to steady himself. Then Madoc slid his hand over the front of Colm’s leather trousers.

  “What about this?” Madoc said through clenched teeth. “Was does this say about what you want?”

  “More of your torment,” Colm spat at him.

  “I didn’t make you want her,” Madoc said. He pushed Colm again, making Colm wince, but Madoc stepped back. “You want her because you are hers. I don’t make people want what they don’t want.”

  “And that’s why you added an incubus and succubus to the cast,” Colm said.

  “They make people want what they want more,” Madoc replied. “You know that perfectly well.”

  “I won’t do it. I won’t dance for you, Bell. I won’t grovel before her like a rocking horse for her to ride,” Colm said.

  “We’ll see how long you’ll resist,” Madoc said, “when she is right before you, desiring you as much as you desire her, and you refuse to have her.”

  “What if I just take her—take what I want—and leave her husk for you to find?” Colm said.

  “You can’t. You cannot harm her, Colm, but if you try, I’ll have you under the Ringmaster’s whip once again.”

  The man holding Caroline tightened his grip around her. Caroline had been watching Colm and Madoc fight in fascination, but she was having a little trouble following.

  Colm’s insistence on calling her human made her think that he wasn’t, and their familiarity with each other suggested the two men knew each other quite well. Caroline’s only conclusion was that Colm was jinn or demon, and for some reason he couldn’t stop Madoc or do anything to change that Madoc was handing Colm over to Caroline for her to…to do what? Ride Colm and the man holding her now until they couldn’t get it up anymore?

  The prospect sounded tantalizing at the moment—except for the whole ‘Colm is a demon’ part, because if he was, she couldn’t believe she’d let him in. She knew from old Sunday school lessons that doing that never ended well. In her defense, she’d really thought she was dreaming. It wasn’t like she’d invited him in on purpose.

  Still, when Madoc stepped away from him, Caroline couldn’t help but notice Colm’s impossible-to-conceal erection, like the one that the man holding her was trying not to rub on her. Caroline leaned back against him, her legs shaking as she pressed her ass against his cock, moving it in small circles over the bulge until he gave a strangled groan.

  “What’s your name, big guy?” Caroline asked. If she was going to give the man who’d already thoroughly fucked her a lap dance—and if she was being gifted him by someone who didn’t understand people shouldn’t be gifts—she should probably learn his name.

  “Riley,” he replied. “I think it’s a bit late to say that I’m pleased to meet you.”

  “Mmm, I can tell.”

  It didn’t matter that she was doing this in front of Madoc. He wasn’t paying attention to her. Colm was, however, and he glared at Riley as though he could throw weapons with his gaze and willpower alone. Maybe at one point in time, he could, but not anymore.

  “What? Jealous already for the mistress you want nothing to do with?” Madoc said.

  “Fuck you and the self-righteous horse you rode in on, Bell,” Colm said through clenched teeth. “I’ll get out of this one way or another, and I’ll get out of it through the girl.”

  “You can try,” Madoc said. “I’m sure it will amuse her when you can’t lift a finger to harm her.”

  “You never knew what a real dungeon was supposed to be like, you sick fuck,” Colm said.

  “That’s where you and I never saw eye-to-eye,” Madoc replied. “I was never trying to create a dungeon. That was just my template. And it’s mine. You can’t have Arcanium. You can never have Arcanium. Both of you—Colm, Riley—you are still being punished and you’re still mine. The only wills and whims you have to concern yourself with are mine and Caroline’s. See, Colm? Riley already has the right idea. Please the mistress, and you might just placate the master enough to let you go when you finally wish him to.”

  “So let me get this straight.” Caroline still couldn’t think too well, and the pool of arousal dampening her panties as she continued teasing Riley wasn’t helping, nor were his strong arms around her and the little pants he made near her ear. “These two have been in the carousel the whole time? The men that people ride, they’re actual men? With erections? All the time?”

  “Colm has been here longer than Riley, but yes,” Madoc said.

  “That’s horrible. It’s awful. Monstrous.” Sounded like something a demon would do. Caroline remembered Christina. Madoc had done that to her too. He had done many awful things to many people who didn’t deserve them. In comparison, he had treated Caroline like a queen, but that didn’t make everything else he did okay.

  “I’m sure some might think so, if they didn’t know what had been done to displease me,” Madoc said.

  “Urinated in a corner? Happened to make a wish you didn’t like?” Caroline asked.

  “Why don’t you ask your new toys what they did?” Madoc said. “There are some cast who have become what they are because I simply wanted that particular oddity or act and because they amuse me. But there are others who are here because they’ve done something grievously offensive to my circus or to my people. You are my people now, Caroline. I will protect you to the death of those who would harm you. But people have so much fewer uses after their death. Better to make them suffer through their usefulness. Wouldn’t you agree, Colm?”

  “In another life and another world, I wil
l enjoy peeling your skin off and feeding it to you,” Colm replied.

  “There will never be a world in which you can best me,” Madoc said. He turned his back on Colm, showing how little concern he had for anything that Colm could do to him. “Remember, Caroline, your boys become pumpkins again at sunrise, but you have them all night. You are bound by the same rules as they are. You can’t force them to do anything they don’t want to do. But you are free to do just about anything your mind or body can devise.”

  “Okay, right now that all sounds really good, but in the morning I’m pretty sure I’m going to yell at you. Make that afternoon,” Caroline said. She gasped as Riley ground against her with particular intensity, clutching at her hips. She threw her head back against his shoulder. Even though Madoc was still there, she took one of Riley’s hands and guided it between her legs.

  “We’ll see,” Madoc murmured, looking them over with hooded eyes. Then he jumped down from the carousel and walked off somewhere into the darkness. Caroline didn’t know which direction, and frankly, she didn’t care.

  Chapter Seven

  “So what’re you in for?” Caroline asked. She turned around in Riley’s arms and grabbed the top of his shorts, yanking at the button then teasing the top of the zipper.

  He just shook his head and looked away, but he canted his hips toward her hands nevertheless.

  “Hey, look, I just drank two margaritas. I’m as chill as I’m ever going to be. Whatever you did, I’m probably in a much better state to hear about it now than later when I’m regretting being born,” Caroline said.

  “I’ll make you regret being born,” Colm muttered. He climbed onto the spider, determinedly not facing their direction.

  “You… Not even you can kill my buzz right now, so whatever you are, it can zip its lips while I enjoy feeling up this fine young man,” Caroline said. She returned to her fascination at the way Riley’s cock reacted to her pulling the zipper up and down, not enough to let it fall free, just enough to get a glimpse of the thick cock in the shadows.

  “Um, can we wait to tell the story until after—?” Riley asked. “Ah!”

  She jerked the zipper all the way down. The metal teeth scraped over the bottom of the shaft, but any pain did nothing to make his erection flag. It popped out—full, hard and tempting.

  Caroline’s mouth watered as she remembered what it had been like to taste him. This time, there was no cock ring to keep him hard past his endurance. It wasn’t nearly as angry-looking as before, but it certainly looked juicy and ready to burst, as though a little press of her teeth would be enough to spill threads of pre-cum over the sides.

  “If we waited until after you got what you wanted, maybe you wouldn’t tell me,” Caroline said.

  Colm barked a cold laugh. “She’s got your number, slave.”

  “Hey, you’re as much a slave as me,” Riley shot back. “You did bad too, otherwise we wouldn’t have both been put in the same punishment.”

  “It just begs the question even more, meatsack,” Colm said. “What’d you do that was so bad, you got put in the carousel with me?”

  “Down on the floor,” Caroline said to Riley. She tugged at his shorts. They bunched at his thighs. He practically had to peel them off. Yes, Lady Sasha had definitely sold someone’s soul to the devil to make those shorts hug his ass and package so damn well.

  Riley lowered himself to the platform then onto his back when Caroline pushed him down by his chest. She lingered, massaging the muscles there before bringing the tips of her fingers to his small, dark brown nipples, focusing her massage just over them. Closing his eyes, Riley groaned. He clutched at his cock to stroke it, but she batted his hand away.

  “Tell me what you did,” Caroline said.

  “I don’t want to say it,” Riley admitted.

  “Why? Can’t be more horrible than Madoc,” she said.

  “But you don’t want to have sex with him. I’m afraid that if I tell you, you won’t…you know.”

  “Suck you off like a popsicle?” Caroline finished for him. “Maybe not. Depends on what you have to tell. But how lucky do you think you’re going to get if you don’t tell?” She settled between his legs and licked a line up the prominent ridge of his cock. She stopped before she reached the more sensitive head.

  “Okay, okay! I’ll tell you,” Riley cried out.

  “Weak,” Colm scoffed.

  “But you’re not going to like it,” Riley continued, ignoring Colm.

  Caroline propped herself up on his thighs. “Why? Did you murder a man?”

  “No,” Riley said. “But I could have. It was an accident—a stupid, juvenile accident.”

  “Balls. It was on purpose and you know it,” Colm said. “I might have been wood impaled on a pole at the time, but I remember what happened.”

  “But I wouldn’t have meant to kill anyone,” Riley protested. “I didn’t think anyone would be hurt. It was a dare. My friends and my cousins dared me to… Oh God, there’s no good way to say it.”

  “There’s no way to say it that makes you come out smelling like a rose because you’re shit, and shit smells like shit,” Colm said. “Just tell her what you did.”

  “None of us liked the freaks,” Riley finally said. “We thought they were funny. We mocked them, threatened to throw food at them, insulted them. When one of us did something, the others needed to do something bigger. I think we’d had a lot of ale, but we were like that sober, too. Finally, Felix dared me to set fire to the tents while the performance was going on. All the tents. I did the oddity tents first, while we laughed about how stupid and dumb everyone here was, that they had been born idiots—although we said it worse than that, of course. But the small tents weren’t enough. They dared me to do the big one too.”

  Caroline paused in her idle stroking of the soft hair on Riley’s legs. “You mean you were going to burn down the big top while people were inside? All the people?”

  “I told you it was stupid. I wasn’t thinking anyone would get hurt. I don’t think any of us were thinking at all. We just wanted to get back at the freaks.”

  “For being freaks?” she asked.

  “Yeah. It made sense then. Lots of stupid things made sense,” Riley said. “Most of my friends managed to get out before Bell and the clowns caught us. The Ringmaster didn’t come out because he was still in the show. But Felix and I didn’t make it over the fence before Bell stopped us. He asked us whether Felix had dared me and whether I had done it. He said if we told the truth, he would spare us. Felix said he didn’t know what was going on and that Bell had the wrong guys. And Bell, he…” Riley rested his head on the platform and stared up into the lights. He swallowed thickly. “He gave Felix to the clowns.”

  “And?” Caroline asked.

  “They ate him right in front of me,” Riley said.

  “Wait, huh? You mean those signs are for real?” Caroline asked. “The clowns really eat people?”

  “Don’t all clowns?” Colm muttered.

  “I told him I did it,” Riley said. “I broke down and begged for mercy. I had no dignity, only fear. I wish I could say I felt ashamed, but I didn’t. I was just caught and didn’t want to die. Not like that. Bell told me to make a wish, a specific wish to become what the circus needed of me and to suffer whatever punishment he wanted to give me. I did.

  “Next moment, I was made of wood. I could feel everything as though I wasn’t, although I didn’t get hungry or thirsty or heatstroke or frostbite. But I was hard all the time, and I was cold, hot, wet, dry with the weather. I felt people on my back and heels spurring me forward. I could hear everyone yelling around me. I felt the ache of the bit in my mouth. But I couldn’t speak or move my eyes or ease any of my discomfort. I couldn’t yell for help. The first time I was made flesh again was two nights ago, when you met me in the night and touched me.”

  Riley shrugged, his nostrils red, but he kept his emotions under control. “I don’t know how long it’s been. Years, I guess. It a
ll blends together and sometimes doesn’t feel real at all. It doesn’t matter. I’ve had lots of time to regret, to develop the shame I should have felt before. To figure out how stupid it was to think the freaks had to suffer for looking the way they did and that we were the ones to punish them, that it would be funny instead of cruel. But I know now. I can never take it back. I can never undo what I almost did. I could have ended up in jail for the rest of my life if this had been a normal circus. I think that would have been kinder, but I’d also have had deaths on my conscience. For that, I’ll take what Bell gives me if it means they get to live. One too many people died that night as it is.”

  “Years?” Colm said. “You were there for years? I was there before you were. I’ve been on this carousel for decades, boy.”

  “And I’m sure you deserved every last day with what you did—or planned to do,” Caroline replied.

  “Bell would agree with you, but he’s always self-righteous, the narcissistic bastard,” Colm said.

  “Why are you even here now?” Caroline asked. “You’re not harshing my buzz yet, but you’re getting there. You don’t even want to be with me. You’ve got all night to be a real boy, so shoo, fly. You’re free to go about whatever demony business you have in mind, as long as it’s not here, because I’m going to give my guy a blow job.” She turned back to Riley. “I think it’s awful what you did, but you did your time, as they say. And I really want your cock right now. Call it a craving.”

  “I can’t believe you’re real,” Riley said, straining up to look at her while his cock twitched and lengthened even more, as though straining to be in her mouth.

  “That’s my line.”

  But this time, even though the world was fuzzy on the edges and she was back in that dreamlike state, she knew that when she ran her tongue over the tip of his cock, it was real—blissfully solid, musky, a little salty, a little bitter, but real. She moaned in pleasure as she took the whole head in her mouth.

  Riley’s breath hitched. He pushed his hips up, but she rested her arms over his thighs. She couldn’t hope to hold him down, small as she was in comparison, but she gripped his waist so that every time he thrust up, he moved her with him. Only she could control how much of him she took in.