Ten raised an eyebrow at his husband. “Celestina?”
“She was beautiful, Ten. With golden silky hair and blue eyes. She was a little older than me, probably fifteen or sixteen years old, so she had curves in all the right places. I wasn’t interested in any of that. What caught my attention was the sparkly red dress and feather boa she was wearing. I wanted to wear the boa in the worst way. Everly would have lost her mind over the outfit. You would have too, come to think of it.”
Ten snorted. “Be honest, you wanted to try on the dress too.”
“Totally!” Ronan agreed. “Every time I see a sparkly dress I think of Celestina. I was so in love with the tigers and the costumes that I wanted to join the circus then and there.”
“What happened to derail that dream?” Ten couldn’t imagine his husband flying high on a trapeze or wrangling elephants.
“Ying Yang the clown.” Ronan grimaced, as if the clown’s name tasted bad.
“Ying Yang?” Ten chuckled. “Cool name.”
“You wouldn’t think that if you’d met him in person. I mean, he was great when I was talking to him while he made my balloon snake, but then when Celestina asked me to come with her, he looked like he wanted to kill me. I didn’t pay him any mind until I’d finished holding the baby tiger. Celestina and her Mom brought the baby back to its mother and when I turned to leave, there was Ying Yang. He threatened to cut off my arm and beat me with it before he fed it to the tiger, if I ever touched his daughter again.”
“Holy shit! Did you tell Erin?”
“Mom was standing behind me. She was the one who caught me when Ying Yang pushed me. We got the hell away from him.”
“Did you ever see Ying Yang again?”
Ronan nodded his head. “We went to the opening night show. Celestina was there, riding the lead elephant like she had during the parade. Her dress that night was a vivid peacock blue. I was nervous when the clowns came out to do their act, but Ying Yang thankfully, didn’t see me sitting in the crowd. To be honest, after Mom and I went home that night, I slept with the lights on. I’ve been terrified of clowns since that night. I really wish Jace’s gala was another ball or a day at Fenway Park, or ice castles or something,anythingother than a circus.”
“You heard Jace say he wants us to staff some of the positions. What are you going to do?” Ten thought it would be fun to work with the trapeze artists and learn how to swing on the bar.
“I’ll just work security.” Ronan cast his eyes down and wiggled under the blankets.
“You know,” Ten began, resting his head on Ronan’s shoulder, “it would go a long way for Everly and Ezra to see you overcome one of your greatest fears. I think you might regret taking the easy way out. In all the years I’ve known you, there’s nothing you’ve faced that you’ve walked away from.”
“That’s different, Ten, we’re talking about doing my job and keeping people safe. No one is going to be in any danger at the circus. It’s not like Pennywise is going to show up with a bunch of red balloons and start munching on kids.” Ronan shivered, pulling his husband closer.
Ten sighed. Ronan was the bravest man he’d ever known. It wasn’t like his tough as nails husband to want to hide under the bed. He’d faced down murderers, kidnappers, serial killers, and summer tourists without flinching. Who knew clowns would be his downfall.
First thing in the morning Ten was going to put his mind to figuring out how Ronan could be involved in the circus without constantly having to look over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being stalked by Bozo.
Anything to keep his mind off his mysterious nightmare.
3
Ronan
One week later…
Ronan was having the time of his life at the car wash. Half naked hotties in G-strings were spraying each other under the hot summer sunshine. More stunning men washed and buffed the Mustang, while looking at Ronan as if he were on the menu. He was in the process of getting a lesson in how to wrangle a long,thickhose, when pain exploded in his head.
“Wake the hell up!” Jude chuckled.
Realizing his face was planted on his desk, Ronan groaned. The last thing he remembered was using his hand to keep his head up. Jude must have yanked it out from under his chin, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Slowly lifting his face, Ronan realized the car wash was just a dream. “What the fuck, man?”
“It’s not even lunchtime and you’re sleeping on the job.” Jude took a seat across from Ronan and appeared to be studying his friend.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Ronan dragged his tired ass off his chair and went to the coffee machine. He poured himself a lukewarm cup from the pot he’d started hours ago and drank it down without bothering to add sugar.
“Is something wrong with the kids, or did Ten have another nightmare?” Jude’s annoyed look morphed into one of concern.
“Both,” Ronan muttered, as Fitzgibbon walked into the conference room.
“What the hell happened to you?” Fitzgibbon strode to the coffee pot, and frowned when he found it empty.
