Lola scowled and went to our room, shouting over her shoulder, “Don’t call me that.”

Violet snickered and returned her attention to her magazine.

“Josephine?” I asked.

She arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t actually think that Lola was her real name, did you?”

I shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Yeah, well,” she replied pointedly. “It isn’t. Circuses like this attract lots of girls looking to run away, escape their realities, you know. Giving yourself a new name is all a part of it, I guess.”

“In that case, I think I’ll rename myself Methuselah,” I joked. “It sounds all mysterious and exotic, right?”

Violet raised an eyebrow at me. “If you say so.”

Deciding to get out for a while and get my mind off Jack, I went for a walk around the campsite, stopping when I saw Winnie. She had Pip and Skip out of their cage, and my heart stuttered for a moment. When I watched them from the safety of the audience or from behind the bars of their cage, I felt safe. But here, out in the open, I became aware of their size and the danger they presented. Winnie held nothing but a long wooden stick as she walked alongside Pip, alternating between petting his mane and giving him little taps on the side. Skip sat on the grass, head resting on his paws, absently surveying the scene.

When Winnie saw me standing there, she smiled. “You want to come meet my boys?” she asked, and I hesitated before venturing closer. Pip watched me, assessing the new person, his eyes almost human. His thick, golden mane shone in the sunlight, and I yearned to reach out and touch it.

“They’re so beautiful,” I said in wonder. “I hope what happened with Julie won’t get them taken away from you.”

Winnie nodded and petted Pip’s head again. “She’s not making any official complaints. Julie is the little girl who pulled the legs from spiders, the one who poked at dogs until they turned vicious. I’m not saying my animals would never hurt someone, because at their core they are predators, but Julie was provoking them. My Carrie witnessed the whole thing. Julie had been sticking a pole inside their cage, trying to get a reaction.” She paused and laughed wryly. “I heard her wail, and came out to find Skip had broken the pole and was clawing at her through the bars. You don’t mess with him.”

“I can’t understand why she’d do something like that,” I said, and sat down to admire Pip. He seemed to have determined I wasn’t a threat, because he wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. “I mean, how is that fun?”

“Some people have warped ideas of fun,” said Winnie, her voice growing hard. “Pip and Skip are brothers. We’ve had them both for a long time, since they were just teenagers. Not in all that time have they harmed a person, and Antonio and I pride ourselves on that fact. If I catch that girl going near my animals again, it will not be the lions she should be afraid of.”

I absorbed her words, suddenly understanding that although Winnie looked like a completely harmless woman to the casual bystander, there was a warrior lying underneath who would stop at nothing to protect the ones she loved.

“Well, I doubt she’ll try anything again. I’m sure Pip frightened her enough the first time. If she does, she’d be pretty dumb.”

Winnie laughed. “Have you seen the girl? I would hasten to say that dumb is her middle name.”

I laughed along with her, but I wasn’t quite sure I agreed. Julie wasn’t dumb; she was cruel. The way she spoke to King last night told me that. And really, I hated to think she’d been with Jack, had put her mouth on him. The knowledge alone made me shudder.

A few minutes passed, and I watched Winnie interact with her lions in such a way that made me truly believe she loved them dearly. At one point, she encouraged Skip to roll over onto his back, his paws in the air as she took one in her hand and massaged it. I never thought I’d see a tiny little woman render a beast into a kitten as she rubbed his feet for him.

“Do you think he’d let me pet him?” I asked shyly.

“Of course,” she replied. “Come here.”

I went to her, and she showed me how to approach him. Before I knew it, I was running my hand over his mane, delighting in its softness. Getting to touch the animal excited my curiosity, and I went on to bombard Winnie with questions.

What do you feed them?

How long do they sleep each day?

Do they ever fight one another?

How old are they?

How many years do they live?

Don’t they need to have sex with a lioness every once in a while?

She was very patient in answering all of my questions. By the time we were done talking, I found I was starving, so I headed for the gazebo to see what they were serving for lunch. Tomato soup and bread was the name of the game, as it happened. I spotted Jack, King, and Marina sitting at a table together. Pierre sat on Marina’s shoulder, watching her as she ate her lunch. I saw him try to swipe for a piece of bread, but she caught him before he could grab it. The little monkey’s antics made me laugh.

As I passed them by, Jack reached out, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into him so that I was sitting on his lap. His eyes zoned in on my hair like we were completely alone. I looked down to see there was a clump of green paint in it, and he had started picking it out. He hadn’t said a word in greeting, just spun me onto his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The intimacy of it all made my heart squeeze.

My eyes wandered to Marina, and I found she was watching me with an odd mixture of warmth and curiosity. I took it to mean that Jack didn’t often do this sort of thing. It felt a bit like a social show, like when men put their arms around their girlfriends’ waists to show other men they were taken. He was absorbed in picking the paint from my hair as I turned my head a little to face Marina.

“Winnie let me pet one of the lions,” I said with excitement.

“Aren’t they just exquisite?” Marina replied, giving Pierre a little pat on the backside. He jumped off her shoulder with a screech before scurrying to the other side of the gazebo. “Back when I was just starting out, I was with a big circus. The tamers would work with about five or six lions and a couple of tigers all in the one act. You could tell the animals were treated terribly — they just looked so sad. It felt unnatural to see these big, powerful animals sitting perched on stools like housecats.”

I tried to concentrate on listening to Marina, but the way Jack’s fingers worked through my hair, his knuckles brushing my collarbone, was highly distracting. I remembered him from the night before, staring up at me like I was the centre of his universe, worshipping me with his mouth, and squeezed my thighs together tight. I really didn’t need to be remembering how good he was at that.

King, who had been sitting slumped over the table asleep with his head in his arms, awoke suddenly with a groan.

“Where the fuck am I?”

Marina gave him an almighty clip ’round the ear. “You’re in hell. Now tell me who gave you the whiskey last night?”

An argument ensued between the two, and I looked back to Jack, whispering, “I think you got all of it.”

He didn’t stop. “I like your hair.”

“Thanks.”

His voice got low and quiet as he leaned in and spoke into my ear. “I like your pussy, too.”

“Jack,” I gasped.

“It likes me back.”

“You’re crazy.”

He shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first person to say that.”

“What are you doing today?” I asked, shifting on his lap. I thought I could feel him stirring to, uh…life, but I couldn’t be certain.

“Practice. Then show. Then sleep. And tomorrow we move on.”

“I can’t believe we’ve been here in Caen a whole week. Where do we go next?”

“Orléans. It’s just over three hours away. You can ride with me.”

I thought about a three-hour journey with Jack alone in his camper and grew fidgety. What would we talk about? Would we just sit in silence? Strangely, I kind of enjoyed being quiet with him, and usually I felt the need to chatter to fill quiet periods.