Jack scowled and finally handed him back his bottle. “Marina’s gonna chop your balls off when she finds out you’ve been drinking.”

“Bitch can have them. I’ve no use for them anymore,” King spat as he hungrily grabbed the bottle and stumbled away.

I glanced at Jack. “Can you come and try talk to Lola? She won’t tell me anything.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “And you think she’ll talk to me? She’s just been attacked by a man, and I’m not exactly the gentle type. She’ll freak if I go near her.”

He sounded like he had experience with this type of thing, which only made my stomach twist further. What kind of things had this man seen in his life? I already felt uneasy and upset thinking of my friend sitting in her room, traumatised.

Turning, I went back inside to find Lola had calmed down a little and was no longer shaking so much. I sat at the end of her bed and laced my fingers together. There was a lump in my throat that I couldn’t seem to swallow, and my eyes filled with tears.

“We need to call the police, Lola.”

Her eyes flared and she reached out, grabbing my wrist painfully. “No! No police.”

I didn’t understand her. “Why not?”

Fingers digging into my skin, she pleaded, “Just don’t call them. Please. I’m begging you.”

“Okay, I won’t. I promise, but you need to tell me what happened.”

She let out a long, shuddering breath and then locked eyes with me. Hers were still so bloodshot that it was almost difficult to look at them. She was still sick. “I was sleeping and all the lights were out. I didn’t hear him come in. All I know is that I woke because I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He was leaning over me, pressing all his weight into my chest. It was too dark to see his face, but I thought he might be wearing a balaclava, because I felt something woollen brush my skin. I started to scream, and he punched me hard in the mouth.” She stopped, weeping now, and brought her hand to her bloodied lips.

I wanted to go to her so badly, but I didn’t. I knew she didn’t want to be touched by anyone. Not yet. All of a sudden, I became aware of a presence behind me and turned to see Jack standing just outside the door, listening. Thankfully, the door was mostly closed, so Lola couldn’t see him. He’d been right. His presence was far too foreboding sometimes. He was so big and male, and Lola was very likely to freak if she saw him right now.

I took her hand in mine and urged her to continue with my eyes. Her words tumbled out again. “He yanked the blanket away from me and I tried to struggle free, but this time h-he…he punched me in the stomach. The pain was so bad that I couldn’t move for a minute, and he pried my knees apart and put his hands on me.” She paused and almost whispered, “Between my legs. I got just enough energy up to start screaming again, and I must have been loud, because he ran.”

A painful kind of fear clutched my chest. “Did he say anything? Did you hear his voice?”

She shook her head. “No.”

A silence elapsed, but I could still sense Jack standing outside the door. I made my voice as soft as possible when I asked, “Lola, why can’t we call the police? This guy is still out there. He could do it to someone else.”

She groaned like she was in pain, more tears streaming down her cheeks. “Lola’s not my real name, Lille.”

“I know. Violet told me.”

The confession that came next was completed unexpected. “There’s a reason for that. I can’t be found. And if I tell the police my real name, he’ll find me.”

“Who?”

“My husband.”

My jaw dropped. Lola had a husband? It was hard to believe, because she was only a year older than me. At least, she’d told me she was twenty-two.

“You know why I liked you right from the get-go?” she asked, reaching out to run her fingertips lightly down the side of my face. “Your eyes. They haven’t grown hard yet, and there’s no malice. When I got away from him, I promised myself I’d try my hardest to surround myself with people like you. Gentle people. People who don’t hurt others. Then I’d never go back to what my life used to be.”

She hadn’t said anything explicitly, but she didn’t need to. Her husband had hurt her, and that’s why she needed to get away.

“Derek is the filth,” she said, using London slang for police. “He has connections. If my name shows up, he’ll find me. That’s why we can’t call them.”

“But we’re in France,” I began, and she interrupted,

“It doesn’t matter. He’ll find me. I can’t let that happen.”

Behind me, I could hear Jack swearing and pacing around the living area.

Lola’s brows drew together. “McCabe’s out there?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he was walking me home. We heard you screaming and saw your attacker leaving. Jack chased him, but he couldn’t catch him.”

“Oh.”

Some kind of relief showed on her features, and my stomach twisted again. I knew what she’d been thinking. For a moment she’d wondered if her attacker had been Jack. I felt like defending him, but she hadn’t said anything outright, so I couldn’t. I barely knew him, really, and already I wanted to tell everyone that he wasn’t a bad person, that he might actually be a great person. One of the best.

Yeah, I had it bad.

I heard the camper door opening and Violet’s recognisable voice questioning Jack as to what he was doing there. Seconds later she practically exploded into the room, taking in Lola’s appearance and hurrying to her, asking her if she was all right. On a normal day, these two were at each other’s throats, but now that something bad had happened, Violet looked just about ready to murder someone. It was an awful situation, but for a second my heart warmed to see that Violet actually genuinely cared for Lola.

I knew that Violet was aware of Lola’s past when she didn’t ask if we’d called the police yet. She knew that we hadn’t. Couldn’t. I glanced at Jack and could tell that he was seriously pissed off about this, but he didn’t try to force his hand. The camper was small. He’d obviously heard Lola and derived the same conclusions I had. I left Violet to comfort Lola and stepped out of the room, closing the door softly and coming face to face with Jack. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

“This whole situation is fucked,” he said. “Whoever did this is dangerous, and he’s out there free to do as he pleases.”

For some reason, his anger surprised me. I’d expect anyone to be pissed about not calling the police, but Jack was outraged. I felt like he had some kind of personal investment in this that I couldn’t understand.

“You heard Lola. She doesn’t want her husband to find her. I didn’t even know she had a husband.”

Jack growled and sat down on the couch. “Everybody here has a past they’re trying to run from. That’s why we feel the need to travel, keep moving so we’ll never be found. This circus is particularly appealing because we only advertise when we reach a destination. We don’t have a website or a tour schedule that’s accessible by the public. Marina likes it that way, mainly because she says she hates computers, but I personally think she might be afraid of them. She has a tonne of books about conspiracy theories in her camper.”

For the first time since we discovered Lola had been attacked, his face showed something other than severe anger. He was clearly very fond of Marina. I gave him a small smile. I’d actually seen those books when I’d been holed up in her place doing her accounts.

What Jack said gave me another realisation, something that had been niggling at me. In the back of my mind, I’d very much expected for my mum to have shown up by now. I put it down to her not being able to take the time off work, but now I knew differently. She couldn’t find me because the Circus Spektakulär wasn’t listed. The thought made me feel so much better, a tension leaving me I hadn’t even known was there.

“I’m not looking forward to spending the night on this couch,” said Jack, perusing the living area, his words breaking through my thoughts.