A Word of Praise — Chapter THIRTY-ONE

Among the five of them, only Kiara and Marcus were dance inclined. Luke and Amanda had their own little thing, with weird-cute moves and Chris was more of a watcher, sitting back while others danced.

When Marcus took a break to piss, Kiara felt like sitting by Chris’ side to rest a bit. If she weren’t three sheets to the wind, she’d probably avoid the one-on-one time with the gorgeous bastard, but she was.

“Nice moves”

“Can’t be in the circus business and disappoint on the floor, can I?”

“Dancing doesn’t involve splits and tumbles” he retorted.

“That’s because I’m restraining myself, you have no idea how wild it gets in an all circus party. Splits and tumbles are a base requirement. And you better not have a place to hang, or else people will swing until it breaks”

He laughed lazily because of the booze and it felt good to hear him like that. She came to like his commanding vibe in a way, but it was interesting to see him relax a bit more. Enjoy himself.

“I trust you won’t be giving us a show tonight, then?”

“Oh, do you want one? I’m sure I can amuse my host a little” she winked and stood, assessing the surroundings with a scratch of her chin.

Then, she proceeded to one of the light posts and tested its resistance. It was thicker than she needed, but not so much that she couldn’t hold a grip. It was clearly made from high-quality material, so she should be fine.

“Kiara what are you doing?” Luke asked as he and Amanda approached the girl. Marcus came back from his break and was watching her closely too.

“Chris, do you think this is somewhat stable?” She’d already tested it and it would probably stand the little trick, but she was trying to put on a little charm. Their worried faces told her she might have overdone it, but well, can’t get it right all the time.

She grabbed her lit imitation of a pole bar and pushed her body up to hook a leg above her hands. She felt her right foot anchoring her against the pole, and tested its stability. Good enough. Bending down to hold the pole, she allowed her left leg to leave knee-hook and opened an inverted split. It was more of a show trick, used to get a few gasps from the crowd. Not that hard to make if you had the right flexibility, which she had. But damn if being upside down didn’t cause her head to spin.

“Shit! She’s crazy” Someone yelled. Probably Marcus, she thought.

She was preparing to come down when she felt a presence right by her side. As soon as she was on her feet, she stared back into the deep brown eyes towering over her, trying to get her thoughts assembled.

“Liked the trick?” She asked smiling, but he seemed worried instead of amused.

“You could have gotten hurt, are you insane?” He was holding her by the forearm a bit too tight, and she raised a brow looking at his hands. She had warned him already about aggressive touching and even if it was out of concern, she wouldn’t allow it. He noticed fast enough and let go, but kept invading her personal space with a glare.

“So you didn’t like it?” She pouted a bit and felt stupid about it, but blamed the alcohol once again. She didn’t fail to notice how his eyes darted down to her lips. If he were to kiss her now she probably wouldn’t mind at all.

“Yes, I liked it” He went back to staring at her eyes, and she could see a plea in his eyes. Maybe she should just let go and…

“It was cool as hell” Amanda’s voice shouted, easing the tension between them. Fuck, Kiara, get a grip. She walked away from Chris and mouthed a thank you to Amanda. Maybe she should let go, but that’s a decision better made sober.

Right on cue, Gloria came out with a tray of burgers that smelled like freedom and weekends. It was almost eleven and Kiara didn’t realize how hungry she was. They were surviving on alcohol and snacks since the barbecue food ran out, at five.

“Kiara, please indulge my curiosity. Don’t you ever get hurt with whose tricks?” Luke asked while grabbing a burger for himself.

“Well, everyone falls from the equipment every now and then, but mostly during practice and with some sort of safety device”

“So you never got hurt?” Marcus questioned. She snorted, thinking about all the scratches, burns, and bruises she collected throughout the years. Oh, she got hurt alright.

“Nothing serious… Well, except once.” She recalled her accident with a flinch.

“So you shouldn’t have done that today” Chris chastised. He was sitting next to her again and she could feel he didn’t chill completely after her stunt. Cute.

“My accident was some jackass’ fault, not mine” She sneered.

“Oh, do tell. I love stories about jackasses” Amanda suggested.

“Alright then. I was nineteen at the time, so it was about six years ago. It was a nightclub show and a group of idiots kept harassing me during the performance. Eventually one of them began to tug at the fabric, so I stopped the routine to shout at him. Then, out of nowhere, the fucker grabbed it hard and pushed it all the way across the room. I fell from around 10 feet, broke an arm and hit my head”

“What an idiot!” shouted Marcus.

“At least it was a sick drop! Don’t think I’ll ever reach that speed again” She laughed and heard a few tentative laughs around her. Not the best crowd for some dark humor, then.

The conversation naturally flowed into a lighter subject, but soon Kiara felt the weight of the day. Her eyelids were heavy, and her yawns became regular. Chris stood up and, like the perfect gentleman he was, provided her a way out.

“I want to explore the island tomorrow morning, so I’ll hit the sack”

“I should probably head out too” Kiara slurped, standing up.

Marcus made a dirty comment about Chris exploring her flexibility on his behalf, but they were all too drunk to respond. The two of them stumbled their way up to the bedroom, and Kiara could only brush her teeth before falling in bed. Chris, unfortunately, seemed to be in the mood for some pillow talk.

“Did you throw the guy in jail?”

“What?” Still talking and she just wanted to sleep.

“The idiot that made you fall”

“Oh, that. Tried to, but the fucker was loaded and you know how these things go” The chill that ran down her spine at the thought was not completely related to that particular incident, but she wouldn’t allow her mind to wander back to its true cause.

“Is that why you hate rich people?”

“I’m too drunk to talk to you right now, let me sleep” She wasn’t, but he was nudging her in a direction she simply couldn’t go. She pretended to sleep for a while and noticed when he sighed and turned off the lights. There was an odd tug in the back of her head urging her to share, but she knew better than to listen to it. Not right now, not with him.