Cirque Du Minuit Read online

  Kelsey sensed movement behind her. Before she could summon a scream, a firm hand clamped over her mouth. Her throat closed in terror at the pressure of another body behind her--a very hard male body with an erect cock pressing against her ass. In the time it took him to twist her arm behind her back and frogmarch her to the bed, she realized it was Theo. A little of the terror ebbed, but her heart was still beating a mile a minute. She struggled against him, as horny as she was angry.

  He whispered in her ear. “Clean again, are you?”

  She tried to turn and yell at him, but he grabbed a handful of her hair, holding her head down into the bedspread. At the same time he made a low, shushing sound that resonated in her ears and her pussy. She fell silent and still as he ran a hand up and down her back.

  “It’s okay, Kel-zeeee,” he whispered. “It’s okay. You want me, don’t you? You want me?”

  Kelsey nodded, a moan catching in her throat. All the effects of the cold shower were long gone, replaced by a raging need for his wanton, careless violence. “H--How did you get in?” she stammered.

  “The door.”

  “The door was locked.”

  He chuckled, running a hand between her legs. He kneaded her pussy, poking his cock against her ass cheeks again. He was fumbling with something. A condom.

  She waited for him to fuck her, but instead she was hauled up and pushed to the floor. He came down behind her, his arms over hers, pressing them to the cool hardwood on either side of her head.

  “Don’t move,” he said in a low, menacing tone. “Not one inch.” More fumbling, the sound of a cap opening. Kelsey shivered, trying to stay still. Cold, slick fingers prodded between the cleft of her ass. By the time she thought to move, to get away, his other hand was pressing her shoulders down.

  “No,” she said, not very forcefully. Not forcefully enough. He fingered her asshole, pressing slippery liquid inside. “No,” she said again, but she didn’t try to get away from him. As always, some part of her wanted this no matter how badly it terrified her. “Please,” she said instead. “I’m scared. I haven’t done this before.”

  “If you had,” said Theo on a sigh, “I would have been disappointed.”

  If she hoped for gentleness then, for a patient tutorial on the finer points of anal sex, she was misguided in that hope. Theo shifted and his hand went to her arm, wrenching her shoulder back toward him so she had no leverage to move. At the same time, she felt the head of his cock against her tender entrance. He pressed it in a little. Holy fuck--it hurt even more than she feared.

  She whined and shook her head. “No, stop, it hurts. You’re hurting me!”

  “Don’t fight me. Let it happen.”

  “I can’t!”

  In all this time, she hadn’t even looked at him. He was her faceless tormentor, her ruler who would take what he wanted whether she wanted it or not.

  “I’m not letting you up,” Theo growled. “Not until I fuck you.”

  “Fuck my pussy then,” Kelsey begged.

  “If I wanted your pussy, I’d be there right now.” Kelsey could imagine his hard, sardonic expression, his willful glare. Again the head of his cock breached her, just a little. In, out, then in again, stretching and hurting her. His fingers dug into her arm.

  “Submit to me, Kelsey. Submit.”

  She wanted to. She braced herself as he pressed in a little farther. Oh God, she was so scared. The pain was so sharp, so immediate in that vulnerable place. She stiffened and held still, because she felt if she moved, even a little, he might injure her. Tear her.

  “Relax…”

  It was one softly spoken word, but it triggered some unwinding inside her. Kelsey tried to obey. Tried to relax. Theo slid deeper, holding one hip in a vise-like grip. His guttural snarl of approval was like music to her ears. The pain eased, replaced with a provocative, frightening feeling. Theo was fucking her ass. Never, in a thousand years, would Kelsey have ever considered letting a guy do that to her. Never, ever would have agreed to it. But Theo had taken the choice away and just done it, and now she found herself plumbing depths of submission she couldn’t have imagined a month or even a week ago.

  The thought of it, her submission, her plight, brought a whine to her lips. It sounded more lustful than anything else--and it seemed to egg Theo on. He thrust deeper, filling her completely. Her whine rose to a cry.

  “Yes, louder,” he said in an amazingly controlled voice. “Cry and scream. Bring your friend running over here. I’m sure he’d love to see this.”

  Pressure built in her pussy at Theo’s cool words, his evil disregard for her feelings. Yes, louder. Cry and scream. He wouldn’t stop. She believed that, which was the only reason she felt as excited as she did. She began to struggle again just to feel him hold her down harder, more forcefully. She could imagine his intent expression, the curl of his lips. The idea of it had her burning. She wasn’t going to come though, which sucked. She was still adjusting to the strange sensation of having a cock in her asshole. She wouldn’t exactly call it pleasant.

  But it wasn’t unpleasant either.

  Theo was moaning now, loudly. All Kelsey could think of was Wayne listening on the other side of the wall. How thin were the walls in this house anyway? Oh, God.

  “Theo, be quiet,” she begged, more to herself than to him, because she knew he wouldn’t listen, that he would do exactly as he pleased. His moans rose in volume, almost to a shout. He fucked her hard, his hips pounding against her ass. “Oui, oui, oui,” he yelled in the quiet room. He collapsed on top of her, driving her against the floor, his cock still deep in her asshole. She felt his fingers groping, searching. He found her clit and worked it, his tender touches in strange dissonance to his pounding thrusts in her ass. She arched her back and clenched her ass cheeks, suddenly finding herself close to orgasm after all.

  “Oh...ohhh...” His touches were pure splendor, tingling and driving her lust. Now she was the one being too loud. She couldn’t swallow the cries that erupted from her throat. He put his palm right around her neck, light pressure as she bucked her hips back against him. One more slippery grope through the honey of her arousal and the climax was there, right there. Sparks exploded behind her eyes, and the weight of Theo seemed not a burden, but just the natural way of things. He was her Master and she was the one who served him. Who did anything he wanted. Who enjoyed everything he did.

  The orgasm went on and on, and the aftermath longer still. She felt filled, defiled, and was happy to just lie still and enjoy those feelings. He was still and quiet now too, his cock pulsing in her occasionally. His heat was a contrast to the cool wood beneath her belly and breasts. She felt him shift. He smoothed her hair from her nape and left behind a faint brush of lips.

  “Ah, Kelsey,” he said, in a voice that might have been regretful, or maybe just satisfied. She snuggled back against him, still trying to acclimate to the feel of him inside her, in that place she’d never wanted any guy to go.

  “You scared me,” she scolded in a soft voice. “I almost pissed myself.”

  “When you came out of your bathroom, or when I slathered your ass with lube?”

  “Both times.”

  Theo chuckled. “I made you dirty again.”

  “I have a feeling you like me that way.”

  “Dirty girls are the best girls.” He was quiet a moment. “Did you sleep with your golden boy yet?”

  “Wayne?” Kelsey snorted. “What kind of a slut do you think I am?”

  Theo bumped his hips against hers. “This might not be the best moment to ask me that.”

  How the hell was he still hard? “Point taken. So, are you eventually going to get it out of me?”

  “I worked very hard to get it in there. I’ll take it out when I want.”

  So Kelsey waited. And wondered. Jealous of Wayne, was he? Interesting. So the stony facade had a crack. She pondered that as his solid chest rose and fell against her back. At last, with a sigh, Theo slipped a hand between them and
eased himself out. It gave Kelsey an uncomfortably empty feeling. When he stood to cross to the bathroom she felt the absence of his warmth. She heard the water turn on, and then his voice, a gruff command.

  “Kelsey! Come.”

  Kelsey, come. Like some dog. It didn’t matter. She would as soon have jumped out the window as refused to obey, the way she felt in that moment. They squeezed into the shower together, washing off the sweat and slippery lube, and the dust from the floor where he’d pressed her down. When they finished, Kelsey was afraid he’d leave her, walk out the door without a backward glance. But that wasn’t his style.

  Instead, he collapsed face down on her bed, still damp, then turned and held out his hand to her. “Come sleep. Come.”

  Come. She lay down, nestling against his side. He pulled her closer, pressing a kiss on her forehead. For a moment her throat went tight, like she might cry.

  “Theo...” she started. How do you feel about me?

  “Hush.” He shook her a little, then ran a hand up her arm in a soothing movement. “No talk. Sleep.”

  Chapter Seven: The Act

  “Come. Come. Come!”

  It had sounded sexy the night before, but it sounded a lot different when Theo was barking it at her repeatedly from across the rehearsal floor.

  “I’ll come when I’m ready,” she muttered under her breath. Theo flicked his hand at her in annoyance and strutted out of the cavernous space. Going for a cigarette. Nasty habit. She’d told him several times already he needed to quit.

  Not that he ever listened to her.

  She dug in her bag for some Licky Stix. She missed Jason chiding her, giving her dirty looks. There was no coach here, just Theo. He was in charge of the act, and, increasingly, frighteningly in charge of her. Now, in the daytime, with the lights reflecting off the bright blue mats and the sun shining through the window, she resented his control.

  She couldn’t understand why it felt so good--so hot--to submit to Theo’s perverse demands when they were alone together. It was like she fell under some spell. Her cheeks burned in humiliation each time she remembered the events of the previous night. She felt like a whore, a slut. A freak.

  She pounded four sugar straws in a row. While she was eating the last one he sauntered back in, glaring at her. She glared back as the candy disintegrated on her tongue. Red, her favorite flavor. Cherry or something.

  “Come on,” he ordered, pointing at the mat beside him. “Or I will come and get you and carry you here.” Something in the way he said it convinced her it would be better to go to him under her own power. She took her time though, packing her bag back up and stowing it on the side of the practice facility. On the way over to Theo, one of the Chinese contortionists knocked into her, almost bowling her over.

  “Excuse me!” she snapped at him.

  He gave her a withering glare and walked on, going God knew where. There were a lot of other acts practicing in other rehearsal halls. She and Theo were assigned to the big hall because their act was high and wide. Unlike most aerial silk acts, which consisted of vertical wraps and drops, they were going to be swinging around too. Flying, Theo called it.

  She’d asked to see video of someone else doing it. “No one else does it,” Theo had said. “Not like this. You are with Cirque du Monde now. We don’t copy what others do.”

  She walked over and tugged once or twice on the long dark red silks hanging from a massive carabiner in the ceiling.

  “You think they’ll come down?” Theo asked with a laugh.

  “I think if I’m going to be ‘flying’ that high, I should have a safety line.”

  “No, I told you. The silk is your safety line. We’ll do only safe tricks, you’ll see. We’ll practice down here over the mats until it’s second nature, and then we’ll do it up a little higher. For the actual show, we’ll go very high. It’s more dramatic that way. But it will be safe, no tether. Unless...you want to do the trick with teeth? I hold the silk loop in my teeth? You spin around and around?”

  “Oh, Jesus. No.”

  “You need a safety tether for teeth trick. One cough or sneeze and zhut, that’s the end of Kelsey.”

  “Not funny.”

  “You wanted a safety line.” He shrugged.

  “Forget the safety line,” she said through gritted teeth.

  He was already moving on, climbing halfway up one of the silks, about fifteen feet in the air. Kelsey studied the other tail, running her fingers over the smooth blood-red fabric. It felt even stronger, more substantial than the practice silks. “Why are they so dark?” she asked.

  “Why?” Theo wound one ankle in the fabric, at the same time he propelled himself into a lazy swing. “It’s not Cirque du Sun Shining out of your ass! It’s Cirque du Minuit. This means midnight in French. Dark, eerie, bleak.”

  He swung by her, gazing down like some specter. “Foreboding,” she added under her breath.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Do you want me to come up?” At Theo’s nod, Kelsey rosined her hands and started climbing the other silk. There were only a couple other acts practicing in areas nearer to the wall. Kelsey felt conspicuous and exposed out in the middle.

  “No one’s watching you,” Theo said, rolling his eyes.

  Kelsey scowled at him. “I didn’t say anyone was.”

  “You are too self-aware. Already, the way you climb is too wooden and self-conscious. Go down and climb again. Climb like someone who is only alive, who is only truly satisfied in the caress of the silks. Forget who watches. Forget what you look like. Climb like someone who lives and breathes aerial silk.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Kelsey slid down to the mat. She let out a sigh and started climbing again.

  “No,” Theo said. “Now you look angry. Try once more.”

  Kelsey crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared up at him. “Why don’t you show me what you’re looking for?”

  “Gladly. But you already know.” Theo slid down and then climbed up again. Yes, she had known--he was talking about that effortless animal grace he possessed that she’d mentally remarked on so many times. He wanted that from her? He stared down, beckoning her.

  “Come, are you going to try? It will take time, but just try.”

  Kelsey lifted her chin and attempted to be as fluid and confident as Theo as she shimmied up the silk. “Sexier. Sexier!” he coached impatiently, but he didn’t make her go back down. When they were side by side about ten feet off the ground, he kissed her. Kelsey pulled away.

  “Theo!”

  “They are not watching.” He grinned at her. “The act will be better with chemistry. It’s a good thing, yes?”

  “You smell like cigarettes,” said Kelsey, trying not to think about how chemistry was affecting her even now.

  “Because I smoke.”

  “You shouldn’t.”

  “Are you bitching at me to try to take my mind off last night?” He kissed her again, this time squeezing her ass. “Because I’ll never forget. Never. In fact, I’m getting hard again.”

  “Last night was... Last night...” Kelsey stammered. “Last night was last night. This is today. We’re supposed to be working. You’re supposed to be teaching me this act.”

  Theo completely tuned out her reprimand and gave her a dirty, filthy kiss. Then, as she grasped for her wits, he launched into a surprisingly organized and detailed description of the beginning of the act as he’d imagined it so far. It started with a lot of climbs, wraps, and drops. The climbs were easy, and the wraps were getting easier too. It just took the right flip of the ankle, a twist of the arm, and she’d be secured in a few loops of fabric.

  Theo made her get down and then showed her a move where he flipped again and again, wrapping his arms in silk. At the top, he did an inverted split and grinned down at her, his arms outstretched. Hmm. Flexible. Then, somehow, the silk was wrapped around his legs and waist, and he reached down to her and dropped so fast she screamed.

  “No screaming i
n aerial silk,” he said. “Take my hands.”

  His fingers closed tightly around hers. He ran her through some trapeze-like moves just above the mat, demanding that she flip, or twist, or swing while dangling from his grip. He swung her up behind him while he was still inverted, and barked for her to wrap her arms around his waist. She ended up with her chin resting on his balls.

  “This is fucking awkward,” she yelled down at him.

  “Grab the silks and pull yourself up. Don’t step on me. Graceful, graceful,” he coached, like she hadn’t just had her face buried in his crotch.

  There was a lot of gymnastics involved, and that at least she felt comfortable with. Flips, splits, and somersaults were muscle memory to her, whether executed on the ground or in the air. It was actually kind of thrilling doing it in the air because there was less resistance, less impact. Even the silk wrapped around her arms and legs wasn’t uncomfortable. Theo showed her how to distribute the fabric evenly so it didn’t bind. Then Theo experimented, wrapping her up in various ways, showing her where to grip the silk so she wouldn’t fall all the way to the mat when it unwound. And it did always unwind.

  So many of the tricks would take precise choreographed timing between her and Theo. There was a lot of gripping, grappling, and cursing as Kelsey missed cues and directions. The morning flew by and when lunch time arrived, Kelsey realized she hadn’t even thought about people watching her in hours.

  She and Theo ate together in the Cirque cafeteria. Or rather, Kelsey ate her lunch sitting across the table from him while he talked to himself in a mixture of English and French about which elements to use in the act, which moves would be most exciting to watch, and which moves Kelsey would never be able to master if she didn’t learn her ass from her elbow soon. Lovely.

  While they ate, other cast members stopped by to introduce themselves and tell a little about their acts. Some of them seemed to know Theo already, perhaps from other shows. They all regarded him with subtle curiosity. No one said anything about Minya. Everyone was welcoming to Kelsey, a pleasant change from Theo’s barked orders and crass flirting.