Marionette

Chapter 2 - The Lover

Alice

My heart was broken, but my belly was on fire. Through the peephole, I saw my dream lover with another woman. He was just as beautiful as I remembered him, his face and body sculpted perfectly by the gods. Right now, though, he set my heart into flames with the way he pounded between the woman’s legs. She clutched his ass, holding on to him for dear life – or death? She was so close to the pleasure I could see on her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her mouth was parted as her head hung over the edge of the bed. The sounds coming from her were so obscene my mother would have asked me to plug my ears and douse myself with holy water. He was quiet, though, as if he was merely there to make sure she reached completion. His eyes tracked her emotions and the flush on her neck, and he continued to give her what she wanted. Needed.

Furious, I tried to disentangle myself from the position I was in. It was past midnight, and I should be sleeping. Instead, I let out a gasp as my hip hit the edge of the table I didn’t see clearly in the dark. The woman was moaning too loudly that I thought he wouldn’t hear me, but he did. I couldn’t help but look back, and our eyes met across the peephole, his pale grey and mine blue. The mood shifted in that room, although I doubted he noticed or cared. I could see his jaw clenching as if what he was doing was a chore, or that he didn’t want me discovering what he had been up to.

The man, who might be called Zachary, wasn’t mine. I was young, naive, and full of assumptions. However, I wasn’t backing down, either. I met his gaze and held it just as he held mine, even as he thrust into the woman. In that moment, she was just like any wet, warm hole that he could dip his c**k in, and I was the only real warm flesh and blood. Woman.

I wouldn’t be his victim. No. I wasn’t an i***t. He merely offered me pleasure just as he was giving it to this woman, who could be anything to him – wife, lover, or a friend. Watching him, I placed my hand underneath my dress and started touching myself. He taught me this, and I would use it to benefit from what could have been a crashing heartbreak.

When my finger grazed my wet c**t, I moaned. I did it loudly so that he would hear, and I knew he did because his eyes seemed to glaze and his movements sped up. Damned woman. She was the one benefiting from my efforts, as my fingers went into my cunt to push in and out as his skillful fingers had once taught me.

Zachary looked back at me, almost as if he could see the hand up my dress. I knew that he could only see one blue eye, but it was enough. His eyes remained on the peephole as he squeezed the woman’s t**s for my viewing pleasure. Then, he bent down just to give her n****e a lick.

“Oh, that’s it. Yes, Zachary. That’s it.” The woman had no idea that she was now in a strange trois-a-menage, and though I was only a voyeur, I started feeling everything.

How could that be?

I licked my lower lip, as my eyes greedily took in more of the scene. His generous mouth ravished her huge breast, sucking as much of her n****e in. I felt it. Oh, I did. The pull of his mouth on my breast felt too real to be just my fevered imagination. I closed my eyes, and I felt the wet tip of his tongue lapping at my n****e. Back and forth. The friction connected with my belly, and between my legs. I crumbled to the floor, rolling on the marble that didn’t seem to belong in a tent. My legs opened wide, ready for his invisible invasion.

There was no need to touch myself anymore because I felt it – the sweet stretching of my cunt when his c**k pushed in and out. Even as I lay there, feverish in my pleasure, I knew that what I was feeling was hers and not really mine.

My whole body shook as I felt him pound between my legs. How long had he been doing that? He was already f*****g that woman before I came into my room. His c**k felt huge, and I knew that if he were really inside me now, he would tear me apart. This other woman could take him so easily as if they had done this so many times before. Even as jealousy took over me, my vision blurred when I felt the first pulses between my legs. Then, he thrust one last time as the other woman cried out. I whimpered, biting my lip until I tasted blood.

It was there on the floor that sleep took over me. I was rumpled, dirty, and sated, and I was half wishing that he would come to my room to take me for real.

He didn’t.

**

“How was your night?” Madame Yora asked, her eyes piercing through my soul. A blush rapidly spread on my neck down to my breasts, where I could still feel my dream lover. He was just a dream, and there was nothing tangible between us. I had to remind myself of that.

“I feel a little sore. It took me some time to sleep,” I said. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“You came from a wealthy family. So, that’s what I was afraid of, Alice.”

“It’s not that. I’m just tired.”

“Are you ready to check your fortune?”

“My fortune? Am I getting my fortune told or am I going to tell it?” I asked, panicking a little. What could I really give this circus? I had money to pay them just so they could hide me from my mother.

“Both.”

“Oh.”

I looked around and saw the tents billowing like living things all around us. It was a strange thought, but it felt true. The reds and whites were dancing, and there was a strange sound that was beyond just flapping. I shivered.

“Are you cold, Alice?”

“No. I’m not. I just didn’t realize that the circus could spook me like this.”

“Oh, it can be spooky. Sometimes, we mean it to be extra spooky,” she said with a grin that made her look younger than she really was.

The face of Zachary’s lover flashed in my mind. She was a blond woman, but even in the semi-darkness, I saw some strands of white. Her face looked older, too. She was perhaps in her mid-to-late forties.

“What are the ages of the performers in the circus like?”

“Looking for someone your age? Is Zachary no longer just enough for you?” Madame Yora teased.

“I’m not sure Zachary wants me here,” I said in a small voice. I thought he gave me an invitation, but maybe he just wanted me to watch one of the shows. And what kind of creep would be visiting a young girl in her room in the middle of the night? That question usually stayed unanswered in my head, and yet I never really tried to find the answer, as if I were afraid of what it would be like.

“He was looking forward to meeting you.”

“I don’t think so. The visits. Why would he come into my room without being asked? Wouldn’t that be -?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say the word. Assault. s****l assault. It never felt like it, though. I always felt like I wanted it. I was the one asking for more, and yet, why the hell would he be there in my house?

“You invited him, Alice.”

Something cold seemed to pass between Madame Yora and me, and I startled, almost falling off my metal chair.

“Well, I never knew him before he started visiting me. How could I invite him? Anyway, he may be married. He may have a sweetheart. I don’t really know him. Right now, I just want to focus on escape. If you can’t keep me forever, you can dump me on your next destination.”

“That’s a thought, Alice. You’re free, you know. But let me correct you first. Zachary is not married. He has no sweetheart. Yes, you don’t know him, but he wants to get to know you.”

“I bet,” I muttered under my breath. Last night was fun, but I wasn’t going to hang around while he f****d other women, even if I shared in the pleasure. “Where is he, anyway?”

“Attending to something.”

“Attending to something? Or someone?” I asked, the bitterness no longer masked. Even as I thought of him, I felt aroused. On fire. But I had to get over this. I escaped my mother because I had found my worth. I wasn’t a pet or a puppet. I wouldn’t be this man’s fool.

“Ah. Have you heard him with a woman last night? Blonde? Middle-aged?”

I clenched my jaw, stubborn enough not to give the circus owner an answer.

“That’s Rowena. She needs that sometimes.”

“Needs that? What kind of place is this? I’m sorry, Madame Yora, but I might have to leave as soon as I can. There’s a boy, the bus driver’s son, who could help me go somewhere else.”

Madame Yora looked at me sadly. Then, she took my hand. Pulled it. Settled it on the deck of cards placed in the middle of the round table between us. We weren’t in a tent, and there were no visitors yet. Around us, jugglers, acrobats, and clowns were practicing. Balls flew. Acrobats tumbled. Laughter was heard.

Under my palm, the deck felt hot. I looked into Madame Yora’s eyes. They were hard to read, but the pupils were almost blown. When she lifted her hand off mine, I felt cold.

“Take three cards,” she urged gently.

I took one and opened it. The High Priestess.

“Is that you?” I asked.

“No, darling. That’s you. Much of who you are relies on your subconscious. You will eventually have to face what’s under the surface head-on.”

I took another card. The Magician.

“This is your past, present, and future,” the circus owner said gently.

“Am I a magician?” I asked jokingly.

“In a way. The Magician represents creation. Something was unleashed the day you were born, and again something else when you came to us last night.”

The whole thing felt ominous. I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh to relieve the tension.

“One last card,” I muttered, taking a third and opening it. The Lovers. My breath caught.

“It doesn’t have to mean a man and a woman, but in your case, it may be,” Madame Yora said carefully. “It could mean a kind of intimacy, a getting to know someone or yourself. Maybe you’ll get both.”

Last night, I already discovered something about myself. My mother might be right. Maybe I was just a slut waiting to be unleashed into this world. I laughed nervously. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. My mother might have the right idea, locking me in the house most of the time, getting me homeschooled and separated from people my age.

“Alice, if you’re thinking of going back to your mother, don’t. You can leave us at some point in the journey, but never turn back. You have come a long way.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I felt a tall presence. Despite myself, I was excited to see whether Zachary was ready to explain what happened last night. But instead of him, I saw Hugh, watching me with one good eye. His other eye looked dead in the daylight.