The Daredevil (Black Cat Circus #1)

by Duckie Mack

The black cat wound around my legs. Eli gasped, his eyes rounded when he saw him “That’s him!” “What?” I asked. “That’s the cat that ran me off the road.” “Are you sure?” “Yes! He had that distinctive white heart on his chest. That’s him, it has to be.” I scooped up the cat who yelled in protest at being held. “What did you do, Peanut?” “Peanut?” “Yeah, he’s sort of like the circus mascot. Nobody knows where he came from, but he’s just always around. It doesn’t matter where we go, he shows up.” The cat wiggled and squirmed in my hold before I placed him back on the ground. He was always getting into trouble. Brighton was convinced there was more to him than there appeared to be. Peanut had been around since the beginning, before me even, and hadn’t aged in the ten years since I’d been with the circus. Peanut went under my bed and began meowing and scratching at something. I rolled my eyes before getting on my hands and knees to look under the bed. This was not what I needed right now. I’d been seconds away from tearing Eli’s clothes off and seeing if his whole body blushed the way his face did. “What are you getting into?” Eli pulled his feet up on the bed, shuddering. “Do you think it’s a mouse or a rat?” “No, we don’t have pests.” “I mean, you’re in an open field, it happens. But also, I hate rats, so I really hope you’re right.”