Circus Creeps (Sinner's Sideshow, #1)

by Aiden Pierce

Dropping my attention to the front of the clown’s pants, all the breath drained from my lungs as I imagined how large it had to be to create that kind of bulge. It seemed to thicken as he realized I was staring at it. With one hand on my horn, his other lifted the hem of his white shirt. The first thing I noticed was that his fingernails were painted black, and the edges were chipped where he’d bitten them. The second was that he had a tattoo of a red balloon right below his navel. Its string disappeared beneath the waistline of his pants. I started to laugh, but it turned to a gasp when he hooked a thumb beneath the band of his pants, slowly pulling it down to reveal the rest of the tattoo. It was of a naked female clown kneeling with her arms tied behind her back. She was bound in Shibari style with a balloon string, the red balloon attached hovering over her head. It should have been ridiculous. It was, in a way. But seeing the female girl tied up like that had me heating. “Show me the rest.”

Growing up in the circus, I’d been around clowns my entire life. They’d never really “done” it for me. Demonic sex clowns, on the other hand, were more my speed. Suddenly, Raff hiked me up higher to his chest and pressed a kiss to my brow. Stunned, my lips parted, and a silly little “Oh” left me. “Good girl,” he said with a chuckle. I blinked up at him, too stunned to speak for several beats. “What did I do?” “I’m not picking up any more shame from you. That’s good. Shame is a useless human emotion and has no place at Sinner’s Sideshow, babe. Like what you want to like. Fuck what you want to fuck. Be messy. Be obscene. Be yourself. No apologies. No fucks given. That’s how we do it here.”

“No.” Raff chuckled. “You need to train up on your clown knowledge. That shit is associated with character clowns. If you have to put a label on it, we’re harlequins.” “Harlequins. The sexiest of clowns.” I smirked as my mind wandered to the part of my brain where I kept all my circus lore. “The word harlequin is derived from the old French word for the leader of a la maisnie Hellequin, which is said to be a gang of demons who flew through the night on horseback.”