Pale Carnations -ch. 4 Update 4- -mutt Jeff- ... -

He flipped the top card from the deck. The Ace of Spades.

“The kind that gets a venue shut down,” I replied.

He turned his back to me then, a clear dismissal, and began shuffling once more. Pale Carnations -Ch. 4 Update 4- -Mutt Jeff- ...

“Go on,” he said. “Let’s see if you’ve got your father’s luck.”

He laughed—a wet, phlegmy sound—and leaned back. The chair groaned under his weight. “Fourth round ain’t about pain, pup. It’s about want . You strip a girl down to her last nerve, and then you offer her a glass of water. That’s the game. The audience doesn’t pay to see her cry. They pay to see her choose to crawl.” He flipped the top card from the deck

“Your little blonde,” Jeff continued, tapping the photograph with a yellowed nail, “she crawled. Fastest I’ve ever seen. Didn’t even make her beg. She just… folded. Like a paper hat in the rain.” His eyes flicked up to mine, and for a moment, the showman’s mask slipped. Beneath it was something hollow. Hungry. “That’s the part they never put in the contracts. The folding.”

End of Scene.

I didn’t move.

I reached out, slow, and drew from the middle. The Queen of Hearts. Her painted smile was the same as the girl’s in the photograph. The same hollow fold. He turned his back to me then, a