The girl in the gilded cage *Completed*

A very lucky man

*Josh*

"What? How did a piece of... oh wait." I grab my pants, pulling them to me and fishing my wallet from my pocket. "He hit my wallet. It went through my wallet and into my leg."

"Well, that explains the dollar bill, and it also explains that the wound isn't deeper. You have been very lucky here, Josh, extremely lucky. If it hadn't hit your wallet first, it would have gone deeper and probably severed your main artery. If you had pulled out the knife, then you would have bled out in minutes."

I feel myself go pale at the doctor's words.

The doctor takes some things from his bag. "You don't need to go to the hospital. I can give you a couple of stitches here, and it will be fine."

"Well, get on with it then." I don't particularly like the idea of a needle in that area, but the idea of what could have happened makes me just want this over with.

*Malina*

"Is he okay, Leon?" I ask as I meet him outside the trailer. I have been pacing nervously outside, hearing Josh cry out with pain several times. I had been scared of what happened to him.

Leon smiles at me. "Don't worry, Malina, he will be okay. I have stitched him up. He is sleeping now. But he was extremely lucky. If he hadn't had his wallet in his pants pocket, he would probably have severed his main artery, and well... if Ioan had hit an inch or two to the right, he would have... um, castrated him. So, he is a lucky guy."

I clamp my hands over my mouth. "s**t! But he is going to be okay, right?" Leon nods, and I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders. "Can I go see him?"

"Yeah, of course. He is sleeping, as I said, but go sit with him. He will be happy to see you when he wakes up," he tells me. I thank him before going into Josh's trailer.

I find him sleeping on his bed, a blanket covering him up to the middle of the chest. I am grateful for that, as I suspect that he is naked. He is lying on his back, his eyes closed, and the dark lashes resting against his skin. His soft mouth is slightly parted. His hair is a tangled mess of curls from sweating and moving around.

I sit down, taking his much larger hand in mine. I like his big hands. My eyes run down to the visible part of his chest. I have seen quite a lot of men bare-chested in the circus. I like the way he looks; he is naturally slim, but well built and his muscles look like they are carved from marble. Part of me wishes I could snuggle into him with my head on his chest.

*Josh*

"What are you doing here?" I ask softly as I wake to find Malina sitting by the side of my bed, holding my hand in her much smaller hands.

She smiles and reaches over to tug a stray curl away from my forehead. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. Everyone is asleep by now anyway."

I gently pull her down to me on the bed, on top of the blanket, of course, as I am naked, and well… I don't think she is ready for that just yet, neither am I right now. I kiss her softly, and she snuggles into me, laying her head on my chest.

We lay like that for a while. Her fingers are drawing lazy circles on my chest, and I run my hand through her hair. "I wish we could just run away."

"Where would you go?" She asks, looking up at my face.

I hesitate for a moment. "Honestly, I don't know, just somewhere away from here." I pull her a bit closer and look into her golden eyes. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. "Where would you go if you ran away?"

"To you." Is all she says. It is all she needs to say. I hug her tightly to me, closing my eyes and wishing the world were different. That we didn't have all these obstacles to face.

"I better get back to my own trailer. If anyone should come looking for me," she says. For a moment, I wish I could ask her to just stay with me, but I know it isn't possible.

She kisses me softly, and then she disappears soundlessly. She has a way of leaving like a vision or a dream. Sometimes it feels like she almost isn't real.