Page 34 of Oracles Always Win

Itdidn’t matter thatIstayed on the second floor,Ineeded to know no one could see in.Atall.Noteven a little bit.AsItugged the curtains closed,Ipeeked out at the darkened landscape.Nothingmoved out there, but my heart still thundered in my chest likeIwas being chased by a pack of rabid dogs.

EversinceGagehad left the bar earlier, allIwanted to do was shove everyone out the door and come back to my room.Butnow thatIwas here,Ihesitated.DidIreally want to see those paintings again?

Iwiped my sweat-drenched palms on my jeans.ThenIflicked the light switch.Iblinked under the intensity of the light.Ipainted at all hours, andIhated the yellowish tinge the original bulbs had cast, soI’dreplaced them all with the brightest, whitest bulbs possible.Normallythe brilliant light invigorated me and made me want to paint.

Tonight, that unforgiving brightness highlighted every secretIhad stashed away.

Mygaze darted over the black-and-white canvases in one corner of the room, and then the other.Ialways made sure to put my colorful paintings facing out whereIcould see them, with the others tucked away behind them.Butthere were so many of the black-and-white ones now it was becoming impossible to hide them all.

ThenIeyed the bed.

Evenfrom this angle, the canvases under it were visible.Stacksof them.

ThenIwas moving.

Kneeling.

Tuggingout my hidden works.

Mybreath hitched when the first one was revealed.Itwas exactly asIhad remembered.Itwas the exact likeness of that man—Gage.Includingthe horns.

Ihadn’t mis-remembered anything.

"Ohno, oh no, oh no."

ThenIpulled out the others.

Igulped asIscratched the back of my neck.Ihadn't seen them all lined up like this before.Ijust painted them, then shoved them under the bed.Butlooking at them now,Irealized they were almost like a graphic novel.And, worse yet, it looked like a love story.

Foreach imageIhad painted of this man alone, there was another of the two of us together.Sometimeswe were naked, in what could only be described as pornographic situations—at least my mother would have thought so.She'dalways hated whenIhad to take figure studies in art school.Sheespecially hated whenIdrew nude women.

Shewas such a prude,Ioften wondered how she’d ever become pregnant with me.Butshe was incredibly supportive whenIcame out to her, so there was that.Ofcourse, she laughed and said it relieved her to knowIwouldn’t be showing up with any surprise babies, since she was too young to be a grandparent.

ButIdidn’t want to think about my mom tonight, not whenIwas face-to-face with…this.Whateverthiswas.

AndthenIremembered the way that man—Gage—had touched me.Theway he'd brushed his warm strong fingers along the place whereOldThomhad hit me with the bottle cap.Theway my body had responded when he kissed me.Theway his whispered words ignited a part of meIdidn’t even know existed.

Forthe first time ever,Iwanted someone.Astranger.Itwas more than mere interest or arousal:Iached for him.Howcould meeting one person change my whole life?Wehadn’t even said more than a handful of words to one another.

Ididn’t understand any of it.

Andit scared the shit out of me.

Ijust wished being scared wasn’t becoming the norm.

Chapter Thirteen

GAGE

Birdswere noisy bastards.Particularlyat dawn.Igroaned and willed myself to fall back asleep despite all the squawking and chattering.

Aftera few minutes,Ireluctantly gave up.

Lastnight,I’doriginally planned to detour back to the pub when we finished the tour of the inn, butVanhad had other plans, insisting we review his case files.Unfortunately, the case took priority over my seduction plans.Sowe’d ended up at the police station instead.

AlthoughI’donly agreed to leave the inn afterPawshad agreed to watch overJake.Vansaid the cat didn’t always stick around, but he would if he made a promise.Ihad to trustPawswould do as he said.Ihated to think how vulnerableJakewas alone in that building, but the cat was powerful enough to take care of any problems.

Thenit took an obscenely long time to review the police files, some of which were more than a decade old.Sure, it was important to understand what we were up against, but did it all have to happen in one evening?Thesame eveningI’dplanned to finish whatI’dstarted with the cute bartender?Bythe time we’d parted ways withHaydenandVan, the main gates to the inn were closed and the lights were all off.