Page 85 of His Keepsake

I had to throw my cards on the table to find out. And if I were wrong, I would suffer.

I wanted to suffer. Make me fucking suffer, I dare you.

They wouldn’t, would they? I smiled at Grayson. The longer I looked at him, the wider my smile.

“I get zero excitement from this, Grayson, which saddens me.” I raised my aim, swept my gaze from one side of this room to the other. “None of you are really into this. How much did they pay you to watch me be pseudo-raped? I’m walking? You hear that? I do not consent!” I threw up my arms like a prima donna storming off. “Walking!”

“Axl! Sit the fuck down.”

That had been Grayson restraining Axl, I realized. Axl had a snarl rising, his lips curling back, teeth showing, and his eyes glinted. Oh yes, he was angry.

I smirked and broke into an absurd giggle. I wasn’t sure why, but the extremes of emotion had set me off. Fuck him.

I spared a last glance at Grayson. Regrets, I would have more than a few.

“I told you not to let her go.”

“Fuck off, Axl.”

Then I spun, grabbed my coat, and I walked. As I strode away up the stairs, I retained some hope, a hope that something might happen. My bones, my flesh, had a need. My mind wanted more.

No one moved. The hush was painful.

I used a ride-share to get back to the hotel, vaguely hoping I’d booked a lift with a serial rapist and killer, my head was that unscrewed. I tried three of them, meandering all across the city until I gave up. Nothing happened. Nothing happened in the elevator in the hotel either. I entered the room and found Grayson waiting, sprawled in an armchair with his coat on the floor beside him.

Axl was nowhere in sight. The rooms seemed empty other than us, unless he was being very quiet.

Slowly, I approached, my heels twisting in the deep pile of the rug until I plucked off both shoes and threw them.

“I’m sorry, really. I am so sorry.”

“I am, too. I thought we had a chance.” He cocked his head. “You are truly as fucked up as I am.”

“Yes. It was just so obviously manufactured. Creepy, but not my fantasy. Where did you find them all?”

“Axl knows a lot of people. He goes to more kinky sex parties than I ever have. You shouldn’t have laughed at him.”

I shrugged and pulled the white gown over my head. I dropped it to pool on the red rug, then padded to him and curled up on his lap.

I knew him well enough to know that he would find sex only vaguely appealing with a naked woman who merely sat on him and hugged him.

I wrapped my arms about his neck and sighed. “Can we just snuggle tonight? I’ll leave in the morning.”

“Absolutely. We could talk. Tell me about yourself.”

I laughed. “Wow. Now that I’m boring you?”

He smiled, truly smiled, and I decided that even if the whole CNC thing had come crashing down, there was more to this man.

“I think I could get to like you, sir.”

“Sir?” He touched beneath my jaw and tilted my mouth then gently kissed me. “So, you teach biology, and I know programming. I’m unsure how much of an intersection of interests we have.”

“Cooking?”

“No.”

“Books? Lord of the Rings. Charles Holmberg. China Miéville. I have eclectic tastes.”

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