Page 40 of Speak No Claim

In one breath, she asserted, “I know that I don’t like you.”

I chuckled, eyeing her up and down for a moment. “That’s your pride talking.” I leaned forward, getting close to her face. “Now let’s see if it’s louder than your curiosity since you lack basic common sense.”

“My turn,” she snapped, amusing me far more than anyone else had in a very long time.

Her stare traveled from my eyes to the tattooed sleeve covering my right arm before reaching for it.

Her fingers barely grazed the ink as she gave me her best shot. “Poseidon,” she commented.

I didn’t answer.

“Greeks believe he ruled the ocean, Devereaux.”

Hearing her say my last name with such disdain made my cock twitch, taking my entertainment wherever I could.

“Every ship that dared to cross his sea would answer to him.” Her fingers slid to the trident Poseidon was stabbing through Odysseus. “Most people think that Poseidon was the bad guy. He was a villain, but Odysseus earned his hatred in my opinion.” She traced the waves between them. “You’re not the hero, Onyx. You’re the god making sure everyone pays their consequences.”

I remained silent.

“Now this”—she pointed between the two—“isn’t a battle scene. It’s judgment. Every story needs a villain, and if history has proven anything, it’s that it depends on who is telling the story. Their story isn’t about revenge. It’s about a debt being collected.” She pointed at the back of my lower arm. “You have Medusa in the form of a serpent. You’re honoring her because, like you, she had the power to turn men into stone.”

I swallowed hard, fighting with my restraint to stop her.

Following through, she gestured to the tattoo above Medusa. “The state of Florida, that tattoo means you have someone you actually care for who lives there, or maybe it’s just the fond memories you hold on to, which is why you have a scuba diver right here.” Her fingers lightly traced the lining of my inner forearm. “Is this you or someone else? Either way, the ocean is most important to you.”

I swallowed hard again, hanging on by a thread.

Reaching for my left arm, she pointed at the shipwreck on my shoulder, from the octopus below it, to the killer shark, to the jellyfish and the hammerheads, and then Ariel. “All of these are parts of you, from the pirate that is your lineage, right? Devereaux…” She rolled it off her tongue. “Sounds awfully buccaneer to me. It also explains why there’s a serpent crest at the top of your estate.”

I didn’t answer, too stunned to speak.

“I’m going to guess that Ariel was your first crush. She lost her voice and couldn’t talk, for some reason. I think you’d appreciate that. A woman not having a voice makes it easier for you to control them, and from where I’m standing, that’s all you’re about.”

My chest rose and fell with each thorough analysis that left her mouth.

“Then,” she said, “there’s the skull on your chest with the same date that’s carved into the tree. 10-31-12. But that’s only part of it. You have the same initials tatted over your heart that are on your blazer emblem. It’s different from mine. It’s different from all of ours. You and Caspian have the same one. I’m assuming all your buddies do. I just haven’t figured out what the initials mean, and I know you won’t tell me. You won’t tell me anything.” She didn’t take a breath. “These tattoos aren’t just art on your skin, Onyx. No, they're much deeper than that. They’re your ancestry, and you wear them like an altar.”

With my heart in my throat, I sneered, “Who told you that?”

“Told me what?”

“Any of it.”

She blinked, baffled by my outburst. “No one.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, studying her in the same way she just dissected me. “You’re fucking lying.”

“Why? Because I can read you?”

“These tattoos took me years to plan.” My tone was uneven. I couldn’t hide it now. “I designed them before a needle touched my skin. I have over a hundred hours of art done.”

Her eyes drifted back to my art. “It shows. You wear the altars well, almost like you were born with them on your flesh.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Then answer me. Who the fuck told you all that?”