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It almost looked like he was singing to me. His face was angled away so I couldn’t completely tell, but he was definitely smiling and I was smiling back,clearlyin love.
I started to turn the page, wanting to see more, but an obscure detail made me flip back to it, bringing the album up to my face to see closer.
Is that…?
“No way,” I said aloud, shaking my head as I squinted at the picture, trying to see better. Panic built in my chest as I flipped through the pages, searching out another picture of my father.
Then another.
And another.
Then back to the first one.
I… wanted to vomit.
Slowly, I pulled myself back to my feet, carrying the album open, but tucked under my arm, back to my room.
Onyx was awake now.
“I was wondering where you’d gotten off to,” he said, completely relaxed. He hadn’t even looked at me; his attention was on the sports highlights on the TV.
I didn’t say anything. I went to my bedside and picked up my gun, aiming it at his bare chest before I tossed the open photo album at him.
“Yes or no question,” I said, hating the crack in my voice as I spoke. “Did you come to Vegas to kill me?”
Confused, he frowned at me. “What?” he asked. “Tati—”
“Yes or no question!” I screamed, willing my hand to stop trembling.
“No,” he answered emphatically. “Why the fuck are you asking me that?”
I swallowed the nerves threatening to overtake me and gestured at the album. “Look at the picture. And tell me I don’t see what IknowI see.”
Reluctantly, he tore his gaze away from me to look at the album. “I see a picture of a man and a baby; you and your father, I guess. What does that have to do with me?”
“His arm,” I hissed, aggressively wiping away tears of frustration, and fear, and… shit, I didn’t even know.
Onyx looked at the picture again; still confused at first, but then he did exactly as I had a few moments ago.
He pulled it closer.
And then, there it was.
Clarity.
“All my life,” I spoke. “I remembered it being a snake. A mighty anaconda, a predator, wrapped around his arm. But that’s not a snake, is it?”
He looked at me, met my gaze, and shook his head. “It’s not a snake.”
“What is it?”
“You see what it is, but I swear—”
“What is it?” I asked him again. “Just… say it.”
“Thorns, Tati,” he admitted. “But Iswear to you… I don’t know shit about that. It doesn’t haveanythingto do with me.”
I shook my head. “How am I supposed to believe that? This is just a fucking coincidence? Didyoukill him?!” I shrieked, brandishing the gun so wildly in my chaotic state that I was actually relieved when Onyx finally reacted, easily taking it away from me.
