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“I wish you’d just butt out,” I grumble.
“Not gonna happen. Like I said. Theater needs a guard. You’d be perfect. Just got to find a way to light a fire under you.”
I say nothing. Sethos lifts his arm from me and walks across to look down through the glass of the dome. The young blonde is topless now, playing with her breasts as she writhes on the floor. “Is it the fact she’s blonde? You like brunettes better, is that it?”
I grunt.
“Well then, what was it about that girl last night that got your attention?”
“What girl?” Maybe if I play dumb, he’ll leave me alone. I won’t admit just the mention of the girl from last night has my heart beating faster in my chest.
Sethos pulls out his phone and the screen lights up. A moment later he holds it out so I can see the screen. “This one. Jessie. Got you all riled up. Don’t pretend she didn’t.”
I stare at the image of her on the screen. She’s wearing a green and black lacy one piece with her hair gathered in a pretty arrangement on top of her head with a few strands trailing loose. Her lips are painted bright red and she smiles as if she’s got a secret she’d like to share.
God, how could I have forgotten already how beautiful she is?
Sethos pulls away the phone and I want to reach out to grab his wrist and stop him from doing it. “No. Wait!”
He chuckles. “Oh, so it was her.”
“Where did you find her?”
Sethos grins. “I bet you’d like to know that, wouldn’t you? But it wouldn’t do you any good anyway. Not if you’re stuck on that perch like a statue. I could book her for you again. If you like.”
I sit there grinding my teeth together, unwilling to let him know just how much I would like to see her again. Jessie. I roll the name around in my mind, determined to remember. I wonder if it’s short for something. Jessica. Jesmine. Jesirae.
“You know what I want from you.”
Damn prick knows he has me over a barrel. He can probably smell it. Sphinxes are dangerous that way.
I sigh. “You want me to protect the theater.”
“I want your word.”
“It will be a waste of your effort if all I can do is watch it burn. I’m not much good to you as stone.”
Sethos sniffs. “You let me worry about whether I’m wasting my time. Now do I have your word?”
I consider. Gargoyles cannot lie. We cannot break our word once it’s given. Sethos knows exactly what he’s asking for, because if there’s one thing a sphinx knows, it’s the power of words.
“Fine,” I growl. “I will protect your theater while I’m still perched here.” Not like it makes any difference to me. I guarded a damn church for centuries. What’s one building over another? Not like God exists. At least I don’t think he does. I’ve never seen any evidence of it in all the time I’ve been alive. Magic, yes, but God? No. I still guarded that damn cathedral. Habit, I guess. Fool doesn’t realize I’d probably guard the theater even if I didn’t give him my word. I mean who wants their bed burning under them?
Sethos smiles. “Then we have an agreement. I’ll get you your girl for as long as it takes to wake you up again.”
He slinks away, jumping down to the edge of the rooftop and leaping off. Spreading his wings, he glides to the pavement and laughs at the gasps of human pedestrians as he lands. I roll my eyes. Perhaps if he didn’t go around showing off so much, people wouldn’t want to burn down his theater and attack his patrons. I’ll never tell him that, though. It’d be a waste of my breath.
Below me, the blonde has finished and packed up her things. The stage is empty again. I close my eyes and think of Jessie. I wonder what she’ll think of being asked to dance for a statue. Would that be better or worse than her knowing the truth? I might be an ugly bastard, but once upon a time that didn’t matter. I got enough pussy to keep me happy. And the ladies didn’t seem to mind. I made sure to keep them well satisfied so they wouldn’t have cause to complain. Now though, when all I can do is watch, I wonder what she’ll think of me.
I find myself hoping she doesn’t look at my cracked and haggard features with distaste. I haven’t cared for years what a single creature thought of me. But I care what Jessie thinks and I can’t explain why.
