Текст книги "Truth in Watercolors"

Автор книги: Kimberly Rose

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

Drum Solo.

I pulled my lips into my teeth and pounded out the beat with my pencil in one fist, and my paper towel in the other.

“Marilyn.” I dropped the pencil onto the floor.

“Damn, Bluebell. You messed up my flow.” I leaned down still seated on the stool and picked the pencil off the floor.

“What flow? The only flow I’ve seen from you is once a month when you turn into a little bitch.” Blue opened a drawer in the office desk and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. When the old man didn’t show at the shop the other day, we all were more than worried. I showed up at his place to find him asleep. The geezer had overslept.

“That wounds me. Deep in my heart,” I said wincing with one hand over my chest.

“See. Chick.” He motioned to me holding a cig in his hand.

Louie Blue became my newest neighbor on my thirteenth birthday. That day was just as forgettable as it was memorable. I sat around outside of the house all day feeling out the new digs but not much else.

Blue rolled up on his Harley at around midnight. He climbed off the bike and stared at me. I stared at him. Then he stared some more. Finally, he nodded and asked if I was new to the place. I nodded back and tossed a rock out into the gravel driveway. He asked how long I’d be staying, and I shrugged. There was no certain answer for that. Then he popped a cigarette into his mouth. I watched his shoulders sag and thought it looked nice. Thought I’d have to try that later. Then he told me to meet him in his garage the next day after school.

I ran straight to Blue’s carport the next day as soon as the bus dropped me off. He pointed to an old rusted car taking up most of the space and told me if I helped him fix it up, I could have it when I turned sixteen. I was pissed. It was crap. That day though, Blue rescued me. He gave me a purpose and taught me how to take care of myself. I would never be able to thank him enough.

“What are you up to, old man?” I asked sliding the yellow pencil back into the case with the other colors.

“Heading out soon,” Blue mumbled around the cigarette that dangled from his mouth. “You should, too.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. Blue knew I wouldn’t go home until he made me.

He pulled the cigarette back out and nodded toward the desk. “Whatcha workin’ on over there?”

“Just messin’ around,” I said and shifted in the chair, trying to hide the sketch behind me.

“Messin’ around, my ass,” he mumbled and walked up to me bringing his thick tobacco scent with him. I relished the smell on a long inhale. I’d quit smoking a few years ago, but, unfortunately, I slipped up every now and again when I was really stressed. Right now, that rich fuckin’ sultry smell was seducing the hell outta me.

“You’re shittin’ me,” Blue mumbled peeking over my shoulder. “Move outta the way, kid.” He shoved my shoulder moving me himself and picked up the drawing from the desk. “Ya turned her into a fuckin’ kindygarten project.”

“I colored it in ol’ man. No big deal.” I grabbed the mermaid sketch from his hands and balled it up in my fist before tossing it into the trashcan.

“You been drawing that same damn grayscale sketch since I’ve known ya, Marilyn,” I smiled at the nickname he’d called me since he found out my last name was Monroe, “and probably been carryin’ that picture of it in yer pocket even longer. If I knew any better, I’d say you’ve gone and met yourself a girl.” He chuckled to himself before turning to walk away.

“I’ve met lots of girls, Blue,” I said looking at the distorted aquamarine tail out of the corner of my eye.

“Ah, but none of ‘em have ever been yer mermaid now, have they?” He smirked at me and shoved the cigarette back into his mouth before walking out of the office door. “I’m out for a smoke,” he shouted back at me.

“Obviously,” I mumbled turning back toward the desk.

“I heard that, ya pussy pansy.” His voice echoed down the hall.

“Go smoke, saggy balls,” I yelled back.

“All those bitches sucked ‘em dry.” I tossed my head back and laughed. Fuckin’ Blue.

The light from my cell phone on my desk caught my attention. I picked it up, still smiling to myself until I saw the message.

“Fuck,” I whispered and raked my hands through my hair.

Capri: Are we painting tomorrow?

Twenty-four hours ago, I kissed her. Somewhere between the years of looking after her and the hours of thinking about her, I let my guard down. I got so caught up in wanting her that, for those few minutes when I held her face in my hands and got my first taste of her, I forgot how much she scared me.

I drove the short distance home with my heart racing so quickly it skipped a beat a time or two. It felt like the time I bungee jumped on my eighteenth birthday. I was teetering off a ledge, about to jump. The only thing I could hear was the jackrabbit pace of my pulse, and my vision seemed to narrow and tighten in on a single pool of calm water below me. I wanted so badly to claim the victory of the fall down to the pool, but not knowing if I’d be the one to have the rope snap, sending me in an uncontrolled descent, was terrifying. Capri’s kiss was fuckin’ terrifying.

I clicked on reply and began to type.

Me: Of course. I can’t wait to see you.

I read over the words, and my heart started to freak out again. I deleted them and typed again.

Me: I want this so bad C, but I’m so fuckin scared.

I deleted them, the familiar rapid pulse climbing up my veins.

Me: Tell me we can have this. Tell me I can have you.

The thumping vibrated through my neck.

Me: I think I need you.

Fuck. I deleted the last words and opened one of the desk drawers, shoving my phone deep inside.

I looked up at the ceiling, gripped my hair between both fisted hands, and waited for the pounding to subside.

“Hey, Marilyn!” Blue’s voice came from down the hallway just before the slamming of the back door.

“Yeah, Bluebell?” I yelled back, dropping my arms heavily onto the desk in front of me, leaning into them.

“I just remembered something,” he said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see him leaning against the doorway. “Whoa, what the hell happened to ya in the last ten minutes, kid? You look like shit.”

I probably looked like a guy who was trying his hardest not to fall for the girl. “I look like a guy who just rubbed one out,” I said with a lazy smirk on my face.

“Sick fuck,” he said laughing between wheezy coughs. “Go home, Marilyn. Your last appointment was hours ago.” He tapped on the doorjamb and shuffled off.

“Hey, what’d you remember?” I shouted at him.

“I jizzed on your front tire this morning.” His laughter faded behind the jingle of the bells on the front door.

I caught the echo of my laugh on the walls of the small room and noticed that my pulse had settled back down. Maybe I should get out of here. It’d been a long day. I’d stop by Lennon’s new place, but she said she was heading up to L.A. for a few days. I could always do a surprise pop in on Kensie. That shit was always fun, but she lived with August now. I sure as hell didn’t want to do a surprise pop in on August’s naked ass. I could go home. I wondered what Capri was doing. Fuck. Probably waiting for me to text her back. I opened the side drawer and dug out my phone.

Me: I have a lot to do at the shop this week. I’ll be in Friday.

I shoved the phone back in the drawer and laid my head on the desk. I was gonna be sick. I thumped my hand blindly on the desk until it found the satellite remote. I peeked up and cranked it up to turn the volume up. The heavy beat took over for my brain, and I sat up, cracking my knuckles.

Days. It’d been days since Wes kissed me, and I hadn’t heard from him. He most certainly hadn’t heard from me, either. His lame reply to my lame text was all I needed to spend a night painting a troll in his likeness.

After hours, no days, of keeping my phone with me at all times, I finally gave up any hope of hearing from him, but not before leaping over the thin line that separated available and pathetic. I’d set it on the bathroom counter next to the shower with the volume as high as it would go, I’d carry it in my back pocket with the ringer and vibration on, and I even carried it in the palm of my hand around campus yesterday when I’d worn a dress. Pathetic.

Now, I was here setting up the paint supplies alone because, what a surprise, he wasn’t here yet, and all I wanted to do was yell at him. I wanted to tell him all the reasons why he had no right to treat me like all of his other casual hook-ups. I wanted to explain to him why I should be different from all those girls. Most of all, I wanted to cry because crap, he’d really hurt me.

“Good morning, Capri.” I wiped the woe from my face and glared over my shoulder at Wes.

“Weston,” I said and turned completely around when I saw him holding two coffees. I met him halfway. “A peace offering?” I asked taking the hot cup of goodness from his hand and ignoring the daisy sketched onto the paper cup.

“Yeah, C, look,” Wes started to apologize, I assumed, given he was capable of such a thing, but I wasn’t interested.

“Thank you for the latte, but you can shove your offering of peace up your behind.” I marched myself proudly back toward the rollers I’d been putting together and ignored his sexy chuckle.

“Not my thing,” he said, “but about last night—”

“Dayum,” he was cut off by our new helpers.

“Oh, shiiit. This is tight.” One boy held his fist over his hand as he talked, and the other took his backpack off and tossed it against the wall.

“You must be Jordan and Ridge,” I said, smiling at them and extending my hand to introduce myself. “I’m August’s sister, Capri, and this is Wes.”

“Hey, girl. I’m Jordan; this one’s Ridge.” The, I assumed, thirteen—or fourteen-year-old nodded his head, licked his lips repeatedly, and wagged his eyebrows at me all at the same time. Impressive.

“Hey, hey, hey, okay buddy.” Wes was suddenly sliding himself between the kid and me. “Keep your mackin’ in check, or I’ll call your mom and have her come pick you up.”

“All right, Wes,” I heard Jordan say and rolled my eyes going back to finish the setup. August told us earlier in the week that he was going to have two of his boys come help us work on the mural. He said he had seen both of them express an interest in art, specifically on the side of the freeway underpass by the youth center, and wanted to give them a chance to try out their talent on a legal piece of property.

“How do you know them?” I asked Wes.

“I met them through their social worker. Good boys; just gotta keep ‘em in line.” Wes bit his bottom lip and jerked his chin up. Oh yes, I was sure Wes did a top-notch job of keeping his mini men in line. I imagined by the end of today, all three of them would be pounding fists and sharing notes on the perfect hip to stride ratio in a swagger.

After I had given a brief description of what we were working on, Wes took over the directives with the kids. I tried to remain aloof, but his effort with these boys was hypnotically endearing. Wes joked with them, complimented them, and gave them free creative range of what was left of the mural. Like he knew exactly what they needed to feel comfortable and exude confidence. By the way the two had quieted down and immediately got to work, I knew they not only respected Wes but also appreciated this opportunity.

“So let me ask you something.” Ridge was adding his own touch with geometric shapes and patterns in one corner of the mural.

“Shoot,” Wes said from where he worked with a boy on either side of him.

“So I wanna ask Mia out, but I don’t know what she would say.” Ridge looked up expectantly at Wes.

“Just ask her,” I answered and all three heads whipped in my direction. Oops. I guess I wasn’t supposed to be a part of this conversation.

“Girls aren’t that simple, Miss Capri.” Ridge shook his head at me.

“Women are very complicated creatures,” Wes agreed.

“Creatures?” I asked but was ignored. The boys were paying rapt attention to Wes. The three stood in a huddle with lowered voices as Wes explained to them about the species of women with exaggerated hand gestures.

As angry and confused as I was about us, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. His unwavering attention toward the boys, and his enthusiasm for the questions they appeared to be asking nearly enchanted the hurt from my heart. At one point, Wes must have felt me watching because he looked up to me mid-sentence, smirked, and winked. My heart leaped clear to the heavens.

“Hey, Miss Capri?” Ridge asked and all three turned, opening up their secret circle to me.

“Ridge?” I asked warily.

“How can I show Mia that…ya know…” Ridge stuffed his hands deep into his pockets… “that she’s cool. Ya know?” He winced at me.

“Are you asking me what you should do to show Mia that she’s special?”

“That’s what he wants to know, C.” Wes stood behind him, hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

“So, he wants to know how to show Mia that she isn’t just another girl to him?” I asked propping my hands onto my hips.

All three guys nodded.

“Well, first,” I said, cocking my head to one side, “you call her.” I stared straight at Wes who hung his head and mouthed a silent ‘fuck.’ Did he really think I’d ignore it? Well, actually, he was probably used to not worrying about whether he made a girl unhappy with missed calls or not. In fact, I didn’t think I’d ever seen him with the same girl twice. “If you want her to stick around, then you should call her and let her know she’s on your mind.”

“That’s true.” Wes looked at Ridge and nodded. “You should call her.” My eyes widened. “Not calling her would be a huge mistake.” He set his eyes on me and stepped through the boys, making his way toward me.

The boys stood firmly planted in their places with confusion spread across their faces. I held my hand up to keep Wes from getting too close. I knew if I could see into his eyes, I’d be more forgiving than I was feeling, but he ignored my protests and continued his long, purposeful strides toward me.

When he stopped directly in front of me, he carefully reached up, touching his fingers to my chin. When I didn’t pull away, his timid touch relaxed, and he slid his fingers to the base of my head, cradling my neck in his hand. He rubbed his thumb along my jawline, and his eyes darted around my face. Searching. Searching. Searching. Then cut to my eyes. My breath stopped in my throat at the sincerity that pooled in those eyes below his thick lashes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I nodded.

“Dayuuum.” Jordan’s voice echoed through the gym, and Wes pulled his hand away with his eyes following. “Wes has got skills.” He barked out a laugh, and Ridge joined in.

He smiled shyly and dropped his head in a slow shake. “Okay, boys,” he said walking back to them. “Time’s up here. How are you getting home?”

“Bus,” Jordan said leaning down to pick up his backpack.

“Not today. I’ll drive you guys home.” He held the door open as the boys passed through then turned and gave me one last soft and meaningful look. “Lock up behind me, ‘kay?” he asked. I nodded and waited for him to come back and say something more. But he didn’t.

I knew he was watching me. I didn’t hear when he came in, but I felt it. I felt his eyes on me like a person felt the sun when it wrapped the fingers of its rays around their skin.

“I know you’re there,” I said wiping the brush on a towel.

“It’s past closing time, so I made sure to lock up.” The sound of his voice rolled through the empty space. “I see you took some artistic liberty while I was gone.” Wes said, and I cocked my eyebrow over at him before surveying my work. All I’d done was continue on the same wave pattern he’d been working on that morning.

“Well, I guess my brushstrokes loosened up as the day went on,” I said thinking maybe my exhaustion was showing through the paint. Wes stood next to me now, testing my inner strength because I wanted so badly to grab his hand and wrap it around my neck to finish where we had left off.

“Brushstrokes, my ass.” Wes rolled his eyes and nudged my shoulder with his. “It does look tight though, C. I like how the red complements the teal of the lower wave.” Red? Red. RED?

“Red?” the word burst from my lips in the same manner as my heart had just exploded.

“Yeah.” Wes looked down at me confused, furrowed his eyebrows, but then nodded back to the apparently red wave. “This looks pretty badass. I see those two inspired you.” He winked at me, all the while I stared at him.

“But I used the cans of teal…” The name of the green color trailed off my lips when I realized my mistake. “I gave Jordan the can of teal this morning,” I said touching my fingers to my lips. I’d been so obsessive about putting the paint cans strategically around the room so that even when the color covered the labels, I’d still know what shade it was. Having the boys here this morning threw my routine, and my mind had been completely devoted to all things Wes.

This couldn’t be happening. I tried to swallow, but my throat had dried up. The large space surrounding me suddenly began to feel incredibly small. I turned to walk toward the back of the gym to gain some space from the noxious scent of paint. Red paint.

“Capri?” Wes asked from behind me, but I could barely hear him through the fumes. My body floated toward the back of the room with the floor blurring below me. A thick cloud of the stench closed in on me rapidly. It was everywhere. Taunting me.

What did I do? Stupid.

How could I have let this happen? Stupid.

I’d always been so careful, so hidden. Then I agreed to this. Stupid.

Stupid.

“Stupid.”

“Please tell me you just called me stupid and not yourself.” The timber of Wes’ voice dissipated the suffocating vapor.

I shook my head. “I’m so stupid.” This was all too familiar. I hadn’t slipped up since tenth grade when I’d turned in my realism portrait. My teacher had instructed us specifically to paint the bowl of fruit exactly as we had seen it. So, I did. I’d turned in a painting of yellow, blue, and brown. That was how I saw it. That was how I saw the world; yellow, blue, brown, and shades of white and gray. That was realism for me.

When my teacher returned our projects after grading, mine had a note on the back. He’d said that while he appreciated the rebellious nature of artists, he did not approve of my resistance to authority in not following the specific instructions of the assignment. He awarded me an F. To make things worse, he didn’t give me the letter, he wrote FAIL on my artwork.

“So stupid,” I repeated.

Wes’ hands were on my shoulders immediately, and he crouched down in front of me looking up into my eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on right now, but you are not stupid,” he commanded. He stood, and my head followed his upward movement.

He’d told me those exact words that day when he found me ripping apart my painting and stuffing it into the trashcan by the lunch quad. He had asked me why I was destroying it, so I told him honestly that I was stupid. He told me more earnestly than I had ever seen Wes up until that point that I was not stupid. He said I was brilliant, and talented, and beautiful, and that the piece of art I had just destroyed reflected all of that because when an artist created, they produced a part of their soul. Then he turned around and walked away, hopping the fence to ditch.

I turned my attention from the memory toward Wes’ eyes and on the conviction they seemed to hold.

Brilliant.

Talented.

Beautiful.

Breathe…

“I’m colorblind, Wes.” I said it. I know I did, but the frantic blood in my veins drowned out my hearing.

Wes’ head cocked to the side, and he raised a single eyebrow but didn’t say anything. At least his lips hadn’t moved. His hands did. They moved gently from my shoulders down toward my elbows.

“I’m colorblind,” I repeated in case I truly hadn’t spoken the words that, until now, had never fallen from my lips. “I don’t see color. Well, not all color.” I turned away from Wes, unable to witness his reaction.

“So—Wha—” Wes started but stopped himself. “Come’re,” he said taking my hand, and pulled me to the back wall. Wes sat up against it facing the mural and pulled me down next to him.

I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. I was doing this. I was going to tell Wes about my colorblindness. No one knew except for my parents. Not even August.

When I had been diagnosed with colorblindness, I was just three years old, and my parents said they decided not to share my colorblindness with anyone. They told me in later years that they didn’t want me to be identified by an inability to see color, and they didn’t want me to be prejudged. I knew they had my best interests at heart, but that single decision created a sincere insecurity in me that had affected my entire life.

I’d often wondered if I wouldn’t feel as anxious about my colorless life if I hadn’t had an insatiable need to paint. If art was just an activity, and not the marrow of my bones, I’d be okay.

“Tell me about it,” Wes spoke gently.

“I’m red/green colorblind, so pigment that has those colors in it looks brown to me. Even though the grip of a paintbrush or pencil in my fingers steadies me, my inability to see color has always pushed me off balance. I feel like I’m constantly trying to prove to myself that I am an artist, but that I’m destined for failure because I will never be able to fully grasp the one thing that makes me whole. Sometimes I feel like, I don’t know, like a fake.” Wes sat up abruptly to refute me, I was certain, but I put my hand on his where it sat on the ground.

His fingers twitched, below my own, and then ever so slowly, he turned his hand around so that we were palm to palm. I waited for him to lace our fingers together, but he nodded for me to continue.

I breathed deeply. “I’m blank.” Wes’ fingers moved softly, dancing against the palm of my hand. They tickled circles onto the surface of my skin as if he were painting or drawing, adding an imagined depth to my meager being. “I don’t just wear a lot of white because I can’t screw any sort of matching up, I wear it because it feels the most like me.”

Wes’ fingers stopped. “You think you’re plain?” Wes asked but didn’t look at me. Instead, he cocked his head still facing the mural, and his fingers still hadn’t moved. I didn’t know why his still fingers against my palm mattered so much to me, but they did. I wanted them to move.

“Stand up,” Wes said suddenly rising to his feet. He turned around and gave me his hand.

“Okaaay,” I said placing mine in his. He led me by that hand that still craved his tickle, over to the cans of paint.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“I’ve never told another soul about me,” I said honestly. He nodded a singular quick nod because that was enough.

“Stand right here,” Wes said squinting up toward the fluorescent lighting. “Turn a little this way,” he directed, gripping my upper arms in his and adjusting me. He took a few careful steps back and sent his eyes on a path up and down my body though nothing about it was intimate. It was business. “Now take your shirt off.”

“Wha-at?” I stuttered. He folded his arms across his muscular chest and challenged me with his eyes. Damn him.

“You suck,” I said before grabbing the bottom of my white shirt, tearing it off over my head and dropping it next to me on the floor. Much like the tearing off of a Band-Aid, I waited for a sting of humiliation. It never came. What did come was a rushing heat from my head to my toes in the form of Wes’ stare.

“Sometimes. I like to bite, too,” he said tilting his head with a lopsided grin.

“Why am I shirtless?” I asked ignoring his attempt at flirting. Or maybe he was only being funny. It didn’t matter because all that mattered at that infinitesimal moment in time was that I needed to survive. I needed to keep standing when the grin on his face became caught between his teeth.

With one heavy step toward me, his entire body tilted in one direction. My knees trembled beneath me.

Step.

His chiseled frame rocked to the other side. My chest heaved rapidly beneath my satin bra.

Step.

He brought his hands together. His fingers stuttered against the roughness of his skin as he cracked each knuckle one by one. I brought my own hands together and wringed them together, my palms gliding against the dampness of my skin.

Step.

He leaned toward the floor. I sucked in a breath and pulled with it the taste of his clean scent that surged with his downward movement. The anticipation of what was about to happen was almost too much to bear. My stability wavered on faint knees.

I heard the unmistakable pop of the paint can lid and looked down at Wes.

“What are you doing?” I asked him in something embarrassingly close to a pant.

“I’m giving you your first tattoo.” He smirked up at me. “If you’re down?”

“Yes,” I immediately replied. So way, way down.

Wes laughed easily. “Okay. Hold still.” My eyes followed the dip of two of his fingers into the rich texture of the paint. The drag of the liquid clinging to his fingers when he pulled them out kept him connected to the pigment.

“You’re using your fingers?” I squeaked.

Wes gulped heavily and nodded his answer.

I looked up toward the ceiling of the gym, focusing on the inhale and exhale of my breath. The nerves within me flickered irregularly and buzzed with the lights above me. I tugged my eyes closed, too overwhelmed to watch.

Cold fingers met my bare hip, bringing an instant stillness to my breath. They smeared in soft delicate circles across my waist gently kneading into my skin. My whole body tightened, grasping onto itself.

“I’ll never forget…” The rumble of Wes’ voice brought me back. “That day you came in from painting out in the rain.” He looked at me from under his thick lashes. He took his fingers from my skin to dip them into another can of paint. I missed his touch immediately. “Do you remember that?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, shocked that he did, too. I’d never forgotten that night, and I imagined that I never would. It was the night of Ella’s funeral. The abnormality of the entire day was too much. Saying goodbye to such a small and innocent person who was taken before she ever had the chance to make a best friend, to fall in love, or to find her passion. It was so achingly sad and just too wrong.

After the ceremony, I had sat in my room at my easel attempting to release my revulsion of life’s cruelty. Only the amount of water I kept adding to the paint wasn’t enough. The pigment didn’t bleed with the same ruthlessness as it did within me. When the thunder sounded from outside my window, I’d grabbed my easel, brush, and paints, and fled to the backyard to drown in the freak thunderstorm.

“I needed more water.” My voice came out in a whisper.

Wes’ cool touch melted into my warm skin again. My breath shuddered with the sensitivity of the place he grazed just inside my hipbone. “You were so beautiful that night.” His fingers moved in a patting rhythm back toward my side. “Your shirt was so soaked that it clung to you. Especially this spot right here.” His entire hand replaced his fingers in one smooth motion. With my hip cradled in his hand, his fingers curled into me. I responsively arched into his touch.

“I was a mess,” I breathed out with obvious panting. So freakin’ obvious.

“You were so fuckin’ sexy. With paint smeared up here.” Wes touched me under my shoulder and ran a thick bead of paint up my shoulder blade to the base of my neck. My head fell to the side allowing his caress.

“And your hair was stuck across your face.” Wes’ hand moved up my neck until my jaw was cradled in it. I turned my head to look into his eyes. I saw the heat in them fall beneath his eyelids when they closed.

“You wanted me?” I whispered.

“Fuck, I’ve always wanted you, Capri.” With his confession, my eyes closed tightly, relishing his words.

Wes fell silent, and I didn’t talk either. Instead, I breathed in, inhaling his closeness and absorbing all of him. With my eyes still closed, I felt the tip of Wes’ nose brush against my own. The movement was so soft, yet so intimate.

“You’re so wrong. Nothing about you is blank. You’re the most vivid woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.” The whisper of his words tickled across my lips and then swirled away. “Come with me,” Wes said grabbing my hand and pulling me limply behind him.

Wes flicked on the lights and pulled me into the middle of the dance studio. He positioned me directly in front of him facing the mirror.

“She’s beautiful,” I told Wes gently touching the image he’d painted across the right side of my body. The mermaid’s tail was painted in soft swirls of gray. Her face was a mixture of black and white, smeared gracefully together. Her black hair was splayed around her body and highlighted in white, giving it a halo effect.

“She is,” Wes said, but he wasn’t looking at the mermaid. He was looking at me. “She’s only black and white, yet nothing about this mermaid is plain or blank. She’s stunning.” Wes’ hand met mine where it was still tracing along the edges of the painting. His finger touched the tip of mine and followed my movement. “She’s soft, and she’s gentle. She’s illuminated, and she’s mysterious. She’s understated, yet each unique piece of her is enchanting.” Wes’ finger touched the corner of my hip and turned me around.

“She’s me?” I asked through more of a breath than my voice.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Wes said and dropped his forehead to mine. There was something in the air between us then. It was so tense I could feel it stretching, pulling, and tightening. Then, it broke.

Wes’ lips smashed against mine, and I reached up to fist his shirt in my hands. His hands gripped my hips and his fingers dug into my sides. Our lips and our tongues clashed and mixed, but nothing about this kiss was frantic. It was slow and deep, reaching farther into me than any kiss had before.

I slid my hands up his chest, neck, and ran my hands through his hair. Wes’ hands loosened their grip and wrapped around my lower back pulling me into every solid inch of him. I was so wrapped up in this kiss that I didn’t notice I was moving backward until Wes had me smashed up against the mirrored wall.