“You are fucking testing me.”
His throaty laughter echoes in the room.
“He does what he does. And I do what I do. I wanted to sell that apartment for some time and buy something bigger. Now is as good a time as ever. It has nothing to do with Raven.”
He avoids my eyes.
She got them. She sure got them. I know Francisco. Sometimes even better than I know myself. He’s never been secretive and hard to grasp. That’s what I’ve always liked about him.
But now he does.
Still, it’s too early to worry. Like he said… He put it so well. This is the beginning. We’re all adjusting. And this is a big adjustment for us all. Bigger than we expected.
It goes for her. It goes for them. And also for me.
“All right, man… Let me know if anything new surfaces in that story in New York. If you need to stay somewhere else temporarily, you can use my apartment.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah… There are two bedrooms. Besides, I rarely crash there. This way, you’re not bound by deadlines. Take your time. Do your business. Sell or not sell. But just so you know, you have a place to stay.”
“All right, man,” he says, pushing to his feet.
He picks up his phone.
“I’m in my room if anything changes.”
“Okay.”
He walks out the door while I rise to my feet and saunter to the window.
The city looks magnificent, draped in lights and a starry night. The stars I used to watch up north in the room with her.
Raven… Raven Wilson. I bite my lip, emotion clawing at my chest, wrapping around my throat, squeezing, and awakening pain.
The first pang of real pain comes with a dash of sweetness. It’s hope. And anticipation. It’s my heart wanting someone for the first time.
Really wanting her.
Really imagining her in ways I’ve never imagined anyone before.
She dances in front of me with her eyes of purest amber and a mane of dark hair that could wrap around her like a long dress. Made of pure pleasure.
I hate what she did tonight. And I love what she did tonight.
It was so sincere and real… So hurtful. It was her fighting and careening this thing wherever she wanted to take it.
It was her showing us her power. Proving to herself she’s not the way we think she is. That she owns us. And she does.
The power is with her.
She uses it clumsily, but soon she’ll be a master, and we will dance for her to her heart’s desire.
But that isn’t love. It’s not even close to it. It’s so far from it that it might as well be up there in the stars, stretched along the cold celestial highway.
It’s a sweet dark war that no one will win in the end when the truth will rise from it. And we will all know it. Who loves who, and what are they willing to do for the one they love.
* * *