“I don’t! But if everyone treats me a certain way, then there must be a reason for it! Royce wouldn’t have done that unless he thought I wanted it. He’s had plenty of opportunities at the gallery when it was just him and me in a back room, and he’s never done anything sexual. This evening notwithstanding,I’ve felt safer with him around than anyone else. I never have to worry about Zedd showing up at the gallery.”
“It. Does. Not. Matter.In fact, that makes it worse. He’s someone you trust and consider a friend and he violated that. Violatedyou.”
The scent of Royce’s aftershave – pine, balsam, patchouli – still lingered in Cosmo’s nose. He felt Royce’s hard grip on his thigh, centimeters from his crotch.
He clutched his elbows and fought against the lump welling in his throat. “Micah knew. He knew it was going to happen, and he knew it was going to be Royce. But I didn’t listen.”
“I hate to say this, but everyone seemed to believe he was like that but you. Royce used to flirt with you constantly. And remember at your funeral? Your mom looked like she wanted to slit his throat, and she’d only known him for five minutes. This still isn’t your fault. I’m just saying that I wish you didn’t have to see the way he is the hard way.”
Déjà was always right – he may as well have been an actual ghost for as easily as she saw through him. Cosmo had told Royce to stop, and the director had deliberately ignored him. That wasn’t Cosmo’s fault. But it didn’t do anything for the misplaced guilt churning in his stomach. He didn’t know how he was supposed to face Royce at work now.
“I should quit the gallery.” He meant it the way someone said theyshouldwork out more orshouldget their Christmas shopping done early. But approval filled Déjà’s face and she nodded.
Quitting Identical Dog for a position somewhere else wouldn’t be the worst thing. He’d been an art handler for years, and despite his efforts to prove his worth, he wasn’t moving up. He shouldn’t have had to cut his date with Micah short in order to impress the boss on his day off.
“I suppose… I could text Simone and put out some feelers.”
His phone sat on the coffee table amid scattered contents that had been in his pockets. Déjà picked it up and handed it to him. “You should.”
Night Gallery probably wasn’t a perfect choice for a new job because Simone, the gallerist, collaborated with Identical Dog often and he would still end up seeing Royce, but the familiarity with it would likely make it the easiest transfer.
He liked Identical Dog. He knew all the hallways and exhibit rooms by heart. The lemon-jasmine scent smelled like home. But he couldn’t work there even one more day. And change was less frightening when he had someone to lean on.
Déjà stood and walked to his art desk, inspecting his sculpture pieces with her hands behind her back. They had so much catching up to do. Unless this was a one-time meeting and she would go back to pretending he was a stranger when they saw each other at parties.
His phone jingled with a message from Simone.
He frowned at the text, then reread what he’d sent to her. That was a strange response to his benign question, but it was also nine pm on a Friday. He started to type back that he was fine, but another text appeared.
Cosmo gasped.Registrar! It wasn’t permanent, but it was a start.
He handed Déjà his phone. She read over the texts and said, “I bet Royce made a pass at her too. Or she’s heard about him harassing other employees.”
“You think so?” Cosmo had been tight with the director. If the other employees hated Royce, they certainly wouldn’t have gone to Cosmo to talk about it. Maybe that rumor about Royce demanding blow jobs in exchange for considering portfolio submissions was true.
His face crumpled and he clutched his elbows.
Déjà sat next to him. “Now we need to make a plan to castrate your boss. Do you still have those nice ceramic knives your mom gave you?”
He winced, then cleaned up the items on the coffee table. “So, did Micah tell you what’s going on with his studio? He toldme you tried to do a spirit cleansing to get rid of me. You’ve fully embraced your ghost communing abilities, I see.”
“You don’t want to talk about Royce anymore.” She studied him for a long moment. “Fine. As long as you tell me what happened wasn’t your fault. And you’d better mean it.”
Swallowing thickly, he said, “It wasn’t my fault. But that doesn’t make me feel any better about it. Can we please talk about something else now?”
Her face softened, and she squeezed his hand. “I asked Micah to tell me what was going on in the studio, but he never did. He doesn’t treat you like trash, does he?”
“Absolutely not.”
“He’s a little weird.”
“Very weird,” Cosmo said.
