Sunday morning,the lively group decides they can only handle so much with the hangovers they are nursing from the wild partying the night before, so we head to a museum before catching the ferry back to the Cape.The place is crowded, but my height allows me to keep an eye on Valencia even when we are separated by throngs of people.
As the women look at a whale bone exhibit, suspicious tingles streak down the back of my neck.Looking around, I try to find what has my instincts on edge.It certainly feels like someone is watching.
Watching Valencia, that is.
Following the women into a room full of paintings, I walk up to my client and lightly touch her bare arm.Immediately, my entire body feels like electricity is coursing through it, but in a warm, meant-to-be way.Valencia looks up at me, her tan cheeks reddened, with a confused expression.
“What’s up?”
“Something doesn’t feel right, so please be vigilant, okay?”
“Seriously?There’s no way he’s here.How would he even know?”
“Either way, you hired me for a reason and I go by my gut feeling.And my gut feeling is that something is wrong right now.Please be careful.”
Valencia’s dark eyes glitter as she smiles up at me, taking my hand with her own.
“I hired you because I followed my gut instincts, so yes, okay.I’ll be extra vigilant.”
As my client turns back to her friends, I look down at the hand she was just holding, expecting to see an electrical storm surrounding it.But it looks like it always does.However, one thing is for sure.
I don’t feel like I always do, especially with a client.
5
Valencia
“We should always have a hot minotaur with us on our outings,” Blythe says dreamily, stealing a glance at Kaidon, who is sitting on the other side of the restaurant’s patio.
“Minus needing one because of a psycho ex,” Monya adds, waving her slice of bacon at the birthday girl.
“Yes, of course.”
Ever takes a sip of her latte, peering at me over the mug’s rim.Placing it down on the table, she gives me a shit-eating grin.
“What?”
“You like him.”
“Who?”
“Who is the only him with us?”She asks, adding in a whisper, “Kaidon.”
“I don’t even really know him.”
Monya pokes her slice of bacon toward me, saying, “But you’d like to get to know him.In all the ways.”
My friends cackle as I glance over at the minotaur.He seems oblivious to our discussion, focusing on something across the street from where we are eating brunch.I watch his eyebrow’s furrow.He then suddenly jumps up, leaping over the patio fencing, and takes off across the street.
“Whoa, did you see that?”Blythe says, her eyes wide.
“Yeah,” is all I can muster.
“Do you think he saw Topher?”Ever asks, craning her neck to try to see what’s going on.
“How on earth would he know I was on Martha’s Vineyard?Doesn’t that just seem way too far-fetched?”
Blythe turns to look at me with an annoyed expression on her face.
