I opened my mouth to recite them,and Desi shook his head slightly.
“Remember,” he said softly. “You tailor the reading. Tarot isn’t just memorization.” He urged me to dig deep for the meaning of the card. I nodded and did as he asked.
“You slept with a girlwhenyou were younger. You gave her your flower.” My eyes darted from Desi to the man in the chair. Desi nodded approvingly and stepped back. He walked over to the large oak desk and leaned against it. He crossed his arms and waved a lazy hand at me, encouraging me to continue.
“Was it the bride?” I asked. The man who we had kidnapped from the reception snickered.
“This is stupid. You think you’re some psychic or something?”
I widened my eyes excitedly. “I knew it! Okay, so you slept with the bride when you guys were younger.”
I glanced at Desi, who was staring hard at me. He frowned and then kicked off the desk. “You want to do a three-card spread with him?”
“Three cards? Oh,come on. You’re just giving people more time to find me.” The man smirked.
Desi laughed dryly. “No one’s coming for you, don’t worry. Let’s draw another. That was his past, now for his current.”
Desi went to him and demanded he take another card. The man was more forceful when he snatched one from the deck this time.
Temperance
The angel with the cup.
I frowned. “Balance? Peace?” I tilted my head in confusion at Desi. He smirked and shook his head.
“It was reversed. Do you remember?” He coaxed. Hisvoice was tender and almost calming. I took a deep breath and thought back.
“Temperance reversed means indulgence. You’ve been overdoing it.” I gasped. “Are you still sleeping with her?” I accused the man. He laughed.
“This is all just a sham. You can literally figure things out with any card I draw. He told you about our affair. Her dad. He’s never liked me. This is why he wants me dead? Because I’m fucking his prized pig? You can’t possibly be okay with killing me over this.”
“No. We’re not killing you because of an affair. We’re killing you because it wasn’t consensual.” Desi snapped at him. The man’s mouth fell open and shut silently. His eyes went large,and his face suddenly regained its color, which was very red. Desi thrust the deck at me,and I fumbled to take them.
“Desi, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Why not? You wanted to be involved.” He reminded me.
“Yeah, but this is—”
Not what I expected.
“I saw your little black book. You’ve killed tons of people like him. Humans, vamps, they’re all the same. Evil. He’s nothing.” He thrust his arm out, pointing at the man. I flicked my nervous gaze at him.
“Yeah, but I had to break my curse. This isn’t something I—”
“Scout, baby, nerd,” Desi reached his hand out to touch my chin. He pinched it lightly,and somehow it helped me steady myself. I looked deep into his beautiful mismatched eyes and took a long breath. “You wanted this. You want to go to art school, don’t you?”
I nodded.
“You want to get all the fancy pencils and paints?”
I nodded again. His face softened even more,and he curved his lips upwards. “Then you’re going to do this. I’m going to hand you my knife, and you’ll slash him from ear to ear, okay?”
His voice was so gentle in comparison to the words he was saying.
“Is this a joke?” Kevin interrupted our conversation. We both turned to him in mild surprise, almost as if we had forgotten about him completely.
“Why would this be a joke?” Desi let go of me and stared directly at him. “Do you think I’d waste my time dragging you all the way through this house, tie you up, and draw my cards just for a fucking joke?”
