She eyes me for a second.
“Where do you have feral sex if there’s no table?” she says. It is too easy, and I wouldn’t have caught it if she hadn’t started watching me. She is trying to get close to me, making me trust her.
Who’s the manipulating liar now?
“Personally, I like my girl hanging from the ceiling, immobilized and tied up,” I say, because manipulation is a game I have learned from the cradle. I also love being inappropriate. And I know she is too uptight to have anything to answer for what I just said.
And sure enough, her eyes flash up, she sees the ceiling hooks, and blushes.
I have rendered her speechless once more, because she averts her eyes from the ceiling and is suddenly very interested in her sandwich.
I let her sit in silence until she has finished the sandwich.
“So, I ate. You wanted to show me something?” she then says.
“Yes,” I say, and it occurs to me that I can use the entire thing to make her believe I am trusting her. “What I am about to show you is the most honest I have ever been with you,” I say. “So please, handle it with care.”
Her eyes flicker slightly in anticipation.
Like I said, so easy.
14
REID
PLAYLIST: SAIL – AWOLNATION
Avery walks with me to the back of the studio, past her bed, and my eyes fall onto a massive wall that must be at least thirty feet long and is full of notes, wildly connected with lines and arrows.
“What is this?” I ask as I get closer to it.
“Everything I know and have learned about Hedda,” she says. “And by everything, I mean everything.”
She walks up to me and stands next to me, staring at the wall.
“This is how I met her,” she says. “My father, god bless him, but he was a horrible man.”
Before I can stop myself, “You believe in God?” slips over my lips.
“Of course I do,” she says. “Without faith, everything is worthless. Without God, I’d be nothing.”
I am utterly taken aback because of all the people I have met, she is the last person I’d expect to believe in God.
A grin cracks on her face.
“Don’t let me mess with you, Shaw. I don’t believe in anything but my own capabilities. I am the creator of my life, notsome woo-woo man in the sky. I don’t follow men; I follow my heart’s deepest desires.”
I shake my head in complete disbelief, and yet I allow a small smirk to tug the corner of my mouth up.
“You know,” I say, “This might be the first time I agree with you on something.”
I risk a glance from the corner of my eye at her.
She meets mine for one second before she says, “Whatever,” and dives back into explaining.
“This is the first job I ever did,” she says, pointing at a circle labeled ‘Holly Haydn’. “I was twelve back then. She taught me how to blend in and become essentially invisible.”
I watch Avery closely, and while I expected this to be a happy memory for her, her expression is hardened. With her jawline, I see every muscle she is flexing. Heavily.