Page 38 of Kept

If he found it, he didn’t let on. Being this close to such a perfect face was almost painful, my stomach flipping just from the heat of his body touching mine, and seeing just a glimpse of the ice king’s life made me want to prospect for more.

“The first time I saw you, you were the muse of potentiality. Head bowed like you were trying to hide and Bourdillon had threatened to crush you. I wondered what might be hiding inside the little mouse.”

Oh, if only he knew.

“I’d already read your paper, remember. It stood out among all the soulless applications. Once we met in person, I was surprised to find you so… timid. How could someone who put that much heart into their words try so hard to blend into the shadows?” His thumb ran over my chin and tilted my face up to look him in the eye. No matter how much I wanted to merge into the wall, there was no hiding here. “Hiding yourself should be criminal. If it takes betrayal and subterfuge to bring you out of your shell, then I can’t say any of us are sorry to have made you our Pet.”

He leaned in and brushed a kiss over my lips, as light as a feather, but every atom in my body was laser-focused on the modicum of sensation.

“You’ve passed through potential and become an awakening. What comes next depends on you. I don’t know what sort of muse you are, Jane. You’re going to be the one who tells me.”

He was completely unapologetic for what they’d put me through, and his words did strike a chord somewhere deep inside. I didn’t want to be a static object to be recorded once and immortalized in that one form. I wanted to change into what I wanted to be, not what I thought I should be.

Gabriel released me, breaking the spell. “I won’t keep you from your family tonight, Pet. But rest assured, we’re not done here.”

I caught a glimpse of another sketch on his desk next to the one he’d just drawn, but before I could get a closer look, he opened the door. He touched my hair as I passed, winding a curl around his finger before letting me go.

To my surprise, he followed me out. I didn’t get a chance to collect myself before he’d grabbed my bag and led me out into the Hall of Art.

“Aren’t you worried about getting caught?” I pitched my voice low, hoping it didn’t carry down the echoing length of the corridor. “Aren’t there security cameras here?” They were so laissez-faire about being seen with me at night.

Gabriel glanced at me sideways, an almost friendly expression on his perfect features. It seemed that every time he opened up to me alone, another drop of ice thawed from the glacier around him.

“So they could record everyone’s sordid misdeeds? No. Bourdillon doesn’t permit security cameras. Believe me,” he said, leaning in close. I tried to keep myself from leaning closer and failed. “We aren’t the only ones with secrets, and the rich like to keep their dangerous games in the dark.”

He spoke about ‘the rich’ like they were a different class from him, even though no one received tenure here who wasn’t from a wealthy family. Once again, the sketch of the window flashed into my mind.

“If you say so,” I muttered, following him to the parking lot. “Why do you all insist on giving me rides, anyway?”

It was odd to talk to him like a normal human being, although I guessed ‘odd’ summed up the entirety of my relationship with the three of them.

He opened the door on a midnight blue Mercedes S-Class, one of the more subdued cars I usually saw here. “Because we take care of you, Pet. This is part of the arrangement.”

Before I slid into the car, his eyes flashed away from my face and out towards the woods, narrowing ever so slightly.

I recalled Rhett’s odd turn of conversation the night I’d met him in the library. He’d been so insistent on giving me his number, just in case I needed him…

“Or is it more than that?” I asked as we accelerated out of the lot. “Rhett was worried about me locking my door, and none of you ever let me walk home if it can be helped.”

With Gabriel driving, I finally had a moment to just look at him without his gaze piercing right through me. There were callouses on the knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel, and a stray lock of black hair had fallen across his forehead. Even with these imperfections, he was still flawless.

He glanced at me and I looked away quickly.

“There was an incident around here about two years ago,” he said, his grip tightening on the wheel. “A woman was stalked and attacked in her home. It’s discouraged to walk out here alone at night. Especially for women.”

My chest felt hollow against the thud of my heart. I’d had no idea that Bourdillon had been the scene of anincident, which had been an awful crime if I was reading between the lines correctly.

I was sure I was. There was no reason for Rhett to have been so insistent otherwise.

“Don’t worry yourself, Jane.” Gabriel reached out and stroked my cheek, and the familiarity of the gesture had me tightening my hands in my lap to stop myself from returning it. No matter how much he’d opened up to me tonight, he was still unreadable and shrouded in secrecy. “You have us.”

I wondered if he’d give me a kiss before I got out the way Vincent had, but he just stroked his fingertips along the back of my hand. “I’ll see you soon, Pet.”

The warmth of his smile and the lingering touch remained long after he’d left, burned into my nerve endings the same way a kiss would be.

Chapter Thirteen

“Why don’twe have those nice friends of yours over for dinner?”