Page 16 of Watercolor Skulls

Slowly I raise my eyes to his. My heart flips clean upside down. He has amber eyes. The same color as the sun reflected through the murky water I fell into. They pull me to the surface just like the sun did that day. I smile shyly and tuck a strand of my blue hair behind my ear. “She’s a lucky little girl,” I finally say.

He studies me closely. “Yeah, she is,” he agrees. “So, Jesse said you were interested in one of my designs. She asked me if I could draw it up for you. Which one was it?”

“She said you had one of a dragonfly.” I bite my bottom lip when he gives me a funny look. He stares at me for a long, long time. His eyes run over my hair, my face, my figure. I swallow hard and shift in my chair. Did I upset him? Does he not want his design on my body? “Um, maybe this was a mistake.” I shake my head and stand.

He reaches across the counter and locks his hand around my arm. “No, don’t go. I do have a dragonfly design. It’s just not in the book. Jesse must have been snooping through my stuff,” he says gruffly.

I stand there awkwardly not sure if I should sit back down or leave. “I was just wanting a dragonfly. She must not have known it was special to you,” I say softly, staring at his hand on my arm.

“Why a dragonfly?” he asks.

The same feeling comes over me that I had on the bridge. Climb back over the railing or let go and fall. My eyes go to the door and then they skitter over the man sitting across from me. His amber eyes are so sincere. He really wants to know why I chose a dragonfly.

My eyes drop back to his warm hand still clamped on my arm. My tummy does a little flip. He follows my gaze and seems surprised to find he is still holding on to me. He pulls his hand away, nervously running his fingers through his beard.

His hair is warm chestnut brown with a few grey hairs showing at his temples and a speckling in the very middle of his beard. His beard is full, and it looks soft not wiry like most men. His hair is cut short at the sides, the top is longer and combed to the left in perfect waves. I want to run my fingers through it and mess it up. And his eyes…oh, I’ve already told you about those. I could stare at them all day. They warm me up, like sitting in front of a crackling fire in the fall.

He sits forward, making me jump. “Easy now,” he says in a deep voice that sparks a burning low in my belly.

I sit down…yes, I’m choosing the fall.

He smiles, lines crinkle around his eyes. I like them. I want to see them always.

“My aunt told me dragonflies have two sets of wings so they can carry angels on their backs.”

He blinks at me. His lips part as if he is going to say something, but he snaps them shut and turns away from me.

I watch as he pulls a piece of paper out of a drawer. His pencil scratches across the sheet, an image coming to life with each stroke. He peeks up at me briefly before turning his eyes back to his drawing. “I do have a design of a dragonfly, but I think this one will fit you better.”

“What did the other one look like?”

“It was a skull, dragonfly and roses.”

“Sounds beautiful. I guess I never thought of getting a skull.” My eyes dart around the room. “Will this one have a skull?”

A wicked grin spreads across his face. “Oh, this one will definitely have a skull.”

I bite my lip, a bit giddy that this guy is drawing something just for me. Something dark and…well I guess I don’t know exactly, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Chapter Nine

Dan

???

Iforce myself not to grip my pencil too hard. There is no way Jesse could have known. No way. She must have been looking for something on my desk and spotted my drawing.

God, it’s all so fucking stupid I don’t even want to think about it.

Okay, you want to know, and I see you’re not going anywhere so here it is…I drew the fucking thing when I was lonely. Okay? Shut up.

Raffe told me the same thing as her aunt told her. That dragonflies have two sets of wings to accommodate angels on their backs. See? It’s silly.

I was missing home. Missing something. I don’t know. And I thought to myself wouldn’t it be nice if a goddamn dragonfly brought me an angel. Fuck. I need Dirk to take me to his cabin and unfuck my head.

Ever since Jesse came into my life I’ve been changing. Jesse made me soft. I don’t want to be soft.

She’s watching me draw. Not like some people do. No, she is intently watching my hands. She curled her legs under her so she could lean in closer. With each new line her breathing changes. She’s excited, scared, intrigued, mine. Fuck, no, she’s not mine. I don’t even know who the fuck this girl is. Okay, and there’s that. She is young. Like Jesse’s age young. She seems younger than Jess though. Maybe it’s her innocence.

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