Page 6 of When to Call a Blitz

“I don’t know,” I tell her, biting my thumb.

“You’re coming out with us,” she states finally. “Come home and get changed. There’s a showing at the gallery at eight and we’ll grab drinks and nachos after.”

We hang up on a sigh, and while I’m pulling out of the park, I can’t help but feel like I’d rather be going anywhere else.

“Have you ever thought about showing some of your photographs here?” Isla asks for the twentieth time.

My stomach drops. “I haven’t photographed anything that could really be put in here.” Taking a sip of my champagne, I silently pray she drops it this time.

“You used to though. Why don’t you start that back up?”

“Portraits pay the bills,” I shrug, clearly leaving out that they don’t even really do that.

Isla’s eyes narrow at me slightly, and I can tell that she’s not going to ever let this drop.

I throw up my hand. “I’ll think about it, okay?” I ask with a smile.

“We’ll come up with a game plan. I really think that it could be huge for you,” she tells me with a smile. She’s always been so incredibly sure of me, but why, I’ve never understood.

The place is packed with two types of people: men and women dressed to the nines with more money than they know what to do with falling out of their pockets, and artsy types looking around for inspiration. I know these types well, because both Isla and I were these people years ago.

I’m still that person.

I can walk into any room and find inspiration. It’s in the woman across the room wearing a fairly unassuming necklace I happen to know is an eternity collar who casually moves in a perfect orbit around the tall, muscular older man studying a particularly provocative piece. It’s in the mom who walked in five minutes ago with her five-year-old only to realize what she’s walking into and take a sharp turn back out the door.

It's in the dim lighting, the smell of vanilla and bourbon being pumped into the room, and the… the men walking into the gallery right now with their hats tipped low.

Men that look strangely familiar.

It’s not until the tall one up front stops suddenly, the two behind him barreling into him, that I realize it.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Isla hisses under her breath, tipping her champagne back with a rough swallow. Wiping her lips with her arm, she looks toward the men with a killer glare. “I told him to stop with this shit.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I whip it out, Isla following suit.

Briar

He said he was running out for coffee creamer, but I just checked and he’s in your area. Keep an eye out and I’ll kick his ass when he gets home.

Leo has been banned from Isla’s showings since the first time he showed up, causing everyone in the area to flock to him and forget all about Isla’s work. It was truly sad and tragic for her and I don’t think she’s completely forgiven him for it even to this day.

But the thing about Leo Warner is that he’s going to try to do the right thing every time. He just fucks up sometimes in the process.

In an attempt to make up for what happened and also show support for his sister, he’s tried sneaking into multiple showings recently wearing a broad array of disguises. Mustaches he definitely stole from Owen, a wig that looked like it was purchased straight from Spirit Halloween, and today, a simple baseball cap.

Usually it’s just him, and Isla sends him packing back home to Briar, who does, in fact, kick his ass. She’s our first line of defense, and although she’s pretty good most of the time, she can’t completely contain the giant, lovable man child at all times.

He’s come a long way in a short amount of time, but if there’s one thing that he’ll probably never lose, it’s the desire to support his sister even when she simply doesn’t need it.

“Want me to take care of him?” I ask with a sigh.

“There’s more of them tonight. We can both go.”

Of course I knew that there were multiple of them when they first walked in. But what I really didn’t take into account is who the other two were.

It’s when I look closer at the massive man close behind Leo that ice freezes in my veins.

And when his eyes meet mine, widening just so before looking away, panic begins to set in.

---