Page 14 of Private Exhibit
A phone rang, interrupting him. Mr. Bokin stood, muttering an apology. He answered his mobile as he stepped out into the hallway.
Dr. Gerard watched him go, then leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Why did you run away the other night?” he asked.
Devon felt a blush take over his face.Oh gods. “Um.” He pressed his knees together and clasped his hands tightly on his lap, struggling not to let himself rock.
“Did you regret–”
Devon gasped. “No! Gods, no.” Devon shook his head. “That was the best experience of my life,” he blurted out, then felt his cheeks go hot again.
The doctor's expression softened, a hint of a smile starting to show on his face. He slowly stood and stepped around the desk. There was something predatory about the movement. Almost a prowl.
Devon shivered and had to bite back a moan. The man simply radiated confidence and power. It was glorious. It took everything Devon had not to drop to his knees right then and there.
Dr. Gerard shoved a stack of files out of the way and perched on the corner of his desk, quickly eyeing his boss in the hallway before leaning down over Devon. “So why did you leave?” he whispered.
Devon opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated, his heart sinking.Shit. He was going to have to tell the man about his disease, and that would ruin everything. Not that there was anything to ruin, really. It wasn't like they were anything more to one another than a simple, anonymous scene. Still, once he said it, the man would want nothing to do with him, neither for a job nor for anything else.
Before he could say a word, Mr. Bokin came back in, apologizing for the interruption.
Dr. Gerard stood up, breaking the intimacy of the moment, but it didn't make it any easier for Devon to breathe.
“So,” Mr. Bokin said, eyeing Dr. Gerard before turning to Devon, “tell us a little about yourself. You have Tanasian blood, first of all, yes? So you can see ghosts?”
“Um, yes,” Devon replied, then blushed. “I mean, no. I mean, yes, I'm part Tanasian, but I can't see ghosts, actually. Not anymore. I had that ability taken away when I was a kid.”
Dr. Gerard visibly tensed. “Taken away, how?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Honestly? I'm not really sure. Something about a barrier of telekinetic energy that somebody built around my mind, cutting off my extrasensory perception. I don't even know how he did it, but it worked–” Devon broke off, thinking of the other night.
There had been someone at the club. Someone he somehow felt but couldn't see. Before he'd run into Dr. Gerard, he'd gottena sense that somebody was watching him. But it was more than that. It was like his mind recognized something nearby, something that couldn't be discerned with the five basic senses.
He had caught a fleeting glimpse of long, dark hair, but that was it. Devon had barely been able to process that much when the feeling suddenly vanished. Was it the guy who'd saved his life all those years ago? That odd sense of familiarity almost seemed to guarantee it, except Devon had no way to prove it. He'd never seen the man's face. Not the other night nor back when he was a kid.
And then this sexy man had come along, inviting him to watch, and Devon had forgotten all about it.
“Why would somebody do that to you?” Dr. Gerard asked, interrupting Devon's thoughts.
“Huh?” Devon blinked, trying to put the memories aside so he could process the question. Once it clicked, he shook his head. “Oh. It saved my life.” He saw both men raise their eyebrows, so he explained, “I used to see ghostseverywhere. So many that I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was so crowded. And when they realized I could see them, they'd be all over me, begging for help. As a kid, it was too much. But then I also used to get these…episodes. If anyone near me was suffering badly enough, my mind would pick it up, and then I'd wind up feeling the same things they did. It was worse whenever I was in the hospital. If someone came in with an injury, I'd feel it, and my mind was so sensitive to it that it would actually cause the same injury on my body. Cuts were the worst. One time, a guy came in with stab wounds all over, and my mind started tearing my skin open in all the same places he was injured.”
“My gods,” Dr. Gerard breathed, looking horrified.
“Fascinating,” Mr. Bokin said. “I've only ever met one other person who could do that. Saira Crawford. Lovely woman. Sheowns Hawkeye Security with her husband. Her son is one of our doctors here–”
“But that doesn't happen anymore?” Dr. Gerard asked, interrupting his boss.
Devon shook his head. “No, thank gods. Two sensory conditions are bad enough without having a third.”
“Twootherconditions?” Dr. Gerard asked.
“Yeah. I'm on the neurodivergent spectrum,” Devon explained. “But I also–” He broke off, realizing what he'd been about to say.Shit. If he told them about his disease, he'd be talking himself out of a job for sure. Nobody would want to hire someone who could die at any moment. Still, it didn't feel right keeping it a secret, especially once he'd started blurting it out anyway. Besides, these men were medical professionals and were probably at least somewhat familiar with the rare disease. They would be more likely to understand than a person who had never heard of it. Devon took a deep breath, glancing from Dr. Gerard to Mr. Bokin and back, then said, “I have Ashworth-Grahams Disease.”
Dr. Gerard stumbled against his desk. He caught himself, nearly sending a teetering pile of files to the floor. The man stared at Devon, eyes wide and chest heaving. “Wh-What?”
That was when the familiarity of the man's name and face finally clicked, Devon's mind breaking through the context of the present setting and the way they'd met.
Oh! Oh my gods.Pictures of the man hadn't remotely done him justice. It was like looking at a completely different person.
Before Devon could say anything, Dr. Gerard took a shaky step backwards and gasped, “Get out.”
