Page 58 of Private Exhibit
“What do you usually do on the weekends?” he couldn't help asking.
Andy breathed a humorless laugh. “Watch a lot of movies. Or play video games with Junior.” He looked all around. “Honestly, I hate them,” he quietly admitted, “but Junior loves them, and I like seeing him happy. He needs some victories, no matter how small.”
“You let him win?” Devon guessed.
Andy barked a laugh. “Not even close. He trounces my ass without even trying, I'm that bad.”
Devon chuckled.
“What about you?” Andy asked. “What's your weekend typically like?”
Devon shrugged. “Oli and I pretty much spend all day on our computers.”
“Hacking?”
“Yeah.” Devon blushed and quickly added, “I mean, it's white-hat stuff. We get paid to test security, but…”
Andy couldn't seem to hold back a tiny smirk. “But?”
Devon took a sip of his coffee. “I'm also nosy,” he mumbled. “I spent a lot of time, stuck in bed, living my life through otherpeople. But that was after I tried finding out about my parents and the people who were supposed to adopt me.”
“I'm sorry,” Andy murmured.
“It's alright,” Devon said with a shrug. “Honestly, I didn't look for them hard enough because a part of me was always afraid that it would turn out the way it did. Although, what they did to Hayden was worse. I mean, growing up in an orphanage sucked, but if I'd gotten adopted andthenfound out I'd been taken away from my twin?” Devon shook his head. “I don't know how he'll ever forgive them for that.” Devon laughed. “Then again, making them go to that wedding…”
Andy frowned, looking completely lost.
“Oh, sorry. That scene at the club last weekend–”
Gods. Was that really just last weekend?How the hells had his life taken such a dramatic turn in just a matter of days?
“Dev?”
“Huh?” Devon blinked. “Oh.” He shook his head. “Sorry. I was just realizing we only first saw one another a week ago…”
“Feels longer,” Andy murmured.
“Yeah.”
“But in a good way,” Andy added.
Devon blushed.
“So what about that scene?” Andy asked.
“Huh? Oh. Right. That was a wedding. Hayden going down on Thomas in front of witnesses.”
Andy's eyebrows went up, then a thoughtful look crossed his face. “Is that like a Falsiner thing?”
“Yeah. How'd you know?”
“We studied comparative biology in med school. The man has almost all the hallmarks of Falsiner anatomy.” Andy paused. “What was with the bones in his hair?”
“Oh! Those were his kills.”
Andy blinked. “His what?”
Devon turned sideways on the couch, cradling his mug in both hands as he told Andy the story that Hayden had told him: how Hayden had been kidnapped to get ransom from Thomas. How Thomas had found Hayden trapped in an old lumber mill, his left arm literally bolted to the floor. How Thomas had killed the kidnappers in a fit of rage, then cut off Hayden's left hand to free him from the welded bracket holding him down. Afterwards, before the kidnappers' bodies were cremated, Hayden had arranged to have a finger bone removed from each of them to present to Thomas as a wedding gift. “Because Falsiners braid a bone from each kill into their hair,” Devon explained. “Not human, usually. It's supposed to be from the animals they hunt for food. But it's symbolic. To show a man's strength and prowess.”
