Page 43 of Caper Crush
He knows Edmund well.
“I don’t deny that collectors tend to be obsessive, but that’s not why I collect,” Edmund says.
“Why do you then?” Vinnie asks.
“Undoubtedly, I love my art collection, but it’s so much more than that. I meet so many people who share my interests, and I get to go to all sorts of out-of-the-way places that I would never go to normally if not for this. And I like meeting artists and hearing about their passion and what inspired them. Isn’t that why you became a dealer?”
Vinnie murmurs something that I can’t hear, and then he says, “But there are paintings that I must have.”
“This isn’t one of them for me. I’ve offered what I’m willing to pay,” Edmund says.
Oh no, what if he is coming out?I shift to rise, but my foot has fallen asleep, and the tingling pain almost makes me cry out.
“Sold,” Vinnie says. “Can I show you some others? I have others you may like.”
The water of the wet earth is now seeping through my pants into my underwear. I stretch out my legs so I can get up to leave.
My foot tickles. I look down. And shriek. Some huge, slimy, sluglike thing is crawling on my foot. I jump up and shake my foot.
Shit.
I dash around the side of the house—only to bump straight into a hard chest.
William.His hands reach out to steady me, and then he pulls me closer to him.
“What happened?”
“Slug on my foot.”
“I know I heard something.” Vinnie’s voice. Crunch. They are outside. They must be on the footpath leading to the house.
William flattens me against the wall behind a pine tree that’s close enough to the house to hide us. His chest is against mine.
Our glances meet. We’re inches away. He smells of windy air. I tighten my grip on his biceps. He doesn’t release me. We stare at each other. His eyes widen. He must hear my heart beating. It’s like an electromagnetic force field pulling us together, a connection sparking, that has locked us into this embrace. He grips me tighter.It feels zingy.
He puts his finger to his lips and holds me tightly, and he feels so warm and comforting. His glance flicks to my lips. His ears redden. My heart races.I want to kiss him.
Crunch again.
Edmund says, “I didn’t hear anything. Maybe it was those kids shouting from that house over there. It couldn’t have been Miranda. Their car is gone.”
The front door bangs shut.
We keep still, nerves taut, waiting to see if that’s just a fakeout.
There’s only the sound of some birds chirping.
William releases me, stepping back. It feels cold suddenly.
I look down to pull myself back together.
William grabs my hand, and we slink out behind the house toward the road.
“That was close,” I say.
“Very close.” William blushes.
We walk down the curving, black road, under the canopy of the trees, past the few houses scattered here and there.
