Page 19 of Psychopath

“But you ask all these questions, it’s only natural I’m curious about you too. Aren’t the others?”

Out of all the participants, Zane was the first to ask Quinn about himself. Most of them enjoyed the sound of their own voice and cut him off when he talked, but Zane cocked his head and waited.

“What’s the harm in getting to know you?”

Quinn placed his pencil on the table. “Okay. My dad loved astronomy. He would show me the constellations. Even on the coldest nights, if the sky was clear, we’d wrap up warm, fill a flask, and find the stars.”

They'd always planned on seeing the northern lights together, the ultimate astronomy experience, but it never happened.

“It made you happy?”

Quinn startled. “Yeah, it made me happy.”

“Is he still alive?”

“No. A year ago now…”

Maybe it wasn’t the holiday, maybe it had been then, when Quinn had withdrawn into himself to grieve. Maybe he’d pushed Damon away and into the arms of—

“But you still like the stars?”

“Huh?” Quinn snapped his head up. “Sorry.”

“I asked if you still like the stars.”

Quinn nodded. “I still go out and look.”

“Go out?”

“There’s a field behind my house.”

“Makes sense, no seeing the stars in the city, or not the twinkling type.”

“Exactly. I live in a small village, not as much light pollution.”

Zane looked away. “I don’t see them here, not even through the windows.”

Quinn frowned, then whispered, “Floodlights.”

“Not that I’ve ever really looked at the night sky. It’s irrelevant to me, specks of white on endless black. It borders pointless.”

“On a clear night, it can seem quite magical.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Quinn snorted. “But it’s not quite the same without my dad.”

“Don’t you have someone else to look at the sky with, your mum?”

“I could but…”

“But what?”

“She moved away after my dad died. I really should fly out to see her soon.” He swallowed. “It’s been a while.”

Zane hummed. “Anyone else?”

“Erm—not really.”

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