Page 51 of The Devil's Tattoo
Chapter12
Turnedout the art gallery I was dropped off at was the National Gallery ofAustralia.
I wandered through the collections but hardly took in anything. The one saving grace of this place was that it was quiet like I’d hoped it would be. With it being a weekday, not many people were around. I didn’t want to see anyone. Not even a bunch ofstrangers.
Wandering into the Impressionist gallery, I stopped in front of a Monet painting of a haystack and stared at all the little brushstrokes, picking out the individual colors. I probably stood there looking like a zombie for a full fifteen minutes before I sat on the bench behind me. Luckily, the room wasempty.
I gathered it had been about forty-five minutes since I’d fled. What the hell had happened? My past had come crashing down so fast it had almost suffocated me. Things had been so good lately. So good in fact that all that crap had started to become a tiny blip on my radar. Now it was the only thingonit.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I tried to forget the feeling of Will’s hands on me. His lips. His kiss. But I burned with the memory of it. I also burned with anothermemory.
I wasn’t going back there. SoI’drun.
My phone began to ring, and it was shrill in the silence, making me jump. I fumbled it out of the pocket of my jeans and saw it was Dee. Will would’ve said something to him by now. He didn’t have mynumber.
I pressed the green accept icon and pressed the phone tomyear.
“Zoe?” Dee soundedfrantic.
“Yeah,” I replied, any energy I had suddenly fleeing thescene.
“Areyouokay?”
I wanted to shrug, but it wouldn’t have translated well on a phone call. Instead, Igrunted.
“Whathappened?”
“Ican’t.”
“He’s worried about you, Zoe. SoamI.”
“What did you say?” I asked thinly, the accusation clear in myvoice.
“Nothing. It’s not my place to tell himanything.”
“You had betternothave.”
“Zoe, come back. He cares for you. We all do. Right now, you’re scaring the shitouttame.”
“I can’trightnow.”
“At least tell me where you are so I can come and sitwithyou.”
“I can’t keep draining your life, Dee. It’snotfair.”
“Maybe not, but I want to. I love you, you know.” The silence wasdeafening.
“I’m at the National Gallery,” I saidnumbly.
“Where are youinside?”
“I’m looking at Monet’sHaystacks.”
“Don’t move. I’mcoming.”
I let the phone drop into my lap and watched the calldisconnect.
You know what they say in books and movies about how people fall in love, and it consumes them? I didn’t believe it. Not for one second. That kind of love? I’d tried and tried but never found it, and I couldn’t believe anymore. I’d thought I had it, but it was a lie. What if this thing with Will was the biggest fib of all? I couldn’t go through that chaos again. It just hurttoomuch.
