Page 12 of Visions of You
"What's your fascination with Keegan?" Mordyn asked, sliding Jaron's drink over to him when it arrived.
Jaron took a sip, trying to find an appropriate answer for this. "I'm not sure," he admitted eventually. "I don't know him well."
"But you think he's hot?"
"D'uh." What a dumb question. "You got eyes, don't you?"
Mordyn laughed. "I don't look at Keegan that way, but hey, if you do…" He shrugged one shoulder. "But you've got to understand that he won't make it easy for you."
Jaron blew out a breath. He'd already suspected as much.
He didn't mind a challenge, though.
"Do you know where Keegan spends most of his nights?" Mordyn asked. "In this building. In his room, in the lounge or at the club. And yet he just happens to be out tonight. Can you guess why?"
Jaron looked down at his drink. "Are you saying that he's avoiding me?"
"I didn't know that you were going to be here," Mordyn said. "But you can bet he did."
Jaron wondered about that. What was Keegan's deal? Sure, he hadn't been super welcoming to Jaron last night, but there'd definitely been interest in his gaze when he'd checked Jaron out. "I could wait here," Jaron mused. "He's got to come back at some point."
"I'm sure Keegan can find somewhere else to stay for a little while," Mordyn pointed out. The vampire seemed more than a little entertained by Jaron's behavior. "You really want to waste your whole night sitting here just for a chance that he might show up?"
Well, put like that, it did make Jaron seem desperate.
"What would you do?" he asked Mordyn.
"For one, I wouldn't pursue Keegan."
Jaron crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Good," he said. "You shouldn't."
Mordyn laughed again. Then he eyed Jaron a little more closely. "You seem serious about this, and since my friend seems to want to avoid you… You probably have a good chance at getting somewhere with him."
Jaron shot Mordyn a questioning look. What was that supposed to mean?
"Trust me," Mordyn said. "If you were any random guy who had the hots for him, he'd just shoot you down and be done with it. I've seen him do it plenty of times. Keegan doesn't go out of his way to predict someone's moves unless they matter."
Well, that was something. Jaron took a sip of his drink to distract himself from the flutters in his stomach. Then he turned to Mordyn again. "So I should be flattered?"
"Maybe a little. And here's some advice, if you want to date a seer, you should get used to being confused."
Jaron considered this. It would be easy for Keegan to stay one step ahead of Jaron, wouldn't it? "Can he predict everything I'll do?"
"I don't understand exactly how his powers work," Mordyn admitted, "but he's not infallible. As far as I know, he sees different versions of the future, multiple possibilities. If you want to catch him off guard even a little, you've got to make sure the future that actually comes to pass is the least probable one. That's the one he typically doesn't prepare for."
Jaron mulled over Mordyn's advice as he nursed his cider. Make the least probable future happen, huh? That was easier said than done when he had no idea what Keegan's visions showed him. For all Jaron knew, the seer had predicted this very conversation and already had countermeasures in place.
"He's not all-powerful," Mordyn said as if to encourage Jaron.
Jaron glanced at Mordyn. "Why are you helping me anyway? Isn't Keegan your friend?"
"Let's just say that Keegan's meddled a lot in my love life and I'm happy to return the favor."
"I see."
Jaron considered his options.
Catching Keegan off guard, doing the least expected thing… Jaron had a feeling that no matter what he tried, Keegan would see it coming from a mile away.
