Page 31 of Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places
Intuitive body language and patterned behavior recognition
And a…little something extra. She was still working on defining what enabled her to access someone’s primary nature, as well as the magnetic compulsion to read them.
“My apologies.” For a split second, Stephen’s gaze twinkled briefly with amusement. He smothered it quickly. Interesting. “What I meant to say was you demonstrated your ability on Maverick, which he confirmed to be accurate. However there was a”—he paused—“discrepancyin how he reported it happening versus what was filmed.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“That’s what we want to know,” Georgia said, thankfully jumping in. Lucky appreciated the way she always cut straight to the heart of things. “Maverick made it seem like it was a once-in-a-lifetime, magical experience but it looked boring as shit. You two were just talking. There was more chemistry in the footage from this morning.”
Chase added, “We’d like it if you could demonstrate reading one of us with everyone in the room. For comparison.”
While Stephen was high drama, Georgia was as blunt as a court transcript. Chase seemed to ride somewhere in the middle,balancing them both out. Lucky exchanged a look with Maverick, who said, “Only if you’re up for it. You don’t have to.”
And he was the one who made sure everyone was comfortable. Safe.
Rebel asked, “Can you read me too?”
Lucky smiled. “I already did. When I first met you.”
“Oh.” Rebel pouted a little. “I didn’t feel anything.”
“Because you’re not supposed to.”
“What did you see?”
“Well, you…are a little troublemaker.”
“No, I’m not.” Rebel giggled.
“You’re going to give your dad a lot of gray hairs,” she teased.
“Noooo,” she giggle-whined. “Tell megoodstuff.”
Lucky hesitated, unintentionally looking to Maverick for permission to translate for Rebel. He nodded. She didn’t need to remove her glasses to recall the reading but did it anyway for the drama. They were recording after all. She also wanted to try the technique Maverick encouraged her to use again.
“Look at me, please,” she said while focusing on Rebel’s face. Everything behind her instantly transformed into an impressionist painting, a blur of softening colors and shapes. “You possess a unique point of view. It will not age even as you do, but you will grow together. You’ll always see the world in a way that most won’t because they’ve forgotten how. They’re not going to like that you can do what they cannot so they will try to take it from you—in any way they can. Don’t let them break you. Okay?”
“Okay,” Rebel agreed, eyes wide.
“And you’re an artist. You haven’t found it yet, but the medium you’re mostdrawnto won’t be a natural talent. You’ll have to work hard to master it even if it scares you, and it willsometimes.” Lucky inhaled, squeezing her eyes shut as the reading slotted back into its place within her memory palace. Glasses on, she blinked several times to clear her vision…only to see the entire table staring at her. Stephen was even recording on his phone.
“Oh mygod,” Georgia breathed, before turning to Maverick. “You weren’t kidding.”
“What? That’s what I read—the gist of it, anyway.”
Stephen asked, “Did you know your voice changes when you do that?”
“Um, no? Changes how?” Stephen played his video, but she didn’t understand what he’d meant. “What are you talking about? I always sound like that.”
“That’s not how it sounded, though.” Georgia pointed to the screen. “This sounds normal. You didn’t.”
Lucky swallowed hard. Unease pressed against her spine like she was being backed into a spiked corner. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sorry,” Maverick said immediately, flashing warning looks across the table with ease. “It’s not a big deal. Thank you for demonstrating, Lucky. We appreciate you.”
“Would you be willing to do it once more?” Stephen asked. “Since you admitted to already reading Rebel, it might be a good idea to capture the entire process, beginning to end.”
“I’d rather not.” No one was going to experiment on her. No one was going to pressure her to do readings. She did them on her terms only. “I’m not a party trick,” she repeated, tone firm as stone.
