There were only two doors in the maintenance hall, besides the one that shut behind me.Ī deep mechanical sound chugged from behind the one left open. I checked to see if anyone was watching before I went in.Ĭold fluorescents replaced track lighting, and the hum of the ventilation system snuffed out a burst of laughter. He disappeared around a partition and through a door. I followed the stranger’s trail of color all the way to the back of the gallery. Greetings cast out by guests floated in shades of black and gray. Heat from the track lighting pressed down on my shoulders. They’d smile and laugh and remain deaf to the confession screaming to be told. They’d hang it in their country home or put it in their yacht. Then she’d slay them with her silver tongue, and by the end of the night, they’d write a check for some ungodly amount and buy a piece of hell I’d spewed out into the world.
Darcy and his flavor-of-the-year wife some excuse on my behalf. “If you don’t mind, of course.” I slipped into the crowd. I think she knew I was lying but didn’t want to call me out on it in front of her friends. “These people came a long way to meet you.” Only one person could see the dirty secret hidden within the lines, the color, the violence. Whatever it was he wanted to say to me, I’d heard it before Mind-blowing, so unique, see the passion, the fire, and my favorite, it speaks to me. Darcy was asking you about one of your works.” Julia put her hand on my arm.
I drank my champagne while the stranger picked his way through the clumps of people gathered in front of the hideous paintings I had on display. A belt held up his pants, and the waves of extra fabric did nothing to accentuate the ass I knew was just as perfect as the rest of him. He wasn’t cut by money or shaped by political interests, and the rental he wore was a bad joke in the ocean of Versace suits and Chanel ball gowns, fitting him tight across the shoulders and short in the arms. I knew he didn’t belong the moment I saw him.
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