For the Love of Art Pt. 03

He wasn't one to linger or bathe in afterglows. To him, his job was done, or as he put it, I was done, even if I was barely staying coherent. That was why my smile was levels beneath his.

He must have seen it, because soon after, he skewed his lips and said, "Let's get you to a shower, then bed. The night isn't quite over for me." He led us up the spiral staircase where I found myself looking up at him in wonder. Multiple times tonight, I had doubted him, considered him as a passing stranger. But as I walked perfectly in his shadow, I'd never felt closer to anyone.

"Here," he said as we reached the end of the hall. We were stopped at a door that was opposite of another. "The bathroom is attached to my room. All the others on this level have give or take functionality. Shirt drawer is top left. Help yourself."

I shook my head. "You knew I'd be trapped here."

"Don't be dramatic. I simply assumed." He opened the door and stepped aside for me to enter.

When he didn't follow, I paused, turned back.

He crossed his arms.

I stood there, taking the scrutiny better than I ever had. "What?"

"Mm." Back to his language of obscurity. "Like I said earlier. Something's wrong. Something you're still not telling me."

He just couldn't let it go. He was like a hound on a week-old scent. The portraits in the basement, the photo in the book, both had been far off my mind, but somehow he'd detected it beneath the layers of my starting comfort. I couldn't lie to myself, no matter how content and comfortable I became around him. Something was wrong, and it wasn't with me, but the secrets loitering his home. The question was, should I tell him of either of them? Or did I keep both advantages to myself, dig deeper before I drew my own conclusions instead of his potential lies?

In the end, it really boiled down to one thing: could I trust him?

*****

Long A/N: I stated in the previous installment how I had the story all mapped out, but as the delay may have revealed, things took a turn (read: I got bored). I find it difficult to adhere to smut smut smut, so story content naturally takes precedence. Alas, this is literotica, home of da smut; we want da smut, I know. And smut there shall be, but to be truthful guys, this isn't even my genre. I like supernatural crazy shit with dragons dropping from the sky. That said, I have a low attention span when it comes to normal, real-life stuff like interracial love without fairies dancing into the story and I get bored of it easily. So I want to spruce it up, for my own enjoyment and to heighten your reading experience. (Mostly my enjoyment.)

After playing multiple 'choice and consequence' games this Christmas (This War of Mine, Dreamfall), I've grown rather fond of the dynamic and would like to apply it to my future installments and stories. That being so, there are too many directions I can have FLA go (good, great, bad or downright devastatingly tenebrific), but I want you all to dictate it. Below are the upcoming actions Grace can take. Tell me which you think it should be and in five days, whichever action has the majority vote, I'll go with. So hurry and vote or sit back and watch as others potentially fuck shit up. If it ties, I'll decide. I'll say this once: Each action will HEAVILY impact the course of the story and their relationship. Because I have no life atm, I've spent days applying much thought to the possible paths and consequences of each action. Nothing can be undone, so choose wisely.

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A) Grace asks about Clare LaMonte, revealing she discovered material in the woman's old book.

B) Grace asks about the multiple paintings of herself, revealing she pried around in his art gallery.

C) Grace keeps both secrets to herself, and decides to uncover more information from his room.

~~~

That aside, while waiting for the votes, I started two new stories because boredom.