The Fate of the Muse - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,120

said under my breath as I slipped back out, locking the door behind me.

Ethan was leaning against his truck in the misty moonlight, and when he saw me coming back with my bag he smiled from his head to his feet.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

CHAPTER TWENTYEIGHT

RESOLVE

We sat down to coffee the next morning, smiling shyly at each other. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but now that I’d agreed to share the apartment with him, something had changed between us. We skirted around each other gingerly, uncertain as to how we should behave. Everything felt new and awkward, and I kept catching Ethan watching me when I wasn’t looking. It was more than a little bit alarming.

I poured some milk in my coffee and looked up to meet his eyes again, “You know, if we’re going to do this, you have to let me pay the rent too.”

He shook his head no, “I can manage.”

I reached for my purse, pulling out the fat envelope of cash that I’d been hauling around, slapping it down on the table, “I want you to focus on school. I insist.”

He looked surprised at the amount, studying me with his brows knit together.

“It’s mine,” I said defiantly, “And it’s just been piling up… Susan’s gallery owes me another two thousand already.”

“I don’t want your money,” he said proudly.

“I thought we were supposed to be getting married… Doesn’t that make it our money?”

“We’re not married yet,” he said.

“Ethan… just take it, okay?” I paused, finally bitterly voicing one of the things that had been making me uneasy, “It’s like people are just throwing money at me… The paintings are only selling so well because of the whole… you know… muse thing.”

His eyes softened, “Don’t be ridiculous!” he said, “Your paintings are awesome. Everybody really likes them.”

I cast him a cynical look, for no matter how nice he tried to be, I knew that everything I did was colored by the strange powers I’d never asked for.

He smiled grudgingly, “You shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“You and your horses,” I said sarcastically. He just grinned at me.

I snorted in irritation, unfolding the paper and snapping it open. What I saw made me forget all about how bull-headed Ethan was being about money.

“Four Dead In Tragic House Fire” the headline screamed, and I felt sick to my stomach as I read the grim details.

“What would your dad think if he found out you were paying my rent?” Ethan kept protesting, but I was no longer listening to him.

The story went on to say that the bodies were burned beyond recognition, and that dental records were being used to identify them. The lone female victim was identified as recently elected Congresswoman Watson, victim of a home invasion robbery at her family’s lavish beach house. Several weapons were recovered at the scene, but an exact cause of death would never be known.

The three men were presumed to be the suspects, and I didn’t doubt that they’d find long criminal records for each of them. I shuddered with revulsion when I remembered the cold, dead glint in their hardened eyes. If a completely emotionless, sociopathic nature was what it took to be immune to muse powers, then how did you explain Ethan?

“If I were him–” Ethan stopped when he saw the look on my face.

I handed him the paper and he read it, frowning. He finally put it down and reached across the table for my hand, “Maybe that’ll teach Edwards to leave you alone now.”

I sighed, “He’ll never give up on Nixie.”

“But she’ll be okay, right? I mean, you warned her mother…”

“Sister,” I said absentmindedly, thinking about what Evie would make of Nathan Edward’s evil plans.

“What?”

“Nevermind,” I said.

“I hate it when you do that,” he replied.

“Do you know what I hate?” I asked with an exasperated look, pushing the cash towards him.

He looked at it, thinking, “We’ll see,” he said in a conciliatory tone.

My phone rang in Ethan’s room and I got up to answer it; it was Cruz. Brad had spoken to his father, telling him that he that we had unwittingly stumbled into a robbery. Since none of us could prove anything against the Edwards family, both Cruz and Brad pretended to know nothing, and truthfully, there was no reason for Cruz to know any more than he already did.

The guys were going to lunch with Evie today too, and Cruz asked me what I was going to wear, excited about taking Brad to