“I wasn’t having a meltdown when I was ranting about my boots, I was terrified you and the rest of the club would think I meant it. I had to say something, to get Mike to believe me, to convince him I’d suddenly seen the light, but I worried about how you’d react.”
His head tilted, his eyes studied her face. “And as soon as I told you I knew you’d just been saying it, you snapped back to the next problem, and fixed it.”
Gen moved her steak around, deciding whether to tell him what was on her mind, and finally just said it, “I managed a brave face this morning with Veronica, but I’m mortified the club knows you had to teach me how to…”
“Oh, Beautiful. I’m so sorry it came out like that. I can’t make them forget it, but I’ve put the word out no one else is to bring it up to you. Veronica was so far out of line this morning… I have no idea what she was thinking.”
“She’s thinking she gave herself to you however many times you used her, and she wasn’t good enough, but I am, even though I’m apparently inexperienced, and she hates me for it.”
He looked at her a few seconds, sighed, and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“Just, sorry for the whole thing. I want to protect you, keep you from anything that might hurt you, but I don’t seem to be doing too good of a job.”
“Mike was my fault. My ex. Not your fault. Veronica is a bitch, but I get why she is. I’d be helpful if I knew how to tell who’s stronger and faster, though.”
Duke put his fork on the plate, leaned back, and said, “Speaking of which, I want to try an experiment.”
“Okay,” she said, caution in her voice.
He closed his eyes, opened them, and suddenly Gen smelled everything. The perfume from the woman a few tables over, the sweat of the man on the other side of Duke, the fresh beer in the hand of the approaching waiter, and millions of food smells.
Suddenly, it was gone, and she said, “No, do it again.”
His face registered surprise, but he gave it to her again, and she looked around and matched what she was smelling with the visuals — the people, foods, plants, and airflows.
“Is it hard, to share it with me?”
He shook his head and it went away again. “Might take a bit for me to be able to carry on a conversation and do it, but just sitting here, it isn’t hard.”
“So, they said we may be able to talk to each other like that, I’m guessing you can send me smells instead?”
“Yeah. I smelled what you were smelling once last night, and then again this morning when you were in the kitchen. I guess you were thinking about me, wishing I knew what was happening in your head, and it sent me what you were smelling.”
“Do you get all the information I get from you? Or is it the bland, nothingness I apparently smell on a daily basis.”
He smiled. “The latter. However, we can use this to our advantage. Metaphysical gifts fall under different rules, so while I can’t tell you who is and who isn’t one of us, I can share my sense of smell with you, so you can see for yourself.”
“Wow, that’s pretty cool. It’s like a whole new world. It’s kind of cheating, isn’t it? I mean, you said you can smell fear and arousal. I can see how knowing those things could come in handy.”
“I can also smell a lie, assuming the person hasn’t convinced themselves they’re telling the truth, but in that case sometimes I can usually smell the crazy.”
Her mind immediately went to her telling him she wanted ginger tea when she intended to go into her safe room, so she asked, “Then why did you go downstairs and make the ginger tea?”
He chuckled. “Good to know you’re owning up to it, but at the time you weren’t feeling well, and apparently you really did want the tea, so it didn’t come off as a total lie. I knew something was off, but couldn’t figure out what it was and figured it couldn’t hurt to get you some ginger tea if it would help.”
She looked at him a few seconds and said, “I’m not sorry I did it. You’re kind of a bully when you don’t get your way, and I’m not sure I’ll always tolerate you just doing whatever the hell you want.”
He considered his words before answering, “I don’t follow orders very well, and I pretty much do whatever the hell I want. I also go after what I want, and I don’t often take no for an answer. You don’t want me sexually? Fine, I’ll leave you alone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stay close, make sure you’re taken care of, hold you in your sleep.”
Gen wondered what he’d have said had he not taken a moment, but decided not to ask. “I’m not going to borrow trouble, just letting you know, when you’ve pissed me off those tactics won’t work. And, should you ever cheat on me, or lie to me big, I’ll take steps to keep you away.”