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A Better Start

last update Last Updated: 2024-11-19 04:46:53

Harper

The rest of the evening is a blur. Michael has to circulate, of course, but he comes back to Damien and me frequently to check in. He asks where I’m showing my work. I blush and say, “The Witch’s Brew coffee shop on Lake Street in Minneapolis.”

Michael grins at me. “A perfect place to start.”

“You’ll have to give some pieces to a proper gallery now, though. People will be wondering where to find your work,” Damien whispers in my ear.

“Because you announced it in front of the press!” I reply.

Damien gives me an innocent look. “Did I do that?”

I squeeze his arm in gratitude, and he laughs.

It’s late by the time we leave Michael, Julian and the rest of Damien’s acquaintances at the gallery. I can’t help but note that Damien didn’t call any of them his friends.

“Do your friends not attend gallery openings?” I ask.

Damien winces at me. “Caught that, did you? I don’t have a lot of friends, Harper. A man like me makes a lot of enemies. I do have one good friend, Laurence Killian, but
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    Two weeks later…Harper“WHOOOOOO! GO RAFE, GO!” I scream from the private suite where we are watching Rafe’s game.“Maybe we’re supposed to call him Bullet?” Tomás asks, eating off a plate of catered food next to me.“I figure if you’re sleeping with the man, you get to call him whatever you want,” Damien says dryly. He sips something expensive—scotch, I’m assuming—from a tumbler, but loses all sophistication when Rafe gets sacked. “Roughing the passer!”“They can’t flag the play every time Rafe gets sacked. This isn’t touch football,” Scott chuckles. He’s munching popcorn, more a fan of that snack than the buffet fare.Damien purses his lips. “I wonder how much it would cost…”I reach past Tomás to slap his shoulder. “Don’t even think about it.”

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