Read Finding Orion for Free Online

couldn’t
say I wasn’t glad for the company.
    I nearly
jumped when Jace cleared his throat and changed
directions, slowly making his way back to the bar.
    "Think
your neighbors will be asleep by now?" He raised an eyebrow at me and
shoved his hands in his pockets before rolling his shoulders back.
    I know that look. Had he just turned into
someone else? I swallowed and gave him a casual perusal. His hair may have been
a little ruffled from the wind, and he might not have had a tattoo on his arm,
but those eyes! I’d memorized them from the night before. He had the same exact
eyes. Hell, even the small flecks of silver near the iris were there.
    He stopped dead
in his tracks and tilted his head to one side. "What?" He glanced
back over his shoulder, then back at me. "Do I have something on my face?"
    I shivered
when he grinned, and I told myself it was a chill. "I know I said it
earlier, but you really do look familiar."
    Gravel
shifted under our feet as we passed over a handful of unpaved driveways. Jace dug his phone from his pocket, turned it on, and
flipped through a handful of images before handing it to me. "Still look
familiar?" he asked.
    The image was
of him without a shirt. By the look of it, the shot had been taken at night
with a lot of light going on around him. There were two other guys as well, one
to either side of Jace . I squinted and inspected the
image further. The Jace in the picture had a darker
patch of skin on the side of his one shoulder. Another tattoo. And like with Orion’s, I couldn’t make
out any of the details.
    He had ink.
It might not have been on his forearm or even been a snake, but he had at least
one tattoo somewhere on his body.
    I handed the
phone back to him, and my dumbfounded gaze was probably obvious because Jace’s smile grew.
    "I take
that as a yes?"
    God, I wish I knew who you really were. "I was
admiring your tattoo, actually."
    "Huh?"
He held the phone up so he could see, and like me, he peered at the hint of ink
on his one shoulder. He laughed. "What do you know, you’re right." He
shrugged when I gave him a curious glance. "Temporary. Well, that one was
at least."
    "You
have more?" I took the phone away from him, eager to see if there were
other images of ink and bare skin inside his cell. "Do you have pictures?"
    "Afraid
not." He paused and pointed at a photo of a dog that looked a lot
like some wild animal. "That’s Bear, our old dog." He got quiet then.
"Damn mut . You can give him a full bowl of
kibble, and he’ll still go after your shoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
    Goodbye awkward silence. Well, I’d
give him one thing, he sure knew how to talk through
strange situations. Normally I wouldn’t care for casual conversation like this,
but it sure beat what had been on my mind earlier. Mr. Evans, you’re a mystery. Sleep be damned. I was going to figure him out. Somehow.
    "So,
about those neighbors?" he asked again.
    I groaned. "Lovebirds. I swear, when I get a new place, I’m going
to check for paper-thin walls first. It’s one thing to be woken up by them
going at it, and even worse when you have no way to compete with it."
    Jace smirked and
wiped at the corners of his eyes. "Man, do I ever know how that feels."
He showed me the picture from before. "See those two standing next to me?
Best guys I could ever ask for, but get anywhere near them when they have a
girl hanging from their arm? Forget it."
    "And
you’re sure that isn’t why you’re out here now with a complete stranger?"
    "I wouldn’t
call you a complete stranger. More
like a very recent acquaintance. To be honest, I’m kind of new at this
relationship thing. Or well…" He half shrugged and loosened his tie. "That’s
to say that…fuck. Help me out here, will ya ?"
    "It’s
been a long time for me as well." I offered him a sympathetic look which
wasn’t lost on him at all.
    He forced a
smile and nodded for me to continue as we rounded the corner to the bar.
    "Why do
they have to make