Page 5 of Marked By Shadows

The rose finally began to come to life in my hands. Someday I’d finish the elaborate design and send it to my mother. I only needed something like four hundred of the roses.

“You okay?” Alex asked.

I blinked up at him, mind finally clear enough to multitask. “Yes?”

He tilted his head toward me. “Was that a question or an answer?”

“Yes?” I glanced at Skylar sitting on the futon and Lukas who continued to pace. “Everything okay?”

“Lukas says we’re going somewhere?”

Oh. I had wanted to talk to Alex about that myself once Lukas and Skylar were gone, though it didn’t appear like they were leaving any time soon. “There’s a textile convention coming up in Houston. I’ve been planning on going for a while. I’m hoping to get a few lines to carry in the shop. Plus,” I flushed, “I am sort of meeting up with some old cosplay friends.” While Alex had been missing I’d debated on changing plans, or even canceling the trip. But as time had stretched and he hadn’t returned I decided I would go anyway. Before he had vanished, we had both agreed to live moving forward instead of constantly trying to decipher the past. I was trying to live my life. That meant doing things rather than hiding out at home. If he hadn’t returned, I would have tried to bury myself in the commonality of the group, excitement of the new fabric lines, and perhaps find a new project, even if feeling that much would have cut like a knife. Now that he was back, I was looking forward to showing him new things.

“Sounds like fun. I’ve never heard of a textile convention before.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I assured him. “I understand if you’d rather stay here and rest.” He looked exhausted, stressed, and gaunt. Should I make him stay home? Or bring him with so I could make him eat every two hours? I gnawed on my lip in thought.

“I have no idea what a textile convention is, and it’s been years since I cosplayed, but I can’t say I’m not intrigued. What about the shop and your tours?”

“No tours scheduled while I’m gone. And Skylar, Tim, and Brad are minding the shop,” I said.

“I’ll be helping out too,” Lukas said. “When I’m not at work.”

I wasn’t sure he was ready to be back at work in homicide. Not with Alex freshly home, and Lukas still raw over his disappearance, but it wasn’t my decision to make. I suspected that he and Skylar would be arguing over that a lot in the future. If Lukas was as smart as I suspected he was, he would let her take care of him, lean on her a little instead of constantly having to be the guy in charge. Thankfully, while Alex had his own fair share of white knight syndrome, he was much better at asking for help.

“The convention is a gathering of trends in fabric. Some non-fabric stuff too, but mostly fabric. Everything from quilt cotton to cosplay apparel options, sewing machines, trim, and the latest in design software. There’s even a runway thing they do, days’ worth of classes, and a couple ‘Iron Design’ type contests. The group I’m meeting up with… we’ve all rented at the same B&B, taking it over with our sewing machines and cosplay pieces. A few are really good with photography too, so there will be a studio space set up.”

“Freya is going to be there,” Skylar said with reverie.

“Who’s Freya?” Alex asked. “Other than a Norse Goddess?”

“A real Goddess,” Skylar assured him. Lukas looked at Skylar, jealousy clear on his face. Skylar did not like women that way any more than I did. Lukas had nothing to worry about. If Sky could be Freya, she would.

“She runs a patron group, her own website exclusively, like I used to,” I said. “Boudoir cosplay. She also owns the B&B we’ll be at. Freya is a legend at cosplay. You can find pictures of her all over the world as some of the best in cosplay. Designs and makes everything herself. She does a lot of online tutorials now, and events like this.”

“Will you get her autograph for me?” Skylar asked.

“Sure,” I said and focused on the next rose. Counting stitches, practicing putting aside all the noise in my head. Single crochet, V-stitch, repeat, turn, seven doubles, single, I repeated to myself as the petals came to life, then carefully stitched the winding strand into a circle. “She helped me get started. I didn’t know there would be a place for me as a guy in sexy cosplay. I was seventeen when I reached out to her for advice with my idea. She’s super nice. Has always been a big supporter of anyone in the trade.” Freya hadn’t liked my change from cosplay modeling to sex on the screen. A loss of talent she claimed. She’d been thrilled when I reached out to her about getting back into the hobby.

“Someday I’m going to be as beautiful as her,” Skylar gushed, making me smile.

Freya was very much the giant blonde goddess of her namesake. Her assets were hereditary. Perfection as only a rare few had the luck to be born with. Skylar, being male to female trans, had to work for those same things as she was rail thin and didn’t seem to be growing the curves she longed for even with added hormones. Time, I often reminded her, she’d only been on hormones for a year. Some of her features had softened, but even eating a ton didn’t add to her figure. Her metabolism ran daily marathons. A lot of women would have been thrilled to have to work so hard to put on weight and gain curves, not Skylar. She wanted hips and boobs to fill out her wide collection of flirty dresses.

“You’re already beautiful,” I assured Skylar.

“Gorgeous,” Alex agreed. “First time I saw you, I thought wow! That girl is amazing. You have hair like those TV models, and when you wore that Ice Queen dress Micah made you, I thought everyone in town was going to bow down and start worshiping you.”

Skylar laughed, a throaty sound filled with joy, and threw herself at Alex for a tight hug. He let out an “oof,” sound as she squeezed him tight.

I smiled down into my work, thrilled that Alex got along so well with Skylar. Not only because she was my best friend, but also because Lukas was crazy about her. Lukas had gone silent. I could almost feel his brooding from across the room. When he first told me about his brother, damaged from a never-ending war, plagued with memories of things everyone denied, Lukas led me to believe his brother was the serious one of them.

Alex could sit in silent vigil to his thoughts, and sometimes got lost in self-doubt, but his sense of humor, sarcasm, and quick wit left most smiling rather than worried. In reality he was a warmer, more open person than Lukas had ever been. Though with his façade cracked, Lukas began to feel more human and approachable every day. I’d thought of him as a friend for a long time, not realizing he’d never really returned the sentiment.

He was protective, not friendly, as I’d pointed out before to Alex. Lukas was a cop at heart. Always. Not in a bad way, but in that ‘I’m in charge and the world’s problems are mine’ sort of way. Lukas and I had never sparked, for that reason. I didn’t want a protector. I wanted a partner and a friend.

Alex squirmed under Skylar’s fierce hug. “Damn, girl. Your hugs are lethal. You should hire yourself out,” Alex teased. “Hug torture, right up there below water boarding.”

“Jerk!” Skylar said, no venom in her voice and still squeezing him hard. “Revel in my embrace, worthless worm!”