Page 64 of Obsession
“Did you ever see her again?” I ask.
“Once. It was just before she died. She got liver cancer. When I found out, I sneaked away after school to visit her. I doubt she recognized me because she was in a lot of pain and on a series of medications, but the last time I saw her, she had tubes sticking out of her, and she looked withered and frail. I heard from another student that she died a few days after.”
There’s a dull acceptance in Megan’s voice as she tells me about this part of her past and I look down at the top of her head. She’s still staring at the painting, her expression lost.
“She was the one who got me fascinated with art. She had me convinced that I was good at it.“
“You are,” I tighten my hold on her arm and she looks at me, a small smile on her face.
“I’m not great yet, but maybe one of these days I’ll manage to get my work displayed at a gallery like this, and it’ll be through my own hard work, and no amount of bribery will be able to rip that opportunity from my hands.”
Her tone is fierce, and something dawns on me.
“Is that what happened?” I ask calmly. “Did somebody steal an opportunity from you?”
“You can’t steal something that was never mine.”
“Megan.” There is a hint of reproach in my tone, and she glances at me, frowning.
“It’s no big deal. I’m not on good terms with some of my classmates, and after it was announced that my work was going to be one of the pieces on display for homecoming, the teacher took me aside and told me that there was a mixup.” She makes a derisive sound. “As if I didn’t just see Ashley slip her two tickets to whatever show.”
“What does displaying your pieces at homecoming mean for a student?”
“You know how some universities have boosters who support their sports teams? Well, there are graduates who come back to our school who work in major art spaces or who are collectors, and if they see a piece they like, they’ll often buy it or even offer the artist a position at a gallery.”
My expression turns dark. “So you were cheated out of a major opportunity, then.”
Her face tightens. “It doesn’t matter. There will be other opportunities, and even if it doesn’t happen for me, I’ll save up money after college and figure out another way to get noticed. I’m not going to let some stuck-up daddy’s princess bring me down. Fuck her and her money.”
The last parts are spoken with a sneer.
My brave little soldier.
I want to fight all her battles for her, but I’m slowly realizing that she can fight them on her own.
I pat her hand. “Your time will definitely come. I saw that drawing you made. You have an amazing talent, which I doubt this Ashley girl does. Otherwise, why would she have to pay her way to get approval?”
As I hoped, my words cheer her up. “You’re right. Fuck Ashley.”
Without doing a deep dive into Megan’s personal business, or at least beyond what Parker and Lars have already reported back to me, I’m starting to piece together this whole school situation.
Megan is being bullied by one or maybe several privileged brats who are bored with their mundane lives and have nothing else to do but fuck with her. Who else would she have been fighting with at school? Probably the same girl who bought her way into the homecoming art show.
I suppose there wouldn’t be any harm in taking a deeper look at this little shit, Ashley. I want to make sure that Megan’s doing fine, of course. Not because I’m irritated that the little bitch had the audacity to take something which was rightfully Megan’s. That would be overstepping.
I send a quick text to Parker.
Chapter 22
Can I Tell You A Secret?
HUNTER
Megan and I walk around the gallery, and at some point, she whips out a small sketchbook from her purse and gives me a pleading look. “You don’t mind, do you?”
My lips twitch, “Of course not.”
I sit down next to her on the bench, watching her as she tries to copy the painting she’s looking at. It’s a dull scene in my opinion, but she seems to be fascinated by it.