Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
KINSLEY
“Who would have thought a dark room is actually dark.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Hang on, let me turn on the light.”
He hisses, throwing up a cross when the bright light comes on and I snort. Stepping into the room, I spin around with my arms spread wide. “So. This is it.”
“I like it.” He walks over to where I’m standing as he looks around. “It’s peaceful.”
I glance over the space, feeling exactly that. At peace.
Counters line up against two of the walls, creating an L intersection on one side of the room. Along the other is built in shelving where all the chemicals are organized with wash basins nestled beside it. Three long tables float in the open space, clothes lines strung up over them.
“It may not be much, but this is mine. Well, not mine, but it is my safe space.” I lean my hip against the counter. “This is where I come to escape.”
He’s quiet as he takes in the room again as if he’s seeing it from my perspective. “This is your race track.”
I smile softly up at him. “You showed me your world. I wanted to show you mine.”
“Well, I’m honored.”
I huff a laugh and slide my bag off my shoulder. Pulling out five cassettes, I set them in a row on the counter. “I don’t have too much to do today. These will have to hang up to dry at least overnight.”
He perches on one of the stools and leans back against the counter. “Take all the time you need, angel.”
“Be careful what you ask for, I could spend all day in here.” I laugh and he watches as I walk over to the shelves to grab my supplies.
“Question.”
“Answer.” His soft chuckle caresses my senses and I bite my lip as I return with the chemicals I need.
“How do you do this in the dark if you can’t see?”
I point at the lights bar above us. “Red safety light. It gives off enough light so we can see but it doesn’t damage the film in the process.”
He nods, pulling out the bag of Sour Patch Kids he brought. Feeding me one every so often, he continues to ask questions as I work through processing the first three cassettes. I explain every step as I do them and he listens, his eyes tracking every movement.
I can’t remember the last time I brought anyone here.
Oh, wait. I can.
Drake.
He spent the entire five minutes he was here telling me how pointless all of this was if I wasn’t ever going to put them in a show. And how film is too tedious with too many chances to ‘fuck up’ and lose everything, whereas you don’t have those issues with digital.
“Digital is just far superior, Kinney. Quicker too,” he said.
“Yeah, Drake,” I whispered, pulling him out of my safe space before he tainted it. “You’re right. You’re always right.”
I never brought him back with me here again.
I stopped talking about photography altogether after one of his friend’s newest girls asked me about it and he cut in, replying, “It’s her silly little hobby. You won’t see any of her stuff hanging in galleries anytime soon. Or ever.”
The girl stared at me with pity as he laughed it off and I shoved that special part of me farther into the darkness of my mind, refusing to let him diminish my love for it. Refusing to let him break that part of me like he did everything else before and after that night.
So, yeah, I was nervous to bring Jace here today. Worried that he would see how solitary, quiet, and uninteresting my world is compared to his loud, enthralling, and exciting one.
But then he told me he was nervous to show me that part of himself. That he thought it would change how I saw or felt about him. And if he could take that step to be his true self with me, then I could borrow enough of his strength to do the same.
Even if it was terrifying.
“Do you want to do one?” I hold up the last two cassettes. “We can do it together so you can follow me through the steps, but if you don’t want?—”
My words cut off, my heart pounding when he stands up and steps in close enough that I have to tilt my head back. His hand slides over mine holding one of the cassettes.
“You wanted to learn about my interests. I want to do the same. So, yeah, I’d love to.” His lips tip up. “Teach me.”
I huff out a laugh and my breathing hollows as I slowly nod. “Okay,” I whisper.
We work side by side and he follows every move I make, asking every so often if he’s doing it right. I glance over as we measure out the developer mix and giggle.
His tongue is sticking out of the side of his mouth as he squats eye level with the beaker. When he’s poured equal parts of the mixture, he glances up at me. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Do you always make that face when you’re concentrating?”
He huffs breathlessly, standing to take the mixture’s temperature. He caps the film tank and gently turns it around to agitate the mixture. “Mum says I’ve been doing it since I was a toddler. She was always scared that I’d one day bite it off.”
I scrunch my nose. “Ouch. I didn’t think about that.”
We walk over to the sink and drain the liquid before pouring in the stop bath. He chuckles, shaking his head. “I’ve actually almost done that.”
I stare up at him with shock. “Wait. Really?”
“Not the whole thing but I took a good chunk out of it. We were trying out those hoverboard things. I tipped too far one way and fell. Honestly didn’t realize it until I got up and turned to ask my sister if she got it on video.”
“I feel like almost biting off your tongue is something you wouldn’t be able to miss.” I hand him the fixer solution.
“You would if you’d just come from a dentist for a cavity and they numbed you.”
“Oh my god,” I laugh, covering my mouth with my hand.
He takes the film out and sets it in the bin I place in front of him. I clean up the containers around us as he rinses the chemicals.
“I needed four stitches.” He sticks out his tongue, leaning in for me to inspect.
Because of the dim lighting, I step in closer and squint at the faint scarring across the center of his tongue. My hand moves of its own accord and his breath fans across my fingers, knocking me into reality and I yank my hand back before making contact.
WITH HIS TONGUE.
It’s the chemicals. Must be going to my head, right? Right.
My eyes shoot up to his as he slowly closes his mouth. I clear my throat and shift to the side, pulling the film from the bath and unraveling it. “Did she get it on video?”
He barks out a laugh. “Oh yeah. Haven’t brought myself to watch it though.”
“That’s fair. Although, if you did, maybe you’d learn your lesson on not biting your tongue?”
He shakes his head with a smile and we cut the film into five even strips, before hanging them on the clothesline.
“That was fun. I felt like a mad scientist mixing up all the potions,” he says as he wipes down the counter.
I laugh and shake my head. “I think a lot of people would argue that what you do is way more fun than doing this.”
“Fun doesn’t always have to mean adrenaline pumping. Some of the most fun I’ve ever had is in the quiet moments. Sitting by a fire with the lads. Taking a walk. Watching a beautiful girl geek out over developing film.”
I pause at his words and thank my recently lucky stars that he can’t see the blush creep across my cheeks thanks to the red light.
“What got you into photography?”
“One of my teachers back in primary school. She was the best. I started on her polaroid camera and quickly became obsessed.”
“Were your photos just as good back then?”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. There were a lot of blurry shapes. Eventually figured it out though.”
“I loved the stuff you showed me the other night.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. “I like capturing parts of the world that most people would see as ugly and show them the beauty in it.”
“Well, you’re exceptional at it. I think I like the way the world looks through your lens a lot better, Miss Jones.”
I giggle and we finish cleaning up. His phone goes off with endless notifications as I lock up the room. “Okay, Mr. Popular,” I laugh.
“Nah, it’s catching up since I turned my phone off before we went in.”
I stop walking. “Why would you do that?”
He turns to me and tucks his phone in his pocket. “Because you were showing me something important and I didn’t want anything to get in the way of that.”
My heart skips and my treacherous eyes water at his sincerity. I duck my head and tuck a rogue strand of hair behind my ear. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
I feel the heat of him before his finger tucks under my chin and tilts my head up. “And you have no idea how much what you’ve done means to me.”
“I haven’t done anything,” I whisper.
His lips twitch. “You’ve done more than you know just by being you.”
His eyes drop to my lips when they part before quickly lifting back up and I inhale a shaky breath at the inferno melting through their icy depths. He leans down and I gravitate towards him, rising on my toes.
The ringing of his phone breaks through our haze and I startle with a laugh. He clears his throat, pulling out his phone and holding it up to his ear.
“Yes, your majesty?”
“Where are you?” I hear the low voice bark over the line.
“Exactly where I want to be.” His eyes don’t stray from mine and I take a grounding breath as my heart threatens to beat out of my chest at the conviction in his gaze.
“How about where you’re supposed to be?”
My eyebrows furrow and Jace shakes his head. “I’d already told Law that I was taking a later flight out.”
“Well that would have been nice to know. Oi, Moore! Where’s your teammate?”
“Said he’d meet us.” I hear the faint baritone of Lawson.
“Where? Where would he be meeting us because it sure as fuck isn’t on this plane!”
I giggle as Jace rolls his eyes. “Ryder, mate, I think it’s time for your nap.”
“Fuck off,” the man—I’m assuming is Ryder—grumbles.
“Love you too,” Jace coos.
“Yeah, yeah. You too.” He hangs up and Jace tucks away his phone.
“Am I keeping you from something?” I ask as we walk to his car.
“The lads are heading out for the upcoming race this weekend. We’re always out there a few days early for any media stuff before practice on Thursday.”
He opens the passenger door but I don’t move to get in as my mind races. “I’m sorry if that took too long. I didn’t know you were supposed to head out with them.”
He chuckles, crossing his arm over the door to lean on. “You do know there are flights going out all the time right? It’s not just the one. The lads will be fine without me. I booked a commercial flight for later tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to spend the day with you.”
“But don’t you have other things you wanted to do before you needed to leave? Like pack or get a sitter for your plants or I don’t know, hang out with your family?”
He shrugs. “This is what I wanted to do.”
“Jace.”
“Like I told Ryder, I’m exactly where I want to be, angel.”
It’s with those words that I realize just how easy it would be for me to fall for this man.