Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Patrick
Saved by the bell. Or the bell peppers. We focused on the food, and I didn't have to tell Gray about my wish. But his question sure got me thinking.
He was right. The wish could be relevant. What had I wished for again? It came back to me in a rush.
"My Christmas wish is to meet someone. Someone who sees me—and loves me for who I really am."
I nearly choked on a piece of shrimp, but I got it under control and escaped the ignominy of having my ER doctor perform the Heimlich on me in my favorite Chinese restaurant.
My ER doctor.
Gray was busy loading a moo shu pancake, so I could stare at him unobserved.
And, holy shit, that was it, wasn't it? At noon today, there hadn't been a romantic prospect in sight.
If I were a ship, the sea had been clear of any other vessel from horizon to horizon.
Now, a mere nine hours later, I was sitting in a restaurant with the most perfect guy I'd ever met.
He was brilliant, genuinely kind, handsome, and physically just my type.
He seemed to watch the same movies I watched, he had a good sense of humor, and he loved Chinese food.
And he actually liked me. Unless I was totally wrong. But I knew I wasn't. He liked me, or he wouldn't be sitting here with me on Christmas Eve. No doctor was that magnanimous.
I wouldn't have met Gray if I hadn't landed in the ER. And we probably wouldn't be sitting here if I hadn't wound up in the ER multiple times.
It was like Groundhog Day where the protagonist had to keep repeating the day until he got it right. Had Krampus sent me back to the ER until Gray agreed to drive me home?
It felt right. I'd seen enough movies and programmed enough games to recognize a story arc when I was right in the freaking middle of one.
So…. Thanks? I mean, I wasn't happy about having a sling and a boot and crutch. And all those accidents had freaking hurt. I guess the jury was still out. Could Gray be as incredible as he seemed? Would he vanish like Cinderella at the end of the ball? And what did that mean for the Krampus curse?
"This really is the best I've had in years," Gray said. He licked a bit of sauce off his thumb and, I swear, my knees went weak.
"—spare time?"
"Huh?" My gaze shot up to his face. And damn his pleased smirk.
"I was asking about your work. You said you got Krampus in an office gift exchange. Do you work downtown?"
"Oh. Yeah, I work at Myth Monster Games. I'm a coder on a new project called Veilborn: Echoes of Midwinter. It's like a Nordic fantasy world. Elves. Trolls. Goblins. An RPG-lite slash adventure slash action game."
Gray raised his dark eyes. "I'm impressed. I know Myth Monster. I spent countless hours on Mother Earth."
"Shut up!" I gaped. "That's my favorite game. That's why I applied to Myth Monster."
Mother Earth was amazing. You played Gaia, and you could make stuff grow and create different environments—and rain fury down on puny humans who got too invasive through storms, fire, and flood. It was the best.
Gray shook his head. "Honestly, that game is why I gave up gaming. It was so addictive, it was sucking up all my spare time. Which wasn't bountiful in med school. It was either put down the controller or never see the outdoors again. And I love to hike and get out in the woods."
"Me too!" I said. "That's exactly me.”
It was weird hearing someone echo my very soul. Like, too weird. There was silverware on the table, even though both of us were using chopsticks. I picked up a fork and whacked myself hard on the jaw with it.
"What are you doing?" Gray said in alarm.
"Just making sure I'm not dreaming. All this curse stuff, and now you being so… so in my head? It can't be real."
Gray gently took the fork from my hand. I thought he'd put it down, but no, he whacked himself in the hand with it. He grinned. "It's real. But I have the feeling there's more than a curse afoot tonight."
He held my gaze for long enough for me to see I wasn't the only one thinking this was a rare—as in never—occurrence.
Meeting someone on the same wavelength? Someone who was looking for something deeper than a quickie?
My heart fluttered, and I had to look away and take another few bites of food because it felt so raw.
"Honestly," Gray said, with a sigh, "I'm being a bit disingenuous.
The truth is, I haven't gotten out much in the past year or so.
Work's become all-consuming. And when I am home, I usually sleep or veg out with TV.
I haven't been hiking in way too long. Once the weather warms, though, I'm going to change that. "
"I'm the same. I work way too much. I used to live in LA, and I got out more there. The weather was always so great. But since I moved to Chicago, I've become a weenie. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with the cold and humidity of Illinois."
"Maybe we can get each other out of the house," Gray said with a hopeful look in his eye.
"I'd love that."
"After your boot comes off," he said firmly. "And only if you promise not to fall off a cliff."
I laughed, but he wasn't wrong about the cliff thing, given the way my day had been going. Which brought my thoughts back to the Krampus curse. Even if Krampus had set me up with Gray, I couldn't take any more pain—for my own good or not. Krampus now creeped me the F out, and I wanted him gone.
The four food platters were cleared of all but smears of sauce and a few red-hot peppers and grains of rice when I got an idea. "I think I know someone who'll take Krampus."
I reached for my phone and realized, once again, that I didn't have it. God, it was like having a limb amputated!
"Here, use mine," Gray said with a sympathetic grimace. He handed it over.
"But I don't have the number memorized."
I thought about how I could get the number I needed, then I remembered. "There's a work roster on my Google drive if I can remember my password…" I tried it, and it worked. Thank God for the cloud!
I opened the Veilborn work roster and looked up Traya's number and sent a text.
PATRICK:
Hi. It's Patrick using someone else's phone. Do you still want that Krampus? You can have it if you can pick it up tonight.
She responded right away.
TRAYA:
Is it cursed?! It's cursed, isn't it?
I sighed. But I couldn't lie. I held the phone out and took a selfie that showed off my arm sling and crutch. Sent it.
TRAYA:
OMG! Did you have an accident?
PATRICK:
Accidents. Plural. So what do you say? Will you take it?
TRAYA:
Hell no!
PATRICK:
Come on! You have to help me.
TRAYA:
Dude. OK, wait, I saw something online. brB
While I waited, I gave Gray an apologetic look. "It's a girl from work. I thought she'd take Krampus, but no luck."
"Can't say I blame her."
TRAYA:
So a few people say that if you give Krampus back to the person you received it from, the curse will stop.
PATRICK:
You were there. No one admitted to it!
TRAYA:
Yeah but it was *someone*. And it's a limited pool. It def wasn't me. And I highly doubt it was Lloyd or Eleanor. Or Leslie either. Though I supposed you shouldn't rule anyone out. Good luck! GTG
I put down the phone feeling a spark of excitement.
"So?" Gray prompted.
"Traya says if I give Krampus back to the person who gifted it to me, that might lift the curse. So, I just need to figure out who it was. There aren't that many people on my team. This reminds me of And Then There Were None. It's a closed set."
Gray looked interested. "Nice. Who's on the suspect list?"
I felt around for my backpack, which had a notebook, only to be reminded, once again, that I'd been mugged. Ahhh! How long would it take for my autopilot to remember?
"Here. Use this." Gray pulled out his paper place mat and turned it over. The white back was blank. Gray took a pen from his pocket and passed it to me.
"Were you voted most helpful in high school?" I asked, batting my eyes. "You were, weren't you?"
"Stuff it," Gray said with an amused quirk of his lips. Such lovely lips.
I made myself focus on the list.
Eleanor
Leslie
Traya
Lloyd
Raphael
Sam
"It's only six. We can do this," I said confidently.
"So, who's your number-one suspect?"
I considered it. "The question is: did the person who gave it to me know it was cursed or not? Because, if they knew, that was a really shitty thing to do." It pissed me off just to think about it. "The only person who I know for a fact hates me that much is this guy." I circled Raphael's name.
"Okay. Do you want to call him or…?"
"He'd just deny it. Or not even pick up his phone. I think I need to go over there."
"Tonight?" Gray looked doubtful. "You really should rest, Patrick."
My heart melted a little. He was such a good guy. The guys I'd dated were always way more worried about themselves than me, if they even thought about me at all. "Thank you, doctor. But I don't want to risk my apartment burning down while I'm getting my Zs. Curse-lifting is first on the agenda."
I suddenly realized I was assuming a lot. "But… hey, I don't blame you if you want nothing more to do with this. You can just drop me at home and, yeah, I'll try calling him."
Gray slowly shook his head. "I told you I'd make sure you got through tonight safely, and I'm not going to abandon that mission now. Besides, I've never solved a mystery before. Sounds like fun to me."
"Really?" It was way too good to be true.
Gray was way too good to be true. The other shoe would drop sooner or later. Or, at least, pre-curse Patrick would think so. But maybe I didn't have to be quite so cynical anymore.
"I'm in, Patrick," Gray said seriously. "I'm all in."
From the warm look in his eyes, he wasn't just talking about our little mystery. I couldn't help myself. Despite my sling and the table between us, I stood up, leaned over, and kissed him.
He was surprised only for an instant, then I felt his large hand gently cup the back of my neck, and he deepened the kiss.
His mouth was warm, tasted like my favorite meal, and he kissed me so perfectly—with a gentle amount of tongue and a slow, sensual rhythm.
My body responded with goosebumps, a wave of heat, and an aching member.
Along with them came a wooziness that made me break it off and plop back in my seat.
We stared at each other.
"Are you okay?" Gray asked, looking a little abashed. "And I guess I should ask if you're still feeling that oxy."
"I'm in my right mind." I found his hand and squeezed it. "Never clearer, I promise."
He took a deep breath, smiled, and squeezed my hand back.