The Muse (Interracial Mystery Romance) (Dark Art Mystery Series) Read Free

him. I just have to get my mother to send them. I don’t want Michael contacted.”
    “Why not?”
    “We didn’t end on good terms.”
    And Michael would do everything in his power to stop me from working with Hex or anyone else.
    Hex clapped. “Good, that bastard Michael never deserved you anyway. He didn’t have
    any idea how to truly display your beauty. We don’t need any official documents.”
    “Yes. We do.” Alvarez formed his lips into a frown. “Until then, I don’t want you
    working with her.”
    “Her name’s Elle and I’ll do what I like.” Hex headed over to me and hooked his skinny arm under mine. “Now back to round two. What’s your biggest talent outside of modeling?”
    “Excuse me?” I struggled to keep up with Hex’s fast pace. For a small guy, he had speed.
    The lilies around us blurred into a palette of morphed spring colors. Alvarez speed-walked behind us and spouted out more legal terms before finally giving up and blurting out a few Spanish words. I recognized them as popular curse words used in many films.
    “What’s something you’re good at?” Hex bumped my hip with his. Instead of dragging
    me to the front double doors carved in mahogany, he guided me around the huge castle. I would’ve loved a slower pace, to take in the intricate details in gray stone or ask how they’d managed to build a castle in the southern part of Miami. But I couldn’t. Hex was too fast and I was too desperate to get this job.
    What is my talent?
    I burned ninety percent of the things I cooked, had many pets and plants die on me from my own neglect, and failed most of the classes I took years ago in high school, which is why I didn’t have my diploma. Once Michael’s first painting of me surged to national success while we were only in our senior year, we decided to drop out and use his royalties to live in California.
    What the hell is my talent? All of my art sucked. My paintings were abstract blobs of colors. My photographs held blurry images. I’d dreamed of sculpting, but never did it. My singing caused most to escape the room. My dancing triggered the same. The only thing I knew and loved was movies.
    “I’m a movie buff.”
    “That’s not a talent.” Hex snorted and increased his pace. If we went any faster, we would be jogging.
    “Knowing movies is definitely a talent.” Right? “If you say a movie line from a reasonably popular movie, no matter how obscure the line is, I can tell you where it came from.”
    That slowed Hex down. I caught my breath while I could, checked over my shoulder, and spotted Alvarez’s gaze planted directly on my behind. His face reddened when he looked back up at me, and the unguarded part of me heated, but I shook that sensation away. This position was about many things. Starting up something new with a man so soon after the breaking of my heart was not on my goals’ list.
    “How obscure of a line can it be?” Hex stopped us right in front of a small structure done in the same stone as the castle, but barely the size of a two bedroom house. Huge glass windows flanked the front door. A brown sign hung on the center of the opening that read, “Only authorized personnel.”
    “Well, the lines can’t be something so vague like ‘Hi.’ Almost every movie has that. The line should be more than seven words and actually be from a movie.”
    He grinned. “And if I say a few lines, you can tell me the movie?”
    “Most likely.”
    “This is your talent?”
    “Yes.”
    “Okay. Here’s the deal. I say five movie lines. You get at least three correct and I’ll pass you to the next round.”
    This is so stupid, but what other choice do I have, but to play his childish games?
    “Okay.” Hex rubbed his hands together. “Let’s begin. Alvarez, can you think of a movie line? Nothing’s coming to my head.”
    “I’m not going to be a part of this silly interview process.” Alvarez crossed his big arms over his chest. The movement stretched the