The Lariat (Finding Justus Series) by Ashley Dotson Read Free Book Online Page B

me many, many times. But you never found any proof to that. The historical society even said that was all a lie.” I tried to listen as she rambled about the dead man, but my senses were on overload.
    “Do you believe in all that stuff?” she asked, incredulously.
    “In every rumor there is a piece of truth.” I walked in first and looked both ways, my shoulders tense and my hands ready. “Something happened here, I’ll give you that. Can you feel it or is it just me?”
    She skirted around me, “I don’t feel anything except the potential for my awesome show once I get some shots. Don’t freak yourself out now. Like you said, there was nothing creepy from the historical society. Those old ladies just confirmed what I already knew- at the time it was built it had the most elaborate and beautiful architecture in the state. Most people said it looked like it belonged in New York City. That’s why I’m here. Look at the way the light enters the windows. This building is amazing.”
    “And now it sits here, alone with only the memories of its glory days.” Like me.
    “Ugh, Layla, sometimes I wished you studied something a little happier than Literature. Why does everything you study have to be so tragic and bleak? And don’t think I don’t know you drink like those writers you study.”
    She might as well have slapped me in the face. “Now is not the time…”
    Ben rolled her eyes, “It never is. Stand aside, I have been waiting too long for this. And close the door behind you too. We don’t need anyone else following us in here.”
    “Ben, please, just watch out. Don’t touch anything.” I ran my hand over the wall and flakes of beige paint fell to the floor loudly, “All the walls are covered in lead paint and there’s probably asbestos everywhere too.”
    “Then wait here,” she was already snapping away. Nothing escaped her camera lens. I stood, not far from the door listening and watching for anything out of place. Vagabonds were notorious for hanging out in places like this. Empty, dark corners of civilization where they could hide from humans and angels alike, until they could make their way back to Hell. They needed the Porter for that.
    Orrin. Why do I always lead myself back to him?
    Every time I’ve tried to break free, I’ve ended up broken, just like this building. I was like a bird beating my wings against a cage. My love for Orrin was a cage that I would never break free from. I wasn’t sure anymore that I could torture myself like this forever. I would love him forever. He was my forever. But I wasn’t sure if he was still my future. Was there a difference?
    But now he had Daisy. He loved me, but he was with her. He chose to give her his days, his nights, his smile, his touch. I could do the same.
    Can’t I?
    My daemon snarled at the idea. It would be forever faithful to Orrin. All parts of us were tied, not just our daemon souls. I gave him every piece of me- human, daemon, and angel. Was there anything left for someone to love?
    I followed Bennet up a set of wide wooden stairs. Grand at one time, they were now dull and littered with animal droppings and chunks of fallen ceiling tiles. The staircase laced its way around the interior of the tall building. Every floor had an open balcony where people could wait for the elevator which now sat like a steel coffin on the ground floor. She took a picture of it on every level.
    And I followed her closely, in case something did arise, holding her bag and waiting while she snapped pictures of the most mundane uninteresting junk. But that’s what made her such a great artist. She could see things I could not. The world was a bright full canvas, every piece of it offering a story to be told. She used her camera to tell those stories that most of missed too caught up in our own problems to see the beauty around. I envied her optimism and resolve.
    We stopped when we reached the tenth floor. The stair case was blocked off with tape that said