Page 99 of Phantom

“Jaims!” I call out. He continues as if he didn’t hear me until I call for him again. “Jaime! Come here. I have so much to tell—”

When my best friend turns around, I gasp at the welt on his cheek. “Jaime, oh my god, what… what happened to your face?”

The dim hallway makes it hard to see properly, so I rush to him and try to tug him into my room, but he holds up his hands, like he doesn’t want me to touch him.

“Jaime, what’s wrong? Come talk to me.”

He shakes his head and steps back before leaning against the wall. The far-off light from the stage shines down the hallway, illuminating his face, and my heart sinks into my stomach.

His bronze skin usually glows due to his meticulous skin regimen, but he looksexhausted. Not only that, but the swollen cut on his upper left cheek looks like… a skull. As if someone with a skull ring punched him in the face. The injury is almost exactly like the one Rand showed me in the cemetery of the tourist Sol supposedly beat up.

I cover my stomach as it begins to turn, as if that could take this guilt and nausea away.

“Jaime… what happened?”

He looks around before he spits back at me, “Why don’t you ask your newboyfriend?” This angry version of my happy-go-lucky friend is nothing like I’ve ever seen. He practically spits out each word as he speaks. “I’ve devoted my whole fucking life to that bastard, and I makeonemistake and he doesthis!” He jabs his finger at the purple bruise and skull-shaped cut.

“S-Soldid this? No, no way. There has to be a mistake. He wouldn’t hurt one of my friends.”

Jaime’s loud laugh is harsh and hurts my ears. “Scarlett, he wouldmurderfor you. A punch in the face is nothing.”

He would murder for you.

Those words hit me hard, making me stagger back. It was a fact I knew and had told myself I was okay with. I trusted that he only punished people who deserved it. ButJaime? What the hell could he do to deserve the Phantom’s justice?

I glance down the hallway, checking to see if anyone’s around, but it seems like it’s just the two of us for now. I whisper anyway. “Why would Sol hurtyou, though? You’re my best friend.”

“I don’t know. You tell me. All I know is last night, I was getting drunk on Bourbon with some of the cast one second. The next, I was thrown into an alley and got the shit beat out of me by my own boss. Or one of his other followers. I’ve been loyal for years and this is how he repays me? He’s supposed to protect his shadows, not hurt us,” he hisses.

My eyes widen and that twist in my stomach hardens to lead as my suspicions from yesterday are finally confirmed. I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to broach the subject, but it looks like Jaime doesn’t have that problem.

“You’re a shadow?”

“Yup.” Jaime’s voice increases as he gets more upset. “I’ve been his loyal guard dog for over a year, making sure you’re—”

His mouth snaps shut and his brown eyes widen.

My heart stops.

“What about… me?”

Jaime shakes his head. “N-nothing. It’s nothing. Forget about it, Scarlo. I’m an actor. I’m just being dramatic. Telenovela at its finest.”

He turns like he’s going to actually walk away from this conversation, but I clutch his forearm and stand in his way.

“Jaime Rodrigo Dominguez, you tell me right now what the fuck you’re talking about.”

He winces, looking contrite and like he’d rather be anywhere else. But I don’t give in. Not this time.

“Okay, let’s go to your—”

“No,” I answer, knowing that thePhantomcould be just one mirror away. “You tell me right here.”

He scratches at his five o’clock shadow that’s usually never there before sighing. His shoulders sag against the wall as he meets my eyes.

“It all started when your dad died.”

Act 4