Page 15

CASPIAN

Julia freezes. Her tan skin goes gray as the blood drains from it.

“Shit.”

I don’t like seeing her afraid or unsure in any way. I felt the same kind of protectiveness as a screwdriver, but now my brain can produce a bigger reaction and my body can do things.

“Were you expecting anyone?” I ask.

It’s nighttime. No one should be knocking at her door unless she has plans, and she doesn’t. I was with her all day, in one form or another.

“No.” She stands quickly. There’s another knock. It’s not a woman. Only a man’s fist sounds like that.

“I’ll take care of it.” I tighten the blanket around my waist.

“You can’t be here.” She jams her legs into the sweatpants that were going to be too small for me.

“But I am.”

A voice from the other side of the door says her name.

“You need to hide,” she says.

“Absolutely not.”

“Caspian, listen. We scrape by, Tonya and me. And it’s fine, but this job, it’s?—”

“Truck money. I know.”

“Fuck. I can’t have guests. Especially not some…” She moves her hands up and down the length of my body. “Hot naked man.”

So I’m hot?

“Just go. Now.” She pushes me toward the bedroom. “Under the bed. In the closet. I don’t care.”

“Julia!” He’s louder now and I can discern his voice. It’s JJ Dick. Jaeg-off Duke. “Hey, I know you’re in there.”

I take her hands off me and hold them. “I’ll go, but if I hear a single thing outta that guy I don’t like, it’s over. I’ll take his face off.”

Even in her urgency, she takes a second to tilt her head and consider what I said. “I believe you.”

“Be careful.”

I slip into the bedroom, but I don’t hide. I need to be able to see her. So I leave the door ajar and wait.

The latch clicks and the hinges squeak.

“Hey,” she says. “I was sleeping.”

She doesn’t need to tell him a god damn thing about what she was doing. She owes him nothing.

“It’s eight o’clock,” he replies. His voice is too close. He came inside.

“Rough day.” The door clicks closed. “So, uh…”

“Get something nice on,” he says from the kitchen. “We’re going to dinner.”

“I already ate.”

“Yeah. What? This noodle soup shit?” Did she leave the wrapper out? Or is he violating the privacy of her trash can? “Jesus, how much do you like apples? You trying to clean out your colon? Haha, yeah, that’s great. Come on. We’re buzzing over to the secret side of the island.”

Like fucking hell. He’s not taking her anywhere. I grab the hammer off the bed, whispering, “Sorry, Enzo,” and open the door a few more inches, ready to leap out.

But she’s there, on the other side of the hall, looking at me with a face that says, don’t you fucking dare .

Out loud, she says, “I really can’t.”

He brushes by her. I get behind the door.

“Sure, you can.” He’s closer.

Shit. I scan the room. The bed’s on a platform. Can’t hide under it. The closet is across the room, past the door. If I go that way, he’ll see me and I’m guaranteed a confrontation that will put both of us in a spot.

Out.

Out is good. I open the sliding glass door and slip out with Enzo in my hand. There’s no time to close the door. I just tuck myself behind the wall. It’s cold on my bare skin.

The bedroom light reveals the cast-iron patio furniture hasn’t been used in ages. The mug candle is full of leaves. On one side, the curve of my arm breaks the straight line shadow. I step out of the light.

“Okay, Duke, really. You need to go.”

“Now you’re getting it. I go and you come with. Did you bring anything to wear?” He opens the closet. Thank God I’m out here, in the fucking cold, or he’d be walking around with a broken face.

“I’m here to work.”

“Did Carol not tell you?” His shadow crosses the patio doors. “I swear I’m going to fire her one of these days.”

“Wait. I thought you were friends. She works for you?”

“When it comes to this party, everyone does.”

“Excuse me? What party?”

“You were supposed to bring something to wear for the party tomorrow night.”

“What. Party.”

“Do I stutter?”

“If you did, you’d make sense.”

There’s a pause long enough to concern me. Duke isn’t used to backtalk from women. He’s capable of anything and nothing. I peek in. Julia is one step in the room, near the door. Duke is lounging on the bed propped up on his elbow.

Thank God there’s not a pussy-juiced screwdriver in the sheets.

“Okay,” Duke says, “so we got off on the wrong foot here. What do you want to do with your life, Julia? Name it.”

She gives him a sideways look and, in doing so, catches sight of me. I pull out of view.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she says.

“Like… you’re not hanging pictures the rest of your life. Maybe your father was some kind of handyman but you’re something else. An actress, right?”

“Actually, my father was an actor.”

“Oh yeah?” He’s not impressed.

“You ever see What’s Up Brigette ?” She’s acting as if she needs to protect her father’s honor. She doesn’t. He was our first owner. I’d vouch if I was wearing pants.

“Of course.”

“He was the next-door neighbor.”

“Yeah?” He looks at her as if he’s meeting her for the first time. “I can see the resemblance.”

“That’s a high compliment.”

“I bet he’d tell you to stick around for the party. Ute Falwell’s going to be there. Kenny O’Drassen always shows up. He’s a close friend. I can get you talking. He knows everyone in the business.”

“I’m here to work.”

“Why are you so uptight? Come on. Sit.” He pats the mattress.

Did he just call her uptight ? The last time I touched a woman with intention was decades ago, and even then, that line was old. It always came out of the mouth of a guy willing to do bad things. Not even a guy who wanted to get laid. A guy who was interested in breaking down a woman’s defenses.

That’s not going to happen to Julia.