Page 13 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

Chapter Eleven

EDIE

“Shh!” I slide in next to her. “I’m so glad you’re still here.”

“When did you get in?”

“Don’t ask.”

She pulls her book to her chest and leans in, grinning.

I told her yesterday that I was meeting a city guy, a businessman, in a restaurant. A friend of a friend, I told her.

“And? How was it?”

I sigh, remembering the way he took me over with his big, weathered hands and his dirty talk and his dark confidence.

“It was… intense.”

She searches my gaze. “In a good way?”

I stare up at the stacks, stretching up into the dusty silence high above us. “I don’t know. Intense in a different way.”

“Hmmm.” She’s not sure what to make of this answer. “What did you guys do?”

“Had a few drinks at a weird bar in the Bronx and then hung out a little. ”

“Like hung out how...?” She wants the hot details.

“Yeah, like, we hung out.”

“You kissed him.”

My face goes red. I didn’t kiss him. There was no kissing.

“You fucked him!” she squeaks.

“Maybe,” I breathe.

Her eyes go wide.

“What?” I protest. “People do that.”

“People that aren’t you.”

“Well…” I make a face. “Surprise?”

“Some city guy? Also, the Bronx? I mean, do you like him? Are you going to see him again? What’s he like? Spill the tea.”

“He’s like... not even like the same species as us. And he’s older.”

She leans in. “How much older?”

“I have no idea,” I say, pondering the strange timelessness of Luka. “Older.”

“Silver fox older?”

“More like in his thirties older, but something about him makes the guys our age seem like children. Most of them—I don’t mean Chad.” Odetta’s boyfriend, Chad, is a psych major who works a software sales job nights and weekends. A sweet workaholic.

She snorts. “No worries. I’m into it. Go on.”

I wrap my arms around myself. “You know how when you’re on a roller coaster, and you sit down, and the safety thing clamps down over your shoulders.

Then suddenly, the ride starts, and you’re climbing and climbing, and then you’re dropping through space and flying and powerless to resist. Like maybe you’re scared, but you wouldn’t stop it, and it’s not good or bad. It’s more about… this experience.”

“Intense and climbing and dropping through space and flying? Does he have a brother?”

“Stop it. You have Chad.”

“Kidding!”

I shake my head. “Really, I don’t know if I’d recommend this roller coaster. I don’t even know if I’d recommend it to me.”

Her eyes sparkle. “But you’re going to ride it again.”

I swallow. I might have to ride it again.

“You’re going to ride it again,” she repeats. “Because you can’t stay away. You are powerless to resist. Or is he a one-time thrill?”

She’s my roommate and my best friend, and I hate lying to her. I look at her straight on. “We’ll see. He’s not a good person, but he’s compelling.” That’s the best piece of truth I can offer her.

“The Pied Piper was compelling.”

“Exactly.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No,” I lie. “I’m good.”

She sits back in her chair and regards me for a long moment. “You are blowing my mind right now.”

I’m blowing my own mind.

“And you’ll probably see him again. Because he’s wildly compelling.”

I’ll have to, and anyway, he’ll hunt me down if I don’t, but I just nod.

“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” she whispers. “Because of the climbing and dropping and flying through space!”

I shrug, wracked with worry. What if Luka calls during class or in the middle of the night wanting me to come to him? How long do I have to get to him in a scenario like that? And what if I’m in the middle of a test with my phone turned off? Will he send people all over Manhattan looking for me?

Would he be able to find me?

Will Bender come and arrest me?

Luka’s phone is on vibrate in a zipped pocket in my purse, waiting like a threat and a promise.