by JA Huss
“Shh,” she hisses. “I have no pull with Johnny. I can’t help you. And why are you asking me?”
“You’ve asked me that like three times and I’ve answered you three times.” Then a lightbulb goes off. “Oh. Well, OK. Listen. I read your book—actually listened to it on audio—fucking fantastic, by the way. And so you’re kinda like my secret mentor. So I came to you first.”
“You liked my book?”
“It was amazing.”
She tilts her chin up. “It kinda was, wasn’t it?”
“I’d buy it all over again. I’m like a self-help book expert now. I know these things.”
She pauses her freakout and folds her arms across her chest. “I can get you a meeting with Emma. But I can’t be part of this whole Johnny thing. You understand?”
“Oh, believe me. I’m in way over my head. You have no idea how much I understand.”
Mila looks me up and down for a moment. “You’re handling it pretty well. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. And Joey Boston’s a keeper. I’m gonna keep him. And his two best friends. That’s why I need to talk to his brother. We have a small problem.” I exaggerate the smallness by holding my thumb and forefinger very close together.
“La, la, la. I don’t want to hear this,” she sings.
“I won’t tell you what the problem is, don’t worry. It’s our sexy foursome bonding secret. Goes to the grave. And can I just say, after being around men for the last week, you’re a little breath of fresh air. I think we’re going to be friends.”
“No,” Mila says, shaking her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“We’ll see,” I say. “Because I’m pretty damn certain Mila and Brooke have a future in the BFF department. I was totally gonna get a job here last Monday when Joey, Huck, and Wald hired me to be his fiancée.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry. I’m rambling. But it’s been so long since I had a BFF. I feel the need to fill you in on all the things.”
“No.”
“Not that thing. To the grave.” I cross my heart. “I swear.”
Then we just stare at each other.
“Sorry,” I say. “But I’m in the same elevator as Mila Sanchez. I’m a little starstruck.”
She blinks.
“Soooo…. Emma? Appointment? Like… immediately, if possible?”
Five minutes later we’re entering Emma’s office. She’s on the phone with someone but Mila does one of those cut-throat gestures, and Emma immediately says, “I’m sorry, Chris. Can I call you back in ten minutes? Thanks!” She replaces the handset and says, “What’s up?”
“She’s up.” Mila points to me. “Joey Boston’s fiancée. But hold on a second. I better call in Hannah and Natalie.”
“I thought you said you didn’t want to get involved?” I ask.
“And then you used the word ‘kidnapping,’” Mila retorts. Then she disappears down the hallway to go looking for the partners.
“Oh. Fuck,” Emma says. Blinking her eyes at me.
She’s just as pretty in person as she is on the website. I feel like I know her and Mila. Well, after all that ‘research’ I did last week, I guess I should.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “That’s not why I’m here. I just need a meeting with Johnny Boston and you guys were the only way I could make that happen.”
Emma opens her mouth to reply. But I’m way ahead of her.
“No, I can’t ask Joey. Johnny isn’t returning his calls. Probably because there was a fight last week about a super-secret thing I’m not gonna talk about. But anyway, I need this meeting. Not only does my love life depend on it, but the future of the world might be at stake.”
“Well, she’s not dramatic,” a woman says behind me.
Natalie. Oh, this is the best. The absolute best. And then the fourth partner comes in wearing a white lab coat. Hannah. And it gets even better.
I’m here. With them. And I didn’t get introduced, and I did not get an entry-level job, and OK, yes. I did name drop down in the lobby and I did use the word kidnapping, but I take a moment to congratulate myself for this achievement.
I’m here. With them. And not only do we all have things in common—the Boston brothers—we have things to talk about.
“What are we talking about?” Hannah asks.
“Apparently the future of the world is tied to Joey Boston and his fiancée.”
“There’s a little more to it than that,” I say. “But basically, yeah. Shit got real last Friday and we need some allies.”
“Nope,” Mila says. Hands firmly planted on her hips. “Nope, nope, nope.”
But Emma has… the look when she says, “How can I help?”
That’s when all that rambling Joey did on Friday night about how he and Johnny both understood each other without actually understanding each other makes sense.
That’s when I know that she knows what’s up.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN - JOEY
Brooke went out earlier. No explanation. Not that she owes me one, but it would’ve been nice.
Huck and Wald are down in the basement pretty much doing nothing. We’ve barely talked since we got home on Friday night and I’m sick of it. I go down there and find them both playing a video game.
“Didn’t invite me, huh?”
They lift their eyes to me when I enter the main room, but it barely counts as a greeting.
I flop into a chair and watch.
Not the game, just them.
How much they’ve changed over the past sixteen years. How much they haven’t. How much we’ve done together. How much is still to come.
How much is still to come?
Are we in the final phase of our partnership? Did we do it all? See it all? Have we had enough?
“Do you think we’re done?” I ask.
Both of them pause their game and look at me.
“Done how?” Wald says.
“Us, you know.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Huck asks. “We just got a girl we all like to agree to our kinky fuckery and you’re suddenly getting cold feet?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m just picking up a vibe from you two.”
“The vibe of doneness?” Huck asks, shaking his head. “Believe me, if I were done, I’d be gone.”
“You lie so bad,” Wald says, resuming his game. “I’m just about to kick his ass in this battle, Joe. If you don’t have anything important to say, then—”
“This is important,” I say. “Before we came back here to this fucked-up place filled with all my fucked-up family and my fucked-up secrets everything was fine. And now… nothing seems fine.”
Wald pauses the game again and looks at me. “No. Your question is not important. It’s stupid. We’ve been together for sixteen years. No one’s cheated. No one’s lied. No one’s killed anyone, or got addicted to heroin, or gave someone a fucking sex disease. We’re not broke, we’re not in jail, we’re not sick, we’re not lonely, we’re not even fuckin’ bored. So what the hell are you talking about, are we done? No, we’re not fucking done. We’re never gonna be done. And you wanna know why we’re never gonna be done, Joey Boston? Because we’re taking this fuckin’ ride together, that’s why. But if you’re asking why I’m quiet and not all up in your face about plans, it’s because I’m just reflecting on the fact that one of the men I love is involved in some deep world government secret society shit and how he might only love me back for my crazy conspiracy theories because, turns out, they’re probably all true, and I need to kick Huck’s ass in this goddamn game to help me think.”
He locks eyes with me for three seconds, then resumes his game.
Huck and I look at each other and laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Wald says. “I’m going crazy trying to put all these pieces together. Fight back, Huck. I already know I’m gonna kick your ass but I don’t want to do it when you’re not looking because where’s the fun in that?”
Huck gets up and turns the TV off.
“What the hell?” Wald complains.
“What have you come up with?” Huck asks. “Because I’ve been thinking too.”
“Well, you’re the one with a degree in thinking,” Wald says. “So you tell me. What did you come up with? Because I don’t fuckin’ know.”
Huck opens his mouth to say something, but my phone rings in my pocket. I take it out and look at the screen.
“Who is it?” Wald asks.
“Jesse,” I say, tapping the accept button. “What’s up?”
“I’m giving you a friendly heads-up that your girlfriend is on her way over to the Bossy right now because apparently she has business with Johnny.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Jesse says. “So I’m not gonna repeat that.”
“Who told you this?”
“Emma just called and said Brooke showed up at Bright Berry Beach demanding to talk to Mila because she read her book and was, I don’t know, fucking inspired or some shit. And then she used the words ‘Joey’s fiancée’ and ‘kidnapping’ and ‘Johnny’ all in the same sentence. And then Emma, bossy woman that she is, decided to call up Johnny and set up a little meeting without consulting me first because hey, that’s a good idea.”
“Shit.”
“That’s all you have to say? Shit? What the hell is going on and why am I the last to hear about it?”
“Meet me at the Bossy. I’ll fill you in there.”
I end the call and look at my friends.
“What’d he say?” Huck asks.
“Brooke is on her way over to Johnny’s to have some kind of meeting.”
Wald throws down his controller and stands up. “OK, then. Thinking time is over. We’re gonna settle this shit once and for all. Just let me get my shoes.”
He walks down the hallway and disappears into his room.
Huck looks at me and shrugs. “I’m going too. You’re not in this alone, Joey. We’re not afraid of your baggage.”
“You don’t even know what the baggage is yet, Huck. What I told you is just the beginning. Maybe it’s better you and Wald go back to Tokyo and—“
“Fuck you,” he says. “Just fuck you. What more do we have to do to convince you that we go where you go? Seriously,” he says. “What more will it take? How many more decades of us hanging around do you require before you see what’s right in front of you?”
“That’s not it, and you know it.”
“Do I know it?” Huck asks.
“You should,” I say.
“Then how about you pretend I don’t and you tell me again?”
I huff. “I’m just looking out for you and—“
But Huck is crossing the room at a quick pace, and Wald is coming out of the bedroom with shoes in his hand, and I’m pretty sure this is one of those moments when Huck is gonna kiss the stupid out of me, and so I kinda freeze as Huck stands in front of me. Face to face. Eye to eye. And says. “Tell me. Again.”
“I fucking love you, OK?” I look over at Wald. “I love both of you. I didn’t think that was a secret. I didn’t think it needed to be said.”
“It doesn’t,” Huck says. Still angry.
Wald comes over to us, drops his shoes on the floor, takes a seat on the couch, and looks up at me as he starts putting them on. “But it is nice to hear every once in a while.”
I sigh. “I feel like I’m fucking everything up right now. Maisy’s life, Brooke’s life. Our lives. It was all fine before I came back here and now it’s—“
“It wasn’t fine,” Huck insists. “It was exactly the same. The only difference is… now you know.”
“And now we know too,” Wald adds.
My heart skips a beat when he says that, I’m not gonna lie. “So what’s that mean?”
“Dude,” Huck says, getting in my face. “What the hell part of ‘we’re in this together’ do you not understand? Is it so fucking hard for you to believe we’re on your side?”
I glance at Wald.
He says, “You know, you’ve always been a weird dude.”
“Me?” I laugh. Pointing to my chest. “You. You’re the weird one.”
“Yeah, but I’m called Waldo,” Wald says, standing up and straightening his pants. “Weird is just part of my image. You’re Joey Boston, you know? And all this time I’ve known you I’ve been waiting for that dude to show up. But he never did.”
I look at Huck, confused. He shakes his head and says, “Don’t look at me. I’m not bailing you out of this one.”
“Bailing me out of what?”
“You want to disappear,” Wald says. “You’ve always wanted to disappear. And OK. Maybe that’s because Johnny planted that little seed in your head after we graduated college. I’ll accept that. But you’re one of the most powerful men in the entire world, Joe. Do something with it.”
“It’s not mine,” I say. “None of that power belongs to me.”
Wald comes at me, puts his hand behind my neck, leans in, and just as I think he’s going to kiss me, he stops short and says, “Then make it yours, Joe. And then,” He and I lock eyes. “Give it back.”
He holds me like that. Locked into this eye-to-eye position, and stares at me.
“I don’t even know what that means,” I say.
“I don’t either,” he says. “But we’ll figure it out. So to answer your question one more time. No. We’re not done, dude. We’re just getting started.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT - BROOKE
The trip to see Johnny Boston involves a lot of things. First of all, a private car. And a ride over to a place called the Bossy Building. Which I kinda knew about. Then a trip through a pretty elaborate security set-up, then an elevator ride, then off on some floor that involves a hallway, and a stairwell, and some security codes, and then finally—fucking finally—I am led into his office.
I tell myself this whole way over, this whole way up—that I am not afraid of this man. I am his brother’s fiancée. Or, at the very least, his friend.
I tell myself that there is almost no possible way I get hurt by doing this. He’s not going to attack me, or throw me out a window, or whatever the fuck he does to people who piss him off.
The very worst that can happen is that he doesn’t respond to my request.
That’s what I tell myself.
But the reality is, when I finally walk through that last door into his office, when I’m at the top of that building and everything down below seems so very, very far away, when there’s no one left and it’s just him and me… I become afraid.
He’s sitting in a chair facing the window when I enter. Knees bent and booted feet pressed flat against the glass. Hands behind his head, kinda leaning back.
There is no view. We’re so high up there’s nothing to see but sky. So he’s looking at clouds.
I get the impression he fancies himself a god.
“Johnny Boston?” I say, forcing my voice to project strength and confidence. “I have business with you.”
He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t even move. Just stares out at the clouds slowly moving past the window.
I wait. Trying to be patient. But I’m suddenly weary. All this feigned courage and the long way up just to get to this final spot have weakened my resolve to make him help me.
“Hello?” I say.
“You lied to me,” he says. And suddenly his feet are on the ground, the chair has swiveled around, and he’s standing.
Glaring at me.
“I’m… not lying now,” I say.
“No?”
I shake my head. “I really am Joey’s girlfriend.”
“And Huck?”
“Him too. And Wald. We’re a team now.”
Johnny Boston laughs.
“What?” I say. “Why is that funny?”
He stops laughing, then laughs again, this time shaking his head. “Which are you, Brooke?”
“What?” I squint at him. It’s quite po
ssible this man is insane. He looks the part. His eyes blaze dark even though I know they’re blue. I saw that picture of him as a child. He was an all-America, golden-haired, blue-eyed boy. But now that he’s in front of me, just a few paces away, I can barely make out the blue. And that boy? No. I don’t see him at all.
I see a man stretched to his limit.
“Stupid? Or naive?” he says.
I narrow my eyes at him even further. “I’ve been both,” I admit. “But I’m neither at the moment.”
“What do you think I’m going to do? Have a heart-to-heart with my brother? Tell him I’ll get that little girl for him? Kill Michael Conner and the Kanes and anyone else who gets in my way? What, Brooke? What is it, exactly, that you think I’m going to do for you?”
“He just needs… some hope.”
“Hope?” Johnny laughs again. “Do you really think I have a little bundle of spare hope lying around here?”
I look around. Which is dumb. There’s nothing but dark emptiness up here. Not to mention hope doesn’t come in little bundles.
“Go home, Brooke. Wherever that is. Just walk away. I’m telling you right now, Joey Boston will ruin your life.”
“No,” I say. “No. I’m not going home.”
“It’s your funeral.” He shrugs.
“He needs you,” I say.
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He needs you to tell him the truth, and give him a plan, and—”
“A plan?” This time he doesn’t laugh. “I know you know. I know he knows. Though he’s been lying to himself all these years. Pretending he doesn’t. And you know why he refused to believe his own eyes, Brooke?” He kinda snarls my name. “So he didn’t have to take care of it. So I could take care of it.”
“I’m not talking about that stuff. I’m just talking about him, as a person. He’s going to give up. He’s going to go home and—”
“Good,” Johnny says. “Good. That’s the best-case scenario. Leave that little girl behind where she belongs. I fucking warned him. You were there. Did he really think I didn’t know he had a kid? Did he really think I haven’t been monitoring the situation? And you?”
He points to me. Takes too many steps closer to me so that I back up until I hit the wall.