Every bathing suit she offered to me was much too small, so I had to sport cut-off jeans and a tank top.
“Get your pasty ass moving, girl,” Brinly commanded.
I met up with her at the door and said, “Anyone tell you, you have the patience of a three-year-old?”
“Anyone tell you your shirt is on backward?”
I glanced down and saw the tag of my shirt just waving away at me. I tucked it in. “Shit. Let me go change real quick.”
“Who cares? You’re taking it off, anyway.”
“Brinly, I don’t have a bathing suit under here.”
“Just swim in your bra.”
“Are you serious right now? If I walk around at the beach in nothing but my bra, the authorities will be notified and I’ll be arrested for crimes against humanity.”
“Oh, stop.”
I glanced around the entrance hall of the house and noticed there wasn’t a soul around. It was a really warm day, so most were at the beach or upstairs where the air conditioning worked properly.
“Hey, Brinly, before we go, can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Do you think I could call home and check in with my cat real quick?” Normally, I would wait for Aga’s approval, but no one was around and I promised myself I’d be done in a jiffy. The more I called home, the less suspicious Priscilla would be.
The question didn’t phase Brinly, and like it was no big deal she waved her hand and said, “Sure, just be quick about it.”
The way she said it made me wonder if she forgot that my phone calls were supposed to be monitored, but since she didn’t make a fuss about it, I ran off in search of a phone. I found a tiny study that had an end table right by the main door, grabbed the phone, and dialed Priscilla. I kept the door open, so Brinly would be able to see me from the main entrance where she waited. I rationalized that, if she weren’t listening to what my conversation was about, she could, at least, see me.
I raised the receiver to my ear and waited. Two rings and Priscilla picked up. Either I had great luck or Priscilla went nowhere.
“Hey, it’s me,” I said, trying to keep my voice tiny so no one nearby would hear.
“So, you are alive. Have you abandoned your cat completely? I thought you were supposed to be a good person,” she complained.
“Figures the one compliment you give me is in past tense.”
“I’m doing you a favor right now, so past tense compliments are the best you’re going to get.”
“I take it from your perky tone you haven’t gotten Biggie’s bathroom situation… situated.”
“Hell, no. From the clumps of shit, I’m starting to understand why you called him Biggie.”
“Did you get him a doodle box?”
“A what box?”
I laughed to myself. “Sorry, it’s what I call a litter box. Did you get one?”
“Yeah, I got some cheap, plastic scribble box or whatever the fuck you call it.”
“And is he using it?”
“Fuck, no. He prefers my laundry hamper. Found him in there the other day just popping a squat with that dumb faraway look in his eyes. He is testing my patience, Cora.”
“Just testing? I thought you’d be over it by now.”
“It wouldn’t be so bad if he’d stop pissing and spraying everywhere. I also found my makeup on the living room floor somehow. He actually went into my stash and rolled my mascara across the apartment like a fucking work ant.”
“He’s a skilled one, I should have warned you.”
“If by skilled you mean completely retarded, then yeah, we agree on that.”
“Well, if everything goes well, I’ll be able to take him off your hands in a few days.”
“What do you mean if everything goes well?”
My bottom lip hung and I sighed heavy and long. What was I going to say if I didn’t come home? Did I want to make up an excuse or did I want someone knowing that something fishy happened to me? But did Priscilla deserve to have that on her shoulders?
“Look, Priscilla,” I began, my voice dropping low. “If I don’t come home in the next few days, just take Biggie to my mom’s, okay?”
“Why wouldn’t you come home? What exactly are you out there doing?”
“It’s nothing, I—”
Suddenly, I felt the sensation of the phone being completely ripped out of my hand, and I didn’t even have a moment to look to see what had happened before I heard the thunderous crash of the receiver dropping to the ground and breaking into two pieces. I was so startled, I jumped backward and covered my mouth, not sure what I was about to see.
It was Paul.
His eyes were bloodshot and the veins in his neck were pulsating and darkening as he clenched his jaw. He looked enraged.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he seethed through gritted teeth. He sounded so vicious, so extremely pissed off, that I expected him to begin foaming at the mouth.
“I—” I opened my mouth but the words simply wouldn’t come out. I was petrified beyond belief of Paul, in that moment. I had come face to face with a werewolf on the attack before, yet Paul managed to look at me with an even more out of control rage.
I heard Brinly’s flip-flops making a squishing noise as she ran across the entrance hall of the house and toward us. The exploding phone must have alerted her.
“What is going on!” she yelled in a panic.
Paul’s furious gaze tore away from me long enough to spit in his girlfriend’s direction. “She was using the phone! She’s not a guest here! She’s not allowed these privileges!”
“Would you calm down? I’m the one who told her she could use the phone.”
Not only was Paul pissed off, but now he looked straight up dumbfounded. “You let her?”
“Yeah. What’s so terrible about that?”
“Do you have any idea how vulnerable you’re making us right now? She could be calling the fucking cops.”
“But she wasn’t. Right, Cora?”
I kept quiet. I was too afraid to even answer in front of him.
“How could you possibly know?” he hissed. “You weren’t even in the fucking room with her, yet you know exactly what she was talking about and to who?” His red eyes turned back to me and he raised his hand to point in my face. “I’m onto you. I don’t buy this bullshit cutesy act you have going on, trying to get everyone to like you and be on your side. I don’t buy it for one fucking minute.”
“Would you shut the fuck up?” Brinly yelled.
The vulgar way she addressed him completely distracted him from me. “Don’t tell me to shut up!”
“You’re being ridiculous. Papa has let her use the phone before. If it were such an issue, he never would have let it happen to begin with.”
“You’re not Aga,” he stewed.
She took a step closer to him. “You’re right, I’m not. I’m my own person and I get to do whatever the hell I want.” Brinly put her hand on top of my arm and said, “Come on, let’s go to the beach.”
“Don’t you dare,” Paul warned.
She threw her head back, exasperated. “Just chill out for once in your damn life, Paul. Cora and I were on our way to the beach, so that’s what we’re going to do. Let’s go.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, and then grabbed her by the arm quite harshly. There was enough force in his pull that she stopped moving all at once like she was actually tied down to the earth. From the aggressive way he held onto her and stared, I thought he was going to hit her.
I had no clue what I was supposed to do. This wasn’t me being afraid of a man, this was me being afraid of a man with potential drug rage and a beast beneath the surface waiting to get out. I couldn’t stand by and let him hurt her, but I knew I was no match for him.
I saw a flash of brown hair and felt my body shift to the right involuntarily, and realized this blur was a person bolting past me and toward Paul.
Oh, thank God, it was
Max.
His sudden arrival startled even Paul so much that he let go of Brinly instantly.
“What the hell are you doing?” Max snapped, pushing his hand against Paul’s chest to give Brinly some space.
Brinly was clearly upset as she backed away until she was standing behind Max. She whipped her beach towel at the floor and screamed, “Stay away from me!” to Paul and then ran away. Paul didn’t even look upset by it. He seemed more put off and irritated, like her standing up to him was the bigger problem than him laying a hand on her.
“That’s right, go cry to Aga!” Paul yelled over Max’s shoulder as Brinly ran away weeping.
“What are you doing?” Max asked in a completely puzzled fashion. “I could hear you all the way from upstairs.” Max was trying to stay levelheaded in this and not stir the pot even further, but I could tell from the stern tone in his voice that he was not the least bit happy with what he walked in on.
“This is really none of your business, Max.”
“You keep putting your hands on Brinly and it’s going to be the cop’s business.”
Paul threw his head back and moaned. “Oh, please, I grabbed her arm. It’s not like I was beating the shit out of her. Stop playing the white knight so you can look good for your girlfriend.”
“I guess somebody has to look good around here.”
Paul’s bloodshot eyes widened as he cackled. “So, I’m the bad guy now, huh? You’d all be locked up in a cage right now if it weren’t for my methods.” He inched his way toward Max, getting right up in his face. “I’m trying to protect this place’s safety. You know, the place you put in jeopardy by bringing her in here.”
Max inhaled deeply and shifted his eyes away from Paul. “I suggest you back the hell up right now.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to if you kept a leash on your girlfriend.”
“Mention putting a leash on her one more time and that phone won’t be the only thing broken in two on the floor.”
Paul slowly shook his head. “Your priorities are nice and skewed, aren’t they Max? You’re all loyal to us until a piece of ass walks through the door. It’s a good thing I’m the alpha here and you’re just a bitch.”
I saw Max’s fist tighten into a ball and his body lunged forward slightly, ready to hit him. I quickly intervened and grabbed Max by the arm, pulling on him with all the strength I had. It wasn’t enough to move him, but it was enough to get his attention.
“Max, don’t do this. Don’t be on his level,” I said slowly and intensely.
Paul was watching, waiting to see if Max would lash out the way he expected.
I could see Max mentally fighting with himself on whether it was worth it to pummel Paul’s face. His jaw was clenched, his eyes were shifting back and forth, and he was practicing breathing normal. It looked like the violent portion of his brain was winning the internal war.
“Come on,” I said, and dragged him away. I didn’t want to give him the chance to change his mind and beat the shit out of Paul. Max didn’t need to get into trouble because of me.
My heart was racing the entire time I scooted Max out the door. I could hear Paul spouting off profanities as we left along with the sound of him slamming the door. I did feel a sense of relief knowing he wasn’t watching us anymore.
“I am so sorry,” I told Max as we stopped by the stairs.
“What the hell are you apologizing for?”
“It all started because I used the phone. I know I shouldn’t have… I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Stop, Cora. Him manhandling Brinly and threatening you has nothing to do with a goddamn phone call. He shouldn’t be doing that!”
“Shhh, he’ll hear!”
“I don’t care if he hears!”
Panic was running through my veins like a poison. Everything escalated way too quickly. “Max, Aga decides what to do with Melanie and me in two days. What if he finds out about this? What if Paul spins this to make it look like I was trying to tell someone about you guys? What’ll happen to us then?”
Max put his hands on both my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “That’s not going to happen.”
“It’s easy for you to be so certain. You’re not the one who might end up at the bottom of the river.”
“Don’t think for a second that what happens to you doesn’t affect me.”
“Sure, it’ll suck for you, but your heart will still be beating next week.”
“Will it?” he asked me rhetorically, his tone both sweet and somber.
All this talk of hearts and suddenly mine was beating irregularly.
“Did you want to get out of here and do something?” he asked. “I feel like we need some away time.”
“Like a date?”
“Sure,” he said with a shrug and a crooked smile. He still didn’t know what that crooked smile did to me. He could invite me to eat a day old hamburger under an abandoned bridge and I’d say yes, as long as he looked at me that way.
Before I could utter another word, Melanie and Travis appeared like they had silent teleportation abilities. “You guys going somewhere?” Melanie asked.
“Out,” Max answered as vaguely as possible.
“Well, good, we can double date. Travis and I were just looking for something to do.”
“Double date?” Max asked after his eyes darted toward me.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun. What do you say?”
I felt them all gazing at me like I was supposed to be the deciding factor in all of this. It’s funny how I have no authority until it’s about the last thing I want to do. With the pressure of three pairs of eyes on me, I choked and said yes. To this day, I don’t understand why I caved so easily. Perhaps I was feeling a little vulnerable in that moment. Or stupid. Yeah, probably just stupid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
That night we found a bistro by the lake that served Italian food, so the four of us ordered spaghetti (meatless, of course), and sat at a table they had arranged on their outdoor porch so we could listen to the waves crashing against the shore as we ate.
Despite not being up for a double date, it really was a romantic setting; the wine, the smell of the lake, the quiet chatter among the candlelight dinner. It was really nice. I did, however, have regrets about sitting on the opposite side of Travis and Melanie though, because I was forced to face Travis as he slurped up each individual noodle like a child and then refused to have the decency to use a napkin and wipe off the sauce that had accumulated at the corners of his mouth.
He sure was a charmer.
“Thanks for paying for this, Max,” Travis said with his mouth full.
Max nearly choked on the wine he was sipping. “I’m paying for you guys, too?”
“Things were kind of tight for me this month,” he admitted.
Max set his glass down and sarcastically remarked, “I wonder where all that cash went.”
“Investment.”
“Investment?” I asked.
“Herbal investment. I’ve gotten into, uh, planting. This stuff’ll last me a lot longer this way and I can make some cash on the side. Pretty brilliant, huh?”
I smiled and nodded. Melanie liked him. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.
To make matters worse, Travis reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved a wrinkly sandwich bag that contained what looked like smashed leafs. He glanced back and forth at our surroundings to see if anyone was looking and then sprinkled it all over his spaghetti and then buried it with his fork.
“What was that?” I asked.
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Max told me quietly.
“So, Max,” Melanie blurted out as she slouched in her chair with a glass of wine in her hand. “You and Cora have been seeing each other for a while. Have you figured out all her dirty little secrets yet?”
“Depends on how many she has,” he replied.
“I don’t have any dirty secrets,” I remarked.
“Maybe n
ot horrible secrets per se, but things you don’t want him to exactly know about, either,” Melanie said as she leaned forward against the table and took a sip of her Merlot.
I groaned. I should have known it was a terrible idea to double date with a family member who can dish about all your embarrassing childhood moments. Especially one who had been drinking.
“Cora ever tell you about the first boyfriend she ever had?”
I dropped my face into my hand. “Here we go.”
“He was a real prize. He had what I called an acne beard.” Melanie trailed her fingers along her jaw and up the sides of her cheek. “It was wall to wall zits. He looked like pizza face Kris Kringle.”
I nervously rubbed my finger across the tablecloth and kept my eyes low. “He wasn’t really a boyfriend. We were probably thirteen at the time. All we did was hold hands. Besides… I was afraid if I kissed him, something would pop.”
Travis burst into a fit of laughter, nearly spraying us all with the food in his mouth.
Like Melanie could brag about her dating life with the mouth sprinkler next to her.
“Did you know that up until the fifth grade she used an R2-D2 lunchbox?” I could feel my cheeks getting hot. Melanie slapped Max’s hand that was rested on the table and added, “She do the elevator joke yet?”
“Elevator joke?” he asked.
Melanie’s eyes flashed toward mine gleefully, knowing there was a new way she could embarrass me. “Go on, cuz, tell him the Star Wars elevator joke.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily, but like a good little storm trooper, went through with the joke. “When Darth Vader visits a hotel, do you think he takes the stairs or the ele-vader?”
Max was very quiet, merely gazing at me with both a look of astonishment and satisfaction. “That’s so cheesy,” he said as more of an observation than his own opinion.
“That’s how I roll,” I admitted shamefully.
“Ooh, did you tell him about the white pants incident?!” she shouted excitedly.
“Melanie, can we not do this?” I pleaded with the friendliest smile I could squeeze out. “Max doesn’t want to hear about that stuff.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” he interjected with a shrug.
Lunar City Page 28