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“Oh. What did she want?”
“She’s just still pissing on about me taking the DVD player from the penthouse,” he explains casually, pursing his lips together to keep from smiling.
Sasha’s eyebrows draw close as she asks disbelievingly, “A DVD player? She’s sending desperate texts for you to call her over a DVD player?”
He grins and eats a bite of chicken. “Yep.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“Because you’re a cynical, wizened old lesbian, why else?” Robert replies jokingly.
“Hey! I may be two of those things, but I’m certainly not wizened or old,” Sasha exclaims, laughing.
“I don’t know.” Robert bites on his lip. “Those crow’s feet have seen better days.”
What follows is about ten minutes of them both throwing funny insults back and forth at one another. I laugh at the right moments, but my brain is still fixating on the fact that the phone call Robert had been having earlier was with Kara. Furthermore, I have to side with Sasha when I say I don’t believe she’s still looking for him to give the DVD player back. There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Robert may have changed his ways with me, but he hasn’t changed completely. He still likes to mess with people’s heads, and it seems he’s done something that’s messing with Kara’s.
We spend the rest of the evening watching a marathon on one of the movie channels showing all of the Indiana Jones films. Later on, when I’m alone in my en-suite getting ready for bed, Robert suddenly appears, slipping silently into the small room and closing the door.
I continue brushing my teeth as I stand by the sink. He places both hands on either side of my body and stares at me in the mirror.
I bend to rinse out my mouth, my bottom brushing off him in the process. He makes a funny purring sound in response. I’m almost charmed by the playful look in his eyes, but then I remember there’s something I need to say to him.
I wipe my mouth on a towel and turn to face him. “What’s going on with Kara?”
His lips curl in an almost smile. “Whatever do you mean?”
“You’re up to something, I can tell. Have you been putting more unflattering pictures of her up on Facebook or something?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then what?”
“It’s nothing. I just took something, inadvertently, might I add, that she wants me to give back.”
I shoot him a confused look. “The DVD player?”
“In a way, yes.”
“Robert, stop being evasive and just answer me.”
He sighs and runs the material of my pyjama top between his fingers. “Okay, so maybe there was a DVD inside the DVD player that I now have in my possession.”
“Like a film?” I raise a quizzical eyebrow.
“Yeah, like a film. A sex tape of Kara and Gary, to be more precise.”
I gasp and clasp my hand to my mouth. “Oh, my God, are you being serious?”
“Very.”
“Why don’t you give it back?”
His moves his shoulders in a nonchalant gesture. “Sometimes it’s good to keep a little collateral. Kara knows a lot of stuff about me, Lana. By keeping the tape, I ensure that she never airs my dirty laundry in public.”
I become wary now. “What kind of stuff?”
He shrugs. “I had a little drug habit when I was twenty. It’s all over now, and it didn’t last very long, but Kara was with me back then and she witnessed me do a lot of stupid things. If it ever got out, it could ruin my career.”
Robert used to do drugs? That’s something even Sasha doesn’t know about. I’m not too surprised, though, because he’s always had a misadventurous side.
“But if the tape ever got into the wrong hands, it could ruin Kara’s career,” I counter.
“So now we’re even. She keeps her mouth shut, and I keep the tape locked away safe.”
“It doesn’t sound like she’s willing to make that deal, Rob.”
“She’ll come around. She doesn’t have another choice.”
I move away from him and walk into the bedroom, trying to get all this straight in my head. I pick up my brush and run it through my hair a few times. “Does Kara have any evidence of the things she’s seen you do when you were on drugs?” I ask.
“No. But rumours can be just as damaging as hard evidence. People like to believe salacious gossip.”
“Yeah, but that’s just it, Rob. Kara can spread rumours, but she can never prove the things you’ve done, whereas you’ve got a DVD to show to people. For all she knows, you could have uploaded it onto the Internet already.”
Robert folds his arms, looking annoyed now. “She knows I’ll keep my word if she keeps hers.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“One-hundred-percent sure.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Okay, then. I think this is going to come back to haunt you, but it looks like there’s no way of changing your mind.”
For a moment his eyes grow hard, and I don’t like the look in them. “You don’t believe I’ll keep my word, do you?” he asks.
“I’m not a fortune-teller. I don’t know what you’ll do in the future.”
He walks over to the window and stands there for a good five minutes, staring out onto the street in silence. Finally the tension in his shoulders falls away, and he pulls the curtains closed.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” he says softly.
“No need to apologise. You’re stressed,” I say, pulling back the duvet and climbing into bed.
“Can I sleep in here tonight?” he asks, looking lost.
“Yes,” I breathe. “I want you to.” In my mind I’m imagining that he might touch me again like he did earlier today.
He begins to strip off until he’s in nothing but his boxer shorts. Then he climbs into the bed beside me. I click off the lamp and turn onto my side. Robert immediately wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him, lining the back of my body up flush with the front of his.
I lie there in anticipation, but soon it becomes clear that sleeping with me is all he intends for tonight. His breathing slows against the back of my neck, and just as I think he might have fallen under, he whispers tiredly into my ear, “I have the best sleeps with you.”
