Page 65 of Don't Tell

That's fine. That was the point.

I have just walked across a Davies reception toward a waitress. I take a champagne flute off her tray. I fake a polite expression. I lift the flute as if to say thank you and step back.

I leave her there.

She does not follow me with her eyes. She has already turned to the next guest with the tray, because she is a professional and because she is, at this moment, more composed than I am.

Brandt finds me again soon after. He has another glass.

"Cade, about your artist."

"Yes?"

"I'm very interested in the work."

"I gathered."

"I’m also interested in more than the work."

I look at him. "What does that mean?"

"Cade, come on. You're not a little boy."

"What does that mean, Eli?"

"I'm a man who likes to be inspired. I’m inspired tonight, in more than one way, and I fully intend to see that inspiration to the end. That is what it means.” I don’t react. He grunts. “I’m talking about sex, Cade. Sex.” His eyes begin to drift. I follow his gaze to Suzanne’s frame moving through the hall. “She looks flexible, doesn't she? The way she carries the tray."

I look at him and let it sit.

I smile. "I know exactly what you're talking about."

"There you go."

"Why don't we continue this outside? The light in the service hallway is better. We don't want the guests overhearing the back half of this conversation. It’ll make them cringe."

"Lead the way."

He follows me and is very pleased with himself.

The service hallway is empty.

Letting him get one step inside the door, I punch him once, clean, in the face.

He goes down.

His nose is bleeding before his back has finished hitting the wall. He makes a sound that is not quite speech, his hands are at his face, and the blood is between his fingers.

I crouch and whisper, "Eli."

He looks at me.

"If you ever say her name again, to anyone, in any context, in any city, I will ruin you. The Beaumont deal you’ve been working on for fourteen months? I will kill it tomorrow. The Carrington loan that closes next quarter? I will pull the floor out from under it the day before signing. I have the names of the three privatecollectors who are funding your spring program. I will have them out by Friday."

"Cade — "

"If you so much as look at her across a room, Eli, I will hear about it. I will not be this generous next time."

"I — "