Page 100 of Cruel Lies

I mean what I'm saying.Lev.Who gives a fuck?

I have more important things to think about.

By the time we're back in the city, the mood in the car has lightened. "You're on call tomorrow if anything comes up," I tell Navi. "I'll be out on the boat."

Navi glances at me. "Which boat?"

"The Other Yacht.It's more intimate."

"Intimate? Why would you— oh. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. You're planning a thing."

"I'm planning a date. You'd know that if you could ever find a female who'd tolerate your lopsided face."

He jabs a finger at me. "Don't try to distract me with petty insults. You're planning abigthing.Look at your face. You've got the moon face again, but worse. It's a whole harvest moon now."

I can't help my face, but I'm not embarrassed. I should be, maybe, a man my age, a man of my reputation, grinning like a schoolboy over a woman.

But I'm not. I'm too pleased with myself to be embarrassed.

"Dinner on the water," I confirm. "Out past the harbor. I've got a chef coming. A friend from Chicago who owes me a favor. I want the lights kept low so the stars come through."

Navi is staring at me at a red light. "It's like I don't even know who you are anymore. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

"You're butchering that quote," I mutter.

"How the hell would you know?"

"Because I have culture," I say. "Unlike others in this car."

Navi laughs. "I think you're just dragging this poor woman out onto a boat in the middle of the ocean so she can't say no when you try to stick your tongue down her throat." He sighs, almost mournful. "You used to be scary. Grown men used to cry in your office. Now, you're hand-weaving blankies so the woman you're smitten with feelscozy."

"I'm still scary," I mutter. "Ask Todd."

That shuts him up for half a block. Then he grins again, because he can't help himself.

"Fine," he says. "Fine. Take her out on your little intimate boat, harvest-moon face and all. But when she asks you the hard question—and she will, Ro, she's not stupid—you'd better have a damn good answer ready."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He pulls to the curb outside the building and puts the car in park. When he turns to look at me, there's none of the ribbing left in his face now. Just my cousin. My right hand. The one man who'd take a bullet for me and the one man who'll tell me the truth when everyone else has learned better.

"I'm going to say it one more time and then I'll shut up about it forever."

"Feel free to skip the first part," I growl.

He ignores me. "She's the thing you can't afford to lose," he says. "I've watched you my whole life, and I've never seen you like this over anything. Just her." He taps the wheel once. "Which is exactly why you should be scared. Because when she learns what you truly are, she will not be in a forgiving mood. She's going to see the man who lied. And you know what she does to men who lie to her. You watched her do it."

I don't even bother responding.

Why would I?

He's right.

27

CALI

Saturday afternoon, my bedroom looks like a bomb went off.