Page 18 of Chasin’s Surrender

“Chasin—”

“Talk now or later? But, Genevieve, we will be talking.”

“Later.”

Thought so.

Chasin smiled and kissed her forehead. He couldn’t say she’d welcomed his lips on her but she hadn’t pulled away.

6

One could say, my day hadn’t gone as planned.

If someone would’ve told me I was going to find myself in Chasin’s lap I would’ve laughed myself stupid.

If someone would’ve told me Chasin would be in my house, roaming around like he owned it, I would’ve told them they were insane because that was never going to happen.

Yet, there Chasin was, giving Nixon a tour. One Nixon didn’t need because he’d been in my uncle’s house before. After Nixon told me he’d grown up in Cliff City, this didn’t surprise me. Even though the residence was privately owned, it was on the National Register of Historic Places, therefore my family had always opened the house for tours. Not to mention my uncle, and my granddad before him, held an annual Fourth of July party—over the years they’d welcomed the town and had hosted the governor.

So Nixon having been in the house didn’t surprise me. What did was the way Chasin had moved through the rooms like he’d been there hundreds of times and not just for a couple of days. I wasn’t sure what to make of his obvious observation skills so I decided to shove those thoughts aside and not deal with Chasin—at all.

Instead, I called my uncle and filled him in on the real reason I was in Kent County and holed up in his mansion. To say he was uncaring was an understatement. He had no thoughts on my predicament one way or the other. Maybe if I’d told him some sick freak broke into his niece’s house and jerked off on her bed he would’ve cared, but even that was unlikely. I didn’t want to even think about that because when the image started to creep into my thoughts, I could feel the bile rise in my throat.

My uncle told me he’d email a list of the people who’d had access to the house, and gave his approval on any security system and new lighting the guys wanted to put in. But that permission led to an argument over who was paying. In the end, I gave in. I didn’t have it in me to fight with him over something stupid. If he wanted me to pay, it was no skin off my nose and I had bigger shit to deal with. Like my best friend withholding information from me.

I also had a sinking feeling Bobby was holding something else back. On that thought, I went in search of my friend-slash-assistant. It took a while, the house was big and I was trying to avoid Chasin and Nixon. I still hadn’t recovered from seeing the man who’d given me hope that maybe my luck had changed and he’d done that in the matter of hours. Then he’d taken that hope and extinguished it.

I found Bobby kicking back in a lounger on the rooftop widow’s walk. Her head was tipped back, eyes closed. She looked like she was taking a mid-afternoon snooze. But I knew she wasn’t; her hands were balled into tight fists resting near her hips and she was frowning.

“You got a minute?” I asked.

Bobby’s eyes slowly opened and came to me.

“Of course,” she muttered and smiled.

I knew Bobby well. I’d known her since forever, therefore I knew all of her smiles. The ones she gave my fans, the ones she gave record executives and my manager. Those were fake—they were business. Then there were the smiles she’d given me and her friends over the years. The ones that reached her eyes, split her face in two, and made her nose crinkle.

Bobby’s smile was all business.

I felt the pang of loss so deep I had to sit down.

“What’s happened to us?” I whispered.

“What?”

“Us. You know, Roberta and Genevieve. When did we lose them?”

“Viv, honey, we’re right here,” she returned.

“No, we’re not. We’re boss and employee. When did we turn into that?”

Bobby lifted her back off the lounger and sat up straight.

“I understand you’re pissed—”

“No, you don’t. You can’t begin to imagine,” I cut her off.

“Oh, yes, I can, Genevieve. You think I haven’t felt it. I haven’t seen it. I’ve watched you pull into yourself over the last few years and no matter what I do, I can’t pull you out. So, I’ve done the only thing I can do and I’ve stood between you and the world. I know you’re pissed I didn’t tell you about what happened but I did that for a reason. I did it to protect you. I did it so you didn’t pull further into yourself, shut the gates, and lock them. Which means you’d be locking me out more than you already are. I know what this is doing to you.” She whispered the last part, not bothering to hide the anguish.