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“I’ve got to go, mother. Thank you for the advice.”
I hung up the phone, sighed, and let Travis wrap me in a warm hug. Rat was still molting, and I felt him using my ankle as a scratching post while Travis’ arms enveloped me.
How did my life get so weird?
25
TRAVIS
The studio was hot from all the lights and camera equipment. I’d worked up a bit of a lather from all the aggressive decision making I’d been taking care of, too. Yellow or green? Definitely green. Hand by the face or by the brow? We went with the brow, of course.
It wasn’t easy work, and I found a place to sit and unwind after a wonderful catered lunch of sandwiches and homemade chips. Elizabeth was beside me with a laptop on her legs and her fingers flying across the keys. Ever since her little walk and mysterious phone call yesterday, she’d been different. Just to test that the spell hadn’t broken, I reached over and tucked some hair behind her ear. Instead of trying to punch me in the throat or recoiling and hissing, she glanced up and flashed a shy little smile, then returned to typing.
Curious. Very curious.
Then again, I guessed I was charming. It would make sense that even someone as resistant to my ways as Elizabeth would eventually wear down, right? But I thought it was something else. Like she’d made a decision. I just wondered what had pushed her over the edge. Maybe it was when I told her my favorite bad jokes on the drive up to this studio. Or maybe it was something about last night in the hotel room.
I’d learned she had never seen my favorite movie, Predator, so I insisted that she lay in the hotel bed with me and watch it before we went to sleep. She got very bored with the movie about ten minutes in and decided to occupy herself by cuddling and running her hands all over me. Out of respect for Arnold, I wanted to wait until the movie was over to take things up a notch—but she’d already fallen asleep by that point.
But I hadn’t been disappointed to miss out on the sex. I ended up just lying there with her head on my chest, enjoying the feeling of her slow breaths coming and going. My mind might’ve even wandered to a possible future where we spent rainy evenings together on the couch in our cozy little castle mansion by the sea—where she’d always fall asleep before the movie finished and I’d carry her to our bed afterwards.
It was a nice thought. Actually, it was kind of a terrifying thought, because I had no idea if Elizabeth would let that future happen.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked away from sort of creepily watching Elizabeth type to see who it was.
Adrian.
Shiiit.
“I’ll be back in a few,” I said. “Gotta take this.”
Elizabeth looked curious but nodded before I rushed outside the studio and took the call in the alley outside.
“Let me guess,” I said. “You want to know what I’m wearing?”
“It has been a month, Travis. Tell me what you have.”
“I see you’re still using that calendar I got you for Christmas. Are you enjoying the firemen more or the policemen? I personally thought the firemen were a little more your style, so—”
“Travis,” he said, cutting me off sharply. “Do I need to remind you that K.M. Glass is putting together a case to take us down on felony charges?”
“You know,” I said. “I was thinking about that, and doesn’t it seem like she’d have already turned in what she has by now if she had anything good? I mean, why wait?”
“Because legal proceedings take time. Her lawyers are just preparing their case. There’s no rush. If she has something on us, she’ll still have it in six months or a year. It makes sense for her to come at us hard and fast. She believes she’ll be catching us off guard, so she wants to have a rock-solid case before she springs the lawyers on us.”
“Hmm. I guess that makes sense.”
“So what do you have?”
I sighed. The cold hard truth was I had next to nothing. I’d started with good intentions, but Elizabeth had been a distraction. And I suffered from ADHD, so I couldn’t be entirely blamed for letting her side-track me. For a month. “What do I have, you ask? I have fostered dozens of intimate relationships with employees at every level in K.M. Glass Designs. You know that guy in Game of Thrones who is always talking about his little birds? That’s what I’ve got, Adrian. A bunch of little birds ready to spill their secrets as soon as I ask.”
“You have jack shit, don’t you?”
“That’s a very pessimistic interpretation of what I just told you.”
