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6
CAMBRIA
“Hey, you know employees get free drinks, right?” Ariella says as she rinses out a few glasses.
“No, I didn’t, actually. That’s pretty cool,” I reply, cautiously sitting down as I glance around for patrons. The club has been dead for hours, but I don’t want to be caught slacking if someone comes in.
Ariella seems to read my mind. “Don’t feel weird if people start to show up. It’s important to me to get to know all the girls here, so consider it a kind of day off,” she says. “What do you drink?”
My shoulders drop an inch. “I usually just drink wine. I’m not much of a liquor person,” I confess.
“Yeah, your brother wasn’t much of a liquor person either,” she replies, smiling a bit as she reaches over for a bottle of chardonnay.
My ears perk up. “You knew Marcus?” I ask, feeling my heart begin to pound at the suggestion that I’ve found a piece of his past.
“I dated him for a while. Things weren’t going to work out between us in the end, but I never held anything against him. He loved you so much, though,” she explains, handing me a glass of wine on a coaster.
“Why didn’t things work out?” I ask, wondering if I should even be asking about such things. I thought I had closed every chapter of Marcus’s life except for Abram. I had no idea he dated Ariella.
“He was too committed to his work, and his work, well… it was hard. And scary. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that, especially after what happened,” she replies, pouring herself a glass and taking a long sip.
I feel my heart skip a beat at the mention of his death, even indirectly. It was too difficult for me to get over his death as it happened. Hearing it from someone else’s perspective makes me feel like I’m reliving it all over again.
And I don’t believe that I’ll ever stop reliving it. That’s why I need to make Abram pay.
“Did he ever talk about me?” I ask, my stomach turning as the question leaves my mouth. I know I’m playing with fire as I get deeper into Marcus’s personal life. He kept it from me for a reason, but he’s not here to protect me from it anymore.
I need to know everything about who he was.
Ariella smiles. “Of course, he adored you. When you were in high school, he talked about your artistic talent all the time. He showed me some pictures of things you had drawn for him. You left those little post-it comics around the house for him. He loved those so much.”
My face burns hot, and I fight back my tears at the memory. I made those comics for him when he was working nights and I never got to see him. Sometimes, I wondered if he even saw some of them since I hid them in cabinets and behind books for him to find.
“One time, he brought one here to show me. It was the one with the opossum smoking a bong,” she continues, laughing at the memory as her gaze becomes distant. “He thought you were really intelligent and funny. He loved that about you.”
I never had anyone to talk to about Marcus after he died. I had tried therapy, but my therapist became frustrated and annoyed at my lack of progress throughout the year after my brother passed. He thought I was living in the past, refusing to let go and move on. I never opened up about Marcus to anyone after that. Knowing that someone could be irritated that I miss my brother was too much for me.
I can feel my eyes beginning to form tears, so I sip my wine just a bit faster. Maybe if I can get myself just drunk enough to feel happy, I won’t have to worry about breaking down in front of my boss.
“What do you know about Abram?” I ask, recognizing that I have multiple intentions with my question. Before, it would have been all about learning his habits, his weaknesses and desires. Now, I want to know absolutely everything. I want to know him as a person, and that scares me.
I need to stay focused somehow.
“Abram? He’s different. Not in a creepy, slimy way or anything, but he’s definitely an odd one,” she replies, her expression guarded.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask anxiously. I already know that Abram is weird. Wouldn’t that be obvious to her?
“I mean that he’s got some strange habits surrounding women. I know what his intentions are with you since I gave you the sapphire necklace, and I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t tell you that you’ll probably be replaced sooner than later,” she replies.
My stomach drops, and my face breaks out in a light sweat. “Why do you say that?” I ask, trying my best to cover up the hurt in my voice and barely succeeding.
“His mom left when he was a kid, like thirteen or fourteen. He was young enough not to understand why she left, but he was old enough to be really, really angry about it,” she continues. “In high school, he formed a complex about women and started practicing the art of deception with them. He never keeps one around long enough to get attached.”
I stop and think to myself for a moment. Why even bother choosing a special girl if you know you’re just going to drop her and move on? Does he do it to hurt people intentionally?
I guess I wouldn’t put it past him. He was so nice to me, which was odd considering who he is, but his eyes were cold and dead. I know he has it in him to be evil.
Especially after what he did to my brother.
