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The transgression has secured his fate.
And he knows it.
I lick my lips and press the tip of my tongue against the back of my upper teeth in an effort to calm the storm inside me, taking a slow, deep breath. A faked genuine smile makes my face feel like a corpse being manipulated for a showing.
It fools her, though.
It always does.
“We have to get back to the house,” I explain, smiling up at Rudy, though my eyes don’t quite catch any hint of affection. Val can’t see that part, but Rudy can. Tension builds between us, his touch so deadly.
Deadly for him.
His touch scrambles the electrical signals in my body, the lust I feel for Cam intermingling with Rudy’s vulgar, possessive claim. Revulsion ripples through me, my small shiver something Rudy mistakes for arousal.
I can tell by his smirk.
But the way his eyes glide down my body makes my stomach twist.
Val winks at us, her long, fake eyelashes smashing against her upper cheekbone, where the rouge she’s put on has worn away long ago, her lip liner blurred, lipstick smeared on her drink glass.
The air shifts, thickening and tasting like dirt. A cold fear blankets my skin, a coat made of doom.
“You two better hurry,” she admonishes us, adding a waving motion with the backs of her hands, looking up at the troubled sky. “It’s gonna pour soon.”
I take this as my cue and turn, leaving Rudy flustered. How can I tell? He clears his throat.
“Val, I’ve been meaning to ask you about those cucumbers you’re growing in the garden,” he says casually, pretending he’s not flustered by my cues. We should go now, but he's procrastinating.
Why?
“Yes?” She perks up.
“Were those special seeds you used, or a different kind of fertilizer? I’d love to find out. Nothing I do lets mine grow properly.”
Aha. I see.
Cover.
His conversation is cover.
As the pit of my stomach drops, a spot in the back of my head turning electric with the throbbing pain that I know is not allowed, I wait him out. He chatters with Val. I catch words like compost and worm castings. My mind turns off, all of it a blur, a fuzzy gibberish in the background.
None of this matters.
The damage is done.
If we were being monitored, then someone on my security team saw what Rudy did.
If not, then I am obligated to report it.
Rudy, unlike the others, has been very open to taking me out in public. He is the reason we go on these nightly walks. It is because of him that I was allowed to go to dog obedience school. Rudy offered to take me places, and because of him, I met Cam.
Cam.
Cam intrudes, the memory of his strong legs, his sympathetic whisper, his protective tone.
I want him.
