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“I’ve been so worried about you. Ryan has been trying to reassure me, but he doesn’t know! How could he? Then Jack was sending reports, but they were pretty basic. Then last week he said that he wasn’t allowed to gossip and I would have to wait for you to fill me in!” A tear fell from her eye and I was surprised to find I was crying too.
“I’m sorry, Scout, it's been a lot. Too much really. I’ve spent my life pretending to be irresponsible and reckless. I mean, I thought that was all pretend. But I have no idea how to deal with all of this. The Pasternaks being killed. Reese and Alex.” When she gave me a questioning look and sighed. “Decker’s guys. They were in the car that…”
“Got it!” She said quickly, sensing my discomfort. She was always so amazing at knowing when it was too heavy and how to move along.
“I don’t think I’ve even really processed what happened to Bailey and Monica.” Tears began to fill my eyes again and Scout made a pained face. It was always hard for either of us to stand by and watch the other cry. “Whenever Deck isn’t around, I feel it all come rushing back and I just worry I’m using him as a distraction.”
At these words, I notice the shift from empathy to full blown excited curiosity from my best friend. “I’ve now heard you call him Decker and Deck and not one single complaint about him either time. What is going on? Is this why Jack stopped updating me? Tell me now!” She was practically shoving her face to her screen trying to get closer like she’d magically make it through the screen to shake the information out of me.
“We’ve gotten closer,” I said, tip-toeing around the dirt I knew she wanted. It was so easy to slip back into this comfortable friendship with Scout. It made me feel slightly normal again, without needing Decker around to keep me level.
“Closer than sexy library kisses?”
“Way closer,” I replied with a satisfied sigh, letting my mind flip through all the places Decker had kissed me lately. I felt my face growing hot and heard a loud gasp from Scout, drawing my attention back to her.
“Lake! Are you blushing? I didn’t even know you were capable!”
“Why’s Lake blushing?” came a deep voice from Scout's end of the call, and I smiled when I saw herfiancé, Ryan, lean down into the camera’s view. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said with that same lopsided smile that had all the women swooning. “Red looks good on you.”
“Shut up,” I said trying to cover my cheeks as he just chuckled, exchanged a quick peck with Scout and was off screen in less than a minute.
“Okay so I can’t do this over a video call. I need details about everything going on in the life of Lake Harrington, and I need them in person!” Scout seemed to be working on something on her computer as she said all this because after a moment of her reading she gave a hoot of triumph. “Alright, I’ll be there on Friday!”
“Wait, what?” I was looking around the living room anxiously. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Scout in person and hug her and lay my head in her lap while I told her everything and she hummed along, finger combing my hair in comfort. This had been our tradition, each offering a lap and an ear to the other. I knew on some level I needed her, but I didn’t want her involved in any of this mess.
“I talked to Jack! He said it’s no problem for me to come. I wonder if Ryan will want to come too.” She seemed to be distractedly clicking around her screen before she shook her head. “Nope he’s got some press thing on Friday, so it will just be you, me, and hopefully a lot of snacks!”
“Since when are you so close with Jack?” I nearly shouted to be heard over her rambling to herself.
“Since he sent me a very flattering email about how impressed he was with my work on your laptop. We were chatting back and forth, and he even talked me into sending him the chat app. I added him to your contact as well. Not that you need to reach him with it since he’s there with you, but you know.” She was rambling again.
“Back on track, Scout!”
“Right! Sorry!” Now it was her turn to blush, but with her, it was a constant issue. She’d always been shy with people she didn’t know. Unless she was talking tech. “Anyway, he mentioned he knew we usually kept in touch more, but you’d been trying to handle a full dance card of drama, so he was nice enough to keep me updated so I didn’t worry. But last week he said you were fine, but he didn’t want to gossip, and now I need to know why he would have been gossiping.”
“Probably because last week was when my father fired Remington and I wasn’t Decker’s client anymore and he and I…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Normally I had no issues with talking about the dirty details of my sex life… when I had one. But this didn’t feel like one of those flings I could casually spill about. It felt so different with Decker and while that scared the shit out of me, I didn’t want to make it sound so meaningless when explaining it to Scout. “I need a minute to put it all into words, you know?”
“Holy shit,” she practically screamed into the computer, eyes wide with an equally wide grin. “Okay, okay. You get two days to figure out how to word it, because when I get there, I demand we talk this out!”
“Got it.” I said with a smile of my own. The front door opened and I turned to see Decker walking in, looking grave. “Hey, let's talk later,” I said, turning my head back to the screen.
Decker moved behind me, passing behind the couch when he stopped and looked at the face on the screen. Leaning down over my shoulder, much like Ryan had done with Scout, he gave a small and forced smile to a now bouncing Scout.
“Hello, Ms. Landow. It’s a pleasure to see you again.” I shot him a surprised look, but remembered he’d been recommended by Scout’s father to mine. It wasn’t hard to make the connection after that.
“The pleasure is all mine,” she said, trying to maintain some decorum when I knew she wanted to shoot him a million questions.
“See you Friday,” I said and closed the laptop before she could do or say anything to humiliate me.
Decker had already begun to move past the couch and had one foot down the hallway before my words hit him and he froze. Slowly he turned to face me and I knew I wasn’t looking at Decker anymore. I was staring down Mullins from before. Easy to temper, and the conversation skills of rock. I silently tried to figure out what had caused this Jekyll and Hyde switch in him and was still mentally recounting the last few seconds when his words halted even my thoughts.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” The deep command held a menace I hadn’t heard since the elevator to my condo. It was a tone that sent a shiver of unease through me.
“Yeah, I know.” I said, silently cursing myself when my voice wavered slightly. I needed to distract myself, so I stood up and headed for the kitchen, ready to spray down the counters for the second time if it meant giving me an excuse to block out this asshole who had replaced the affectionate man who had left.
“You told Scout Landow that you’d see her on Friday.” It wasn’t a question, so I continued to wipe down the surface in front of me. “Why?” He finally growled and I shot him a glare reserved for my father. This seemed to snap him out of attitude slightly because he looked almost apologetic as he asked again, “Why?” in a tone that was far more suitable for a civilized conversation.
“Because she worked out a plan with Jack to come here on Friday to see me.” I made no attempt to hide the ice in my words, I didn’t owe him any explanation, but I wouldn’t be petty and hold back talking to him just because he was acting weird all of a sudden.
