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"Damn, Vivie, I thought you were gonna hurt me." He scrambled to his knees, one hand covering his crotch.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Willem wiped his nose with his fist and glanced at her sideways. His smile was the old, gentle smile. "I went into Tooley's, you know, so they could enjoy throwing me out, and your Mom cornered me. She said since I didn't have anything better to do I could get my ass over here and keep you company. Said you hadn't gone out in weeks." He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head in a way that would have made her laugh three million years ago. "Want me to beat him up for you?"
How dare she? Vivian thought. Who gave her the right to broadcast my private business? "I can do my own beating up, thanks," she told Willem coldly.
Willem grimaced. "Yeah. Silly me."
"Why aren't you with those other gangsters?" she asked.
Willem shrugged, a frown touching his face. He kicked at the log with one of his engineer boots. "Oh, Finn thinks he's hot shit - pushing us around 'cus Rafe's not there to slap him down. I mean, Rafe's bad enough, but at least he doesn't make us do dumb-ass stuff to prove he can make us do it. Greg doesn't like that either so they're always arguing, and you know Ulf - dumb little turd'll go along with anything. At least Finn isn't screwing his mother."
"Rafe's always off with Astrid?" Vivian asked.
"Yeah. At her place. Helping her 'recuperate.' He thinks the sun shines out of her ass. I don't get it." Willem shook his head. "I don't blame him for staying there, though. His dad's being weirder than ever."
They sat in silence for a while as the night darkened around them.
"We used to have fun, Viv, didn't we?" Willem said finally. "Now I wonder who's looking out for me besides me. Those older ones, all they do is talk. And Gabriel, who's he? Is he gonna make us do stupid shit like Finn does, just to show he's boss? You know what? I think you're the only person I trust. You're cool. You never let us talk you into doing stupid shit." Willem fell silent again.
Oh, yeah. I'm so cool, Vivian thought.
"You know who did that killing, Viv?" Willem said suddenly.
Vivian's stomach turned over.
"Nobody knows," he continued. "That weirds me out. One of us killing, and nobody knowing who. Killing used to be something we did together."
A faint breeze picked up and heat lightning patch-worked the sky. Willem sighed.
Vivian gently punched him in the ribs. "Get out of here. Tell Finn where to stick it. Stand up for yourself, asshole."
He grinned sheepishly. "Maybe I will."
"Well, go do it now," she said. "I need to be alone."
>A slip of familiar paper fluttered down to the surface of the table - Bingo's number. Vivian must have left it by the phone when she'd called to thank Bingo for the night of movies and popcorn.
Of course, Vivian thought, and she wiped an arm across her eyes. I'll call Bingo. She's good friends with Aiden. I'll tell her we've had a fight and he won't talk to me. She'll persuade him for me. Vivian reached for the phone again.
"Bingo. Hi! It's Vivian."
"You've got your nerve talking to me." Bingo's voice was taut and angry. Her words left Vivian stunned.
"What?"
"You know damn well what," Bingo replied.
But Vivian didn't. "I don't understand."
"After what you did to Aiden."
Oh, Great Moon, he'd told her, Vivian thought. How could he tell her? And how could Bingo sound so matter-of-fact? Shouldn't she be afraid? "We had a fight," Vivian said, trying to get back to the scenario she'd invented, yet floundering in confusion over Bingo's attack.
"A fight! I'll say. Another one of your jealous rages. He told me about them. He was afraid to even look at another girl in case you went off on him. I was surprised when he told me. I thought you were more intelligent than that. It just goes to show I can't judge people at all."
"Jealous rages?" Vivian found herself repeating stupidly. What lies had Aiden invented?
