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"I will. I have to get to work now, but I'm free tomorrow afternoon. Sound good?"
"Sounds peachy," I replied, my innards bursting with the prospects of what was coming.
When Juniper left, I stayed back in the cafe for some time. I ordered another latte and sipped on it luxuriously while I made a plan to swindle her out of her money.
I really didn't need it, but I needed the adrenaline rush. The rest was just secondary.
In fact, I had some plans on what I'd do with the things I purchased when she did the trust fall. And I knew she would.
You could wonder what made me this bitter. But I was no different from your regular, talented TV actor, only I didn't have to make any pretenses when it came to reading people. That was my gift.
My first thrill of stealing something that didn't belong to me was when I was nine years old, and I stole a fat wad of bills from my father's billfold. He found out and gave me a good, old-fashioned whopping with his belt.
Oh, the world could forgive that man, but that didn't mean I needed to. He could make a big pomp and show of not being carved of the same flesh and bone as the people who came before him, but it was all a lie.
I'd seen how ruthless he got in his anger spells and how harsh and unforgiving he could be. I learned that the only real way to survive was to play pretend, and soon, that was all my life became.
Deception was my best friend. There was no close second.
From there, I studied Juniper for weeks. Her habits, routines, quirks, everything that even her lovers could not. I knew her favorite color was viridian. I knew she loved a bit of alcohol in her ice cream, enjoyed walks, and hoped to parent a golden retriever someday.
I even knew what tampons she preferred for that time of the month. In short, I became the best friend she'd never thought she'd find.
And when the iron was hot, I struck. I told her I desperately needed money, my nephew was sick, and my cruel uncle refused to pay for his treatment.
With her savior complex, Juniperhadto jump in and save the day. I made sure to thank her profusely, acting as if her kindness genuinely touched me, although, in truth, it made me want to barf that she'd given in with so little resistance.
I made a great show of paying her back in cash because, as I said, I wasn't interested in the "money" element of it all. What I really did with her credit card info would greet her eyes soon enough. I wasn't even done when I got a very unsavory message from my father, asking me to meet him.
By that time, we weren't living under the same roof. I hardly interacted with him. My best hope was for him to die in the next year and for me to inherit the family's wealth. He was nothing but a roadblock.
When I showed up in that damned mansion of horrors—and even with all its beauty, I could not think of it as anything differentbecausethis was where he locked me in a dark room when I cried or got afraid.
This was where he beat me with his belt.
And this was where he kept telling me I'd failed him even when I was just four and had no clue how I could have done anything to piss him off.
That nasty old tit. I want him dead and gone.
I was very satisfied to see age was catching up on him. It showed in the deep creases etched into his once-powerful face, now worn and haggard. The lines around his mouth were especially pronounced, evidence of the countless cigarettes and glasses of whiskey he'd downed over the years.
"Father."
"You are to stay away from Juniper Davis."
That made me do a double-take. It was hard to take anything the man said seriously these days. His cheeks had sunk in, hollowed out by the relentless pull of gravity.
They looked particularly funny when he spoke, like craters on the moon. Once piercing and alert, his eyes were dull and bloodshot, the whites tined with yellow.
"How do you know about Juniper Davis?" I asked, genuinely curious as to how a simpleton from Oakmont had caught my old man's attention. Surely, he wasn't thinking of giving the ol' tail a wag at this age, was he?
"That is none of your business. I know what you've been doing around town, Hunter. For shame."
My cheeks went red. I continued staring into his eyes, the skin around them crinkled and leathery like an old parchment map left in the sun for too long. He looked like he'd swallowed a fucking tennis ball that had lodged itself in the bottom of his fat face.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said silkily. "And frankly, I don't give a damn about your opinion."
"But you give lots of ‘em about my money, don't you? Tough luck because you're not getting any of it. You shouldn't be needing much, seeing as you've successfully swindled your way all across the city. Have you been doing this for long, Hunter? What has become of you?"
