14. Valerian #2
“I could say the same about the red bikini.” I take a seat on the lounger next to her, lifting the strap. I peer underneath, seeing her nipple. She can’t hide her body from me in my own house.
“Do you mind?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy it, sweetheart.” I level her a look, noting how pink her cheeks are getting. “I make your heart race.”
“So full of yourself.” She screws up her lips and looks away, returning to her book, using it to cover her face. She pretends to read. She’s not reading at all.
I reach over, taking the book from her hands. I shut the book with a bap.
“Do you mind?”
“No.”
“You just lost my page.”
“I’m sure you’ll find it again. You’re a smart girl.”
Joy puts on her sunglasses, looking out onto the pool.
“You’re not in the mood for a swim today?”
She snaps her head back around to me, ripping the sunglasses off. “Can you not? I mean,” she scoffs, “if you’re gonna flirt, at least do it with your shirt off.”
“I don’t have to take my clothes off for you to want me. You’re wanting me right now.” I regard her red cheeks. Her parted lips. All the usual symptoms are coming to the surface.
But she’s being more stubborn than usual, like she’s reverting back to her old self, when I saw her trying to break into Igor’s place with two tiny bobby pins.
“Look,” she sighs, turning back to me. There’s a pleading expression in her eyes. Her eyebrows are parted slightly. “It’s been a week since I first moved in. My mom… she worries a lot. I need to let her know what’s going on. I promise I won’t—”
“You know the rules, sweetheart.”
“Screw your rules. She’s the only family I have left. She deserves to know that I’m safe.”
I feel something scratching under my ribs. The look on her face is doing something to me. It shouldn’t be doing anything.
But I’m feeling her pain like it’s my own. Which makes no sense. The last thing I am is sympathetic.
I look into her eyes and see an old version of myself. It was when I was powerless. Back when my fate rested in another person’s hands.
You either control, or let others control you. Those are your only two options in life.
Which is why I understand Joy’s frustration. I understand the pleading look in her eye. She’s vulnerable. And she doesn’t want me to see that. Hence the quick-witted comments.
It’s all a defense mechanism to protect herself.
“Fine,” I grit. “One call home. That’s all you’re allowed. And I get to sit in and listen.”
Joy shoots me a glare.
“You’re going to tell your mother that you’re safe. And don’t mention the marriage. It’s probably best to leave that detail out.”
Another glare from Joy. “I don’t know what kind of family you came from, but I’m not lying to my own mother.”
“Then you don’t call.” I challenge her with my eyes.
Eventually, she breaks. “Okay. Fine.”
“And also, just for the record—there’s a difference between lying and withholding information.”
“Tomayto, tomahto.”
I take my phone out of my pocket and hand it to her.
“What the hell is this?” She analyzes it like a foreign object.
“A phone.”
“Straight out of the twentieth century?” She turns it over, scoffing. “How do I even type on this thing?”
I take the phone back, sliding out the keyboard. “Here.”
“God, I forget how much older than me you are sometimes.”
“Charming.” I lean forward, watching Joy punch in her mother’s phone number. “It’s a burner phone, just so you know. So your mother won’t be able to trace the number or anything.”
Joy shoots me a glare. She should be more grateful.
She brings the device to her ear, holding her breath, staring at the pool in anticipation as she waits for her mother to pick up.
Then, on the final ring—
“Mom! Oh my god,” she sighs. “Yes, I’m perfectly fine…
Safe, don’t worry… Yes… I’m in Beverly Hills…
right at the top… I know. How crazy? One of the editors from the magazine invited me to stay at hers for a while, you know, until I find a new place and everything.
Tell Lila I’m so sorry. I lost my phone and…
Yeah. I know.” Her tone drops. “I’m trying to take a break from screens…
My friend has a retreat up here. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to unwind for a while… Um… I’m not sure yet.”
I stare at her hard. I can’t hear her mother. But I can hear Joy’s voice shaking as she tells her mother when she’ll be home.
Joy’s gaze veers over to me while she listens to her mother speak.
I draw a line over my neck, telling her to end the call. I don’t trust her. Joy likes to talk. I’m worried the truth might slip out.
“Joy,” I mouth. “End it.”
She looks at me, screwing up her lips. Her cheeks are now red for a different reason. She’s angry.
“Joy.”
“I’m really not sure, Mom. But please don’t be worried. I’m staying here for free. And I actually really enjoy it… Tell Lila I’ll make it up to her when I’m back. I know she was excited for me to move in with her and everything—”
I steal the phone, ending the call.
“What the fuck?” Joy’s eyes flare wide. Her face is as red as the bikini.
“Time’s up.”
“You didn’t give me a time limit.”
“What makes you think you’re going back home?”
Joy folds her arms over her chest. She really is teasing me now with those breasts. I may have to bend her over the lounger. Tell the guards watching to turn the other way.
“You honestly think this is going to be forever?” Joy looks at me pointedly.
She’s saying the same things as Niko. I don’t like it.
“Yes,” I say straight to her face.
“Then you’re never gonna win.” Joy sinks back into the lounger. She puts her sunglasses on again. Picks up her book, leafing through pages until she finds the right one.
I stare at her side profile. “Sweetheart, I always win.”
“When all you care about in life is punishing people?” Joy brings the sunglasses over her eyes, watching me sidelong. “That just makes me feel sorry for you.”
I grind my teeth as she gets back to her book, sunglasses back on.
Sitting here on the lounger watching her read is making me feel like a lemon. And I haven’t felt like that in a very fucking long time.
I stand up, straighten out my suit jacket and head over to the office. Nikolai is waiting for me. And we need to find a way to stop my son.