41. Ariadne
41
ARIADNE
H e’ll let me go.
He’s promised to let me go as soon as he’s contained the threat to me. I can’t help but feel a little sad. I was devastated when I watched him through the window put a gun to a man’s head and end his life, but I think I’m more devastated that I’ll be losing him forever.
I can’t help the feelings for him that consume me. I’m torn by the overwhelming emotions that he stirs within me. I can’t shake the thought of him out of my head, even though I know I should. There’s no future for me with a man who is involved in criminal activity. I’d be committing professional suicide if I turned around and embarked on an affair with a man who I swore up and down wasn’t a criminal, who happened to be a butcher.
My heart and head are at war with one another as they fight over front row tickets in the drama that’s playing out in my life. I’ve resigned myself to spending long hours in my rooms instead of venturing out and running into him. Every time I see him, my resolve loosens just a little bit more and I feel the ice in my heart thawing towards him. Which is so not where I want to be.
Today I’m sitting in the garden, that little slice of lawn within the compound walls where it’s safest to dwell. I’ve been in Guatemala for two weeks now, and my recovery has been a slow slog uphill, but my body is finally on the mend. I’m looking forward to going home, and while I try to avoid Caleph as much as I can, Attila is the one who has been my constant companion in terms of sharing information.
I look up from the laptop when a dark shadow falls across the table. Attila looms above me, watching me carefully as my fingers glide across the keyboard. I stop typing and fix him with a look.
“How’s the writing coming along?” he asks.
“Well, beside the fact that I’ll be going home without a story, and I’ll probably lose my job over that, the story’s coming along fine.”
He laughs and cocks his head questioningly.
“You still insist on making me the faithful sidekick who can’t catch a ball?”
I estimate that when I go back home, I will have been away for a month or so. I’ll be empty handed, with nothing to give Hinky, which is going to put the final nail in my coffin. I’ll be homeless, jobless and manless. So, I decide to get started on a book about a band of brothers who decide to rob a bank with their elderly grandmother, whose dream it’s always been to do so. Needless to say, Attila hasn’t stopped laughing since I told him my idea and has insisted I weave his charming character into the book. Which is why I made him the clown.
“It’s the only character left,” I tell him. “Take it or leave it.”
He sums me up with his eyes, scanning my face for something I can’t quite understand. I know he’s worried about Caleph. He’s probably worried about me too. But his loyalty will always lie with the best friend he’s had since he was a teenager.
“I came out to tell you your friends just touched down. This should all be over in a couple of days.”
I can’t help the sigh of relief that escapes my lips, even though I know the clock is ticking down and I’ll be gone in no time. A steely grip seizes my heart and squeezes, emptying the life out of me. Sometimes when I think about leaving here, I find it hard to breathe.
“Yay, can’t wait.” It sounds fake even to my own ears.
Attila picks up on my lack of enthusiasm, because he gives me a small tight smile before he turns away. When he turns back toward me, he tells me he’s really going to miss having me here. I don’t doubt his sincerity. I’ll miss him too. But the real test will be in how quick I’m able to move past this place and forget. Forget Caleph. And forget that he ever meant anything to me.
* * *
I’ve tried to avoid Caleph at every turn. Which is hard, because he’s everywhere. He spends his days in his office on the first floor, endless meetings and phone calls and it seems like he too is trying to avoid me. I won’t lie and say that doesn’t affect me a little, but it does.
The compound is huge, sitting in the side of a mountain with a twelve-foot soaring concrete wall surrounding it. But from my second-floor window, I can look out and admire the azure blue of the Caribbean Coast. I’ve never been in a place where the mountains and the sea meet. It’s breathtaking, and I think I could stay here forever if only the circumstances were different.
The chatter of voices below my window reaches my ears. I pull my eyes away from the sea and towards the living figures that move towards a Mercedes parked in the driveway. Caleph and Attila come into view, walking away from the house with a woman in a red skirt suit. Other than Maria the maid, I don’t think I’ve seen any other women in or around their operations the whole time I’ve been here. I watch as Attila waves a casual hand in the woman’s direction and walks away to take a call.
Caleph stands by the driver’s side door facing the woman. His stands with his feet apart military style, his presence commanding attention. The pretty blonde obviously got the memo because she can’t take her eyes off him. All I can think as I watch her is I don’t know how she’s going to drive in those silly heels she’s wearing.
I know I should, but I can’t bring myself to move my eyes away from her, wondering who she is. She reaches up a hand and sets blood red talons on Caleph’s chest, the move both intimate and proprietary. He shifts uncomfortably, the move imperceptible to the naked eye, but to my trained eye that’s watched him for endless hours, it’s clear as day. My eyes flutter and close of their own accord as I watch her reach a hand up to cradle one of his cheeks as she plants a kiss on the other. She says something before she pats her talons on his chest then climbs into the car.
Caleph watches her drive away and disappear through the huge wrought iron gates. When he turns toward the house, his eyes swing to my window. He sees me standing there and stops, his gaze lingering on me momentarily before he starts toward the house again.