Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Rex
Lila had indicated in our conversations that she didn’t know much about classic movies.
Old Hollywood wasn’t her thing. She was more into TikTok videos and streaming shows on her phone.
Why anyone wanted to watch a show or movie on their tiny device was beyond me. But I digress. My point is, in all our conversations when Hollywood came up—and being my home—it came up quite a bit, Lila had never seemed interested in the classics.
But now, as we stood outside of the Chinese Theater, she seemed so fascinated by what she saw and who was represented.
“I can’t believe I’m standing where Marilyn stood! She’s slept on as an actress. So many people just chalk her up as a dumb blonde or a sex symbol. But she had legit skill and I wish she wasn’t fetishized and instead actually appreciated for her work.”
“I agree,” I said. “What’s your favorite Marilyn movie?”
The answer was instant. “Some Like It Hot. No question about it.”
“Good choice. Great film. But River of No Return is mine.”
We continued to look at the building where they’d put the famous picture of Monroe putting her hands in the wet cement up, commemorating the famous event.
“With Robert Mitchum,” she said, referring to the movie I’d called out. “He was always good. Did you see the one where he was a crazy killer preacher?”
“Sure. Night of the Hunter. He was great in that role.”
We moved out of the way so a family could take a pic in front of the Marilyn spot.
So many thoughts were going through my mind, but chief among them was why Lila had changed.
Had she done research on classic movies because she knew I was into them? Or had she lied back when we originally talked about all this?
She wasn’t lying now. The knowledge was clearly in her head. If one hated old movies, they probably didn’t just casually know about River of No Return or who starred in Night of the Hunter.
Something was going on.
It was possible she was taking advantage of me. There were plenty of unsavory people online who make connections—sometimes as far as even marrying others—with the purpose of defrauding them. I’d worked a few of those cases as a cop and as a private detective.
So, I’d be on guard for that. But as of yet, she hadn’t asked me for anything. Besides accepting the plane ticket I’d bought her, she hadn’t so much as tried to get a dime out of me.
Of course, we’d only been around each other for a couple of hours. Sometimes con artists moved slowly and truly made the other person care for them.
I supposed only time would tell what was happening to me.
But I had the sense I was seeing the real Lila. Who she had been on our various chats was the fake one, I gathered.
“Ooh, maybe I should go as Marilyn for Halloween,” she told me as we started walking through the scattered crowd.
All around us, people were taking pictures, someone was livestreaming, and vendors waited at the curb, selling knock-off merch and fresh fruit.
Somewhere close by a vendor was grilling meat, and the aroma was making me hungry.
“Do you go out on Halloween?” I asked her.
“Usually. Nothing too crazy. But it’s one of my favorite nights of the year. Last year, me and my friend who lives across the hall went to a haunted house and then out for a drink at a neighborhood pub that was having a Halloween thing. It was fun.”
I tried to remember if she’d referenced much about her living situation before—or her friend across the hall—but didn’t think she had.
So far, there wasn’t much to verify anything with.
I needed to stop focusing on it. Just enjoy the time I had with her. No matter what she’d told me in the past, we really seemed to be hitting it off. There was no sense in ruining a good thing.
After all, she might be the babygirl I’d been searching for. That sweet Little I’d dreamed of.
“There’s a lot of Halloween stuff around here,” I said. “It might not seem like autumn the way New York does, but if you want spooky stuff, we have more than you can handle.”
I almost reached for her hand as we navigated through the sea of pedestrians. That would be too much, too fast, though. But there were just so many people! I didn’t want her to get lost.
One minute ago I’d been curious if she was pulling some sort of con. The next I was trying not to embarrass myself by going full Daddy mode.
What was up with me?
“Universal has Halloween Horror Nights. Tons of haunted mazes and stuff. You might dig it,” I explained.
“What? Oh my gosh! I’ve always wanted to go to that! Is it close?”
“Yeah. Few miles from here.”
Now, she was holding my hand, tugging on my arm. “Can we go? Can we go?”
Even with all the noise around us, it was still obvious she was nearly yelling.
Chuckling, I said, “I’d love that. How about tomorrow night? Maybe some of the girls from Athena’s will want to come.”
I kept ahold of her hand as we left the enclave formed by the theater and turned left on the Walk of Fame, heading toward the Hard Rock Café that was just next door.
Lila didn’t pull away.
Just that slight touch had me reeling. She already had a powerful hold on me. I sure hoped I wasn’t going to learn something bad—like she was in fact conning me—because I wasn’t sure my heart could take it.
This wasn’t like me.
Sure, I was lonely. As a Daddy, I longed for a Little to hold and protect. More than that, I just longed to be in a relationship with a special someone.
But I wasn’t the type to fall head over heels instantly. No one had ever accused me of being a hopeless romantic.
As we walked into the Hard Rock, though, through the gift shop and toward the restaurant, I was falling fast for Little Miss Lila.
And something told me I wouldn’t be able to stop myself even if I wanted to.