16 #2
My phone vibrates with an incoming call. Knowing who it is, I don’t plan on answering. Until Grace approaches with curious eyes and speaks.
“Is that him? Put it on speakerphone.”
“Hello.”
On the outside I look carefree, but on the inside I’m praying he won’t bring up the subject from earlier again. I wouldn’t know how to explain that to Grace. Not that, or any of our interactions so far. Our relationship is… peculiar.
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
Grace make a gesture with her hand, urging me to say something else, but my brain seems to be short-circuiting.
“Would you like to go out for dinner?”
I press my lips together as Grace starts jumping up and down, more excited than I am. Seeing that I’m not going to answer, she gives me a thumbs up with a big smile.
“I already have plans, but if you want we can leave it for another day.”
She gives me a murderous look while I just smile, enjoying giving him a taste of his own medicine for ignoring me all these days. On the other end of the line, he lets out a sigh.
“Let me know when then.”
“Sure,” I lie.
“See you.” It sounds more like a warning than a goodbye. My stomach churns at the thought that tonight he might pay another one of his visits.
I haven’t even hung up the phone when I feel a pillow smack me in the face.
“Why did you say that to him?”
“We’re going out, aren’t we?” I ask.
“Yes, but you could have stood me up and gone with him. You would have had my full permission and blessing.”
“That would have been really ugly.”
“The only ugly thing here is you missing another chance to eat him up. You love wasting the lemons life gives you.”
My body lurches forward as Grace parks the car, causing Lance to curse behind us. Then we both get out of the car and wait for her to finish looking at herself in one of her pocket mirrors.
“Remind me never to let her drive again,” Lance says, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
Grace gets out of the car, locking all the doors and handing the keys to Lance.
“We’ll let you know when to pick us up,” she says.
“Oh. I’m not going anywhere.” Grace frowns at him and then gives me a confused look.
“It’s my dad. You know how he is,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“So you’re kind of like our babysitter?” she asks mockingly, looking at Lance for an answer.
“No. I’m just protecting your butts. I don’t really care what you do,” he replies before starting to walk toward the entrance.
“Babysitter,” Grace says with a smile, ignoring Lance’s irritated look.
We follow behind him, then one of the waiters approaches to show us to our table and we sit down.
“Aren’t you going to eat with us?” I ask Lance when I see he isn’t sitting in our table.
“I’d rather have a few minutes of peace and quiet.”
“Well. Your loss,” Grace says with a sly smile after he has left. “Hey. Is he always this sour?” she asks after, looking over the menu.
“Sometimes,” I reply with a chuckle.
“He never liked me very much though.”
“Well, I don’t see the problem. He’s just my bodyguard. Why would you care about that?” I look at her curiously. She sighs and puts the menu down on the table.
“The problem is that I like it. A lot.”
“What?”
“Challenges turn me on,” she clarifies with a sigh, glancing sideways at Lance. “And he is a hot one.”
She is very attractive. Wherever she goes she attracts the attention of others, and her spontaneous and impulsive personality makes her strong-willed but somewhat docile if you know how to tame her.
She can be very stubborn at times, and for some strange reason, she always sets her eyes on men who are not interested in her.
Until she gets a chance with them and they fall out of love or something happens.
“Why would you like someone who doesn’t like you? It doesn’t make sense.” As if I hadn’t been there myself before.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s something that runs in the family.” I look at her, stifling a laugh.
“What would you like to drink?” asks the waiter as he approaches our table with a smile that could well be perfect.
“A very cold bottle of white wine, please.”
“That guy over there hasn’t stopped staring at us since we got here,” she whispers with a sly smile after a long pause.
“Who?”
“The one two tables to our right. Be discreet,” she warns when he sees my intentions.
I turn around, trying to catch a glimpse of the man, until I finally find him. He is wearing a black cap and has his head down, seemingly typing something on his cell phone. Then the same waiter approaches with the bottle of wine and two glasses before I can add anything else.
“Do you know what you’re going to order?”
“I’ll have the wagyu sirloin with potatoes.”
“Same for me,” Grace replies with her gaze still on the man a few meters away from us.
“Perfect, thank you,” he says before leaving.
“And that idiot keeps staring the whole damn time, doesn’t he have anything better to do?” she hisses under her breath.
“Maybe he likes you.” I raise both eyebrows.
“Thanks, but no thanks. Besides, I like tanned guys,” she says, glancing sideways at Lance. I shake my head with an amused smile.
The minutes pass with laughter and small talk until our food arrives, and we both pay more attention to our conversation than to the food on our plates.
“I’m starting to think pretty badly of that guy,” Grace whispers.
“Why?”
“He could be an infiltrator planning to take us down at any moment. Or working for the police.”
“It sounds a little crazy, but it’s also quite likely,” I say with a frown before glancing quickly at the man in question.
He is now drinking what looks like a glass of water. He hasn’t ordered anything to eat, and in a place like this, I doubt they’d let you stay without ordering anything other than a glass of water.
“It is, that’s why I’m worried.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but we have to watch our backs,” she says, glancing sideways at the man with her eyes slightly narrowed.
When he suddenly drops his fork, the noise makes me almost choke on my glass of wine.
“He stood up!” she whispers, causing me to look in that direction. “I think he’s going to the restroom.”
“And you want us to hold him there and interrogate him?” I say in a playful tone.
“Just wait here for me.”
She then gets up, grabs her purse, and quickly heads to the restroom. It takes Grace no more than five minutes to return with a wallet and a cell phone in her hands.
“We have to go. Now,” she blurts out, stuffing the two items into her purse.
“What have you done?” I ask, getting up from my chair and motioning to Lance.
“I’ll tell you later,” she says, not giving me time to put down the five-hundred-dollar bill before she’s gone.
Once we’re in the car and Lance is in the driver’s seat, she leans over and whispers in my ear.
“I managed to get his wallet and cell phone, don’t ask how. Now at least we have clues to investigate.”
“What? Are you going crazy?” I reply in a muffled shout, forcing a smile when Lance looks at us sideways in the rearview mirror.
“Do you have a better idea? Look, if it turns out to be a nobody, the man will think it was just a simple robbery. And if it’s someone dangerous, by the time he wants to hurt us, we’ll have already hurt him,” her words sound so convincing that for a moment I believe her.
For a moment.
When we get to her house and Lance left with the promise of coming back for me in the morning, we go to her room and start inspecting the man’s belongings, finding an ID.
“Sergei,” Grace scoffs beside me with a mocking smile. “What a horrible name.”