CHAPTER TWELVE

I end up meeting Marco again for lunch. I'm still not sure how much time I should spend with him, but at least I know how to talk to him.

"Dude, people here are weird," he says in between bites of another overstuffed sub sandwich—this one meatball.

"Yeah, you can say that again," I reply in between bites of my equally overstuffed Italian club.

"Everyone here hates each other," he continues. "Like, seriously, every house I go to, they're always talking shit on each other. I just did this woman's garden—"

"That's what she said."

He grins and points his finger at me, then says, "So I was doing her garden, and she comes out and starts talking shit on another woman, Mrs. Cho. Says that Cho keeps trying to fuck her husband or whatever, and she thinks it's because her own husband—Cho's husband—can't get it up anymore."

"Mrs. Fletcher."

"Yeah! Mrs. Fletcher! You know her too!"

"Yep. Classy lady."

He shrugs. "Honestly, I don"t even know anymore. It"s like, how can you tell who"s good and who"s not? I mean, if I were Mr. Fletcher, I wouldn't be looking anywhere else but Janice's big double-Ds, but who knows? Maybe he likes ‘em petite."

I smile wryly. Classic Marco, only focusing on one thing.

"But anyway, I'm like, why are you telling me? Like I'm just pouring dirt into the ground and pulling weeds, you know? I don't need to know about all that shit. Like, if you're asking me to help get him back, then sure, I'll be right inside, if you know what I mean, but if you're just like gossiping, then, like, what am I supposed to do about it."

"I think they talk to us because they can't talk to anyone else. Not honestly, anyway."

"Like, we're nobodies, so they can dump all their shit on us without worrying that we're going to use it against them, huh?"

"Exactly."

He shakes his head. "Well, I guess it means the job isn't boring."

I think of Vivian's eyes staring into mine as she warps her arms around me. I hear the soft moans and sighs she releases in my ear. "No. Not boring at all."

"So have you banged anyone yet?"

I sigh and take another bite of my sandwich.

"You totally did! Who was it? Did you bang Mrs. Fletcher? You did, didn't you!"

I roll my eyes. "Yes, Marco. I banged Mrs. Fletcher."

He laughs and says, "Nah, she isn't your style. You're not into big titties. Did you bang Mrs. Cho?"

"Yep. Her too."

"Maybe you should. Give her something other than a married man to put her eyes on. You'd be doing her and Mrs. Fletcher both a favor."

"Dude, you seriously need to get a life."

"What's wrong with my life? I get to drive a nice truck, listen to MILFs complain about their husbands and then go home to real life with the best stories to tell."

"Whatever makes you happy, man."

"Seriously, who did you screw?"

"Your sister."

He laughs again. "Hey, that's fucked up, man. You know she likes you too."

"Aranza? She hates me, what are you talking about?"

"Nah, bro, she only pretends to hate you because she thinks you're cute. She told me."

"Are you trying to convince me to sleep with her?"

He looks at me sideways. "Look at you being all fancy. ‘Sleep with her.' Damn, you grew up all the way, didn't you?"

I think of the needle pushing into my arm two nights ago and resist the urge to scratch. "Trying to."

"Why, though?"

I feel a rant coming on, but before I can try to deflect him, he tilts his head at the houses in front of us. "Look at all these people, bro. They're grown up. They've got big houses, nice cars, rich husbands, bombshell wives: they've got it made, bro. And they fucking hate themselves. I"ll be honest with you, bro. When I came here, I was just looking to find some lonely heart to spend time with, maybe a few old ladies who weren"t careful where they left their jewelry boxes." I control my reaction to that one. "But now that I"m here? Fuck it, bro. I don"t want anything these people have. It"s crazy, but like seeing how rich people live almost makes me glad I"m poor. You know what I mean?"

I think of my mom, probably halfway through her second bottle of vodka. I think of my room and the beer, pills and heroin stashed there.

Then I think of Lila Kensington, face down in her pool because her eating disorder was too much for Daddy's political career.

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

***

Vivian's hand grips my shoulder hard, and her body tenses, then shudders.

"Yes!" she cries out. "Oh God!"

I reach my own climax and bury my head in her neck as my cries join hers. We lay there for a long moment, gasping and shaking as our bodies come down from a high better than anything that ever came out of a needle.

When I feel her relax completely, I roll over. She moans again when we separate, and we lay next to each other while we finish catching our breath.

She puts her hand across her body and pats my chest. "Good job, Nate. Damn."

I can't help myself. I start laughing at that. She joins me a moment later, and we spend another moment letting the emotional high replace the physical one.

Then she rolls over and kisses me deeply. I feel my body start to respond, but I don't make a move. The emotional high soars to the clouds, and I want to cling to that feeling.

When she pulls away, she stays above me, smiling and stroking my hair. "I was afraid you wouldn't come back," she says finally. "I'm glad you did."

I stare up at her in amazement. "Why on Earth wouldn't I come back?"

She giggles and rolls off of me and off the bed. I stare at her as she pulls on her underwear and a silk robe. "I guess you're right. I forget sometimes that you're only nineteen. All I have to do is answer the door looking like this, and you'll do pretty much anything I want."

I know she's only teasing, but something about the way she says that makes me uneasy. The feeling vanishes quickly though. It's pretty much impossible to feel bad after what we just did.

She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles wryly. "We can come back here later," she said, "but I feel like talking right now, so get up. We're going to the couch."

I grin and hop off the bed, pulling on my boxers and t-shirt. "We don't have to come back to the bed."

She laughs again. "Right. You're only nineteen. I forgot again."

We head to the living room and Vivian pours us each another glass of Chardonnay. I sip, and the warmth almost immediately returns to my body. This is my third glass already. I think I"m starting to like wine.

"Have the cops talked to you again?" she asks, sitting next to me and pulling her feet up under her. It's an oddly adorable movement, and I feel a surge of affection for her that isn't entirely sexual.

"Not yet."

"Really? I'm surprised. I figured they'd finger you for the killer." Seeing my shocked expression, she rolls her eyes. "Obviously I'm glad they didn't, but still… rich homeowners versus dirt-poor pool boy."

"I'm glad to know that's how you think of me," I say.

She rolls her eyes again. "I just let you screw me, and I told you you could do it again in a few minutes. Clearly, I like you."

"Or you just like what I can do to you."

"I do," she says, nodding to emphasize the statement. "I very much do." She shoves me playfully. "But I also like you."

"Yeah?"

"Yes! God, but not if you're going to be so needy."

She smiles at me when she says it, but I decide she means it a little too. I laugh and say, "Well, anyway, I'm glad I'm off the hook. I can't afford a lawyer, and a public defender's just going to tell me to plead no contest."

She gives me a fishy look. "You sound like you know what you're talking about."

Shit. "I mean, that's what they do to poor people, right?"

"Right." She keeps the fishy look on me a moment later, then says, "Can I tell you something crazy and have you not throw it in my face?"

"You can have me do pretty much anything you want right now."

She chuckles and says, "Yep. Nineteen. Gotta remember that." Her smile fades a little. "I think Clara might have killed Lila." She looks at me expectantly, and when I don't react with surprise, her eyes widen. "You think so too. Do you… do you know something?"

"I don't even know what I know or don't know anymore," I say honestly. "But if I know anything, I know the Kensingtons are fucked up. Both of them."

"Oh yes, both of them. But her more so."

"Why do you say that?"

Vivian laughs. It's not a pleasant laugh, and for a split second, she makes a face that looks actually ugly to me. I don't want to see her like that, so I push the thought away.

"She"s an old-school Hollywood starlet. The moment her looks turned, she turned. Straight to drugs."

"How do you know?"

"Let's just say this isn't the first time the police have been to her house. Have you heard her talking to herself yet?"

I grimace. "No. Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. There's a reason she almost never leaves the house."

"I didn't know she almost never left the house."

"Well, she does. Or doesn't. However, you want to say it. Julian married her because he was young, and she was pretty, and like most Hollywood starlets, uninhibited. He thought he"d won the jackpot, and so what if she liked pushing things up her nose every now and then? I think he figured she"d grow out of it."

I scoff. "You don't grow out of shit like that."

She gives me a fishy look again. "No. You don't."

I realize I've stepped in it again, so I say, "So you think that she snorted a little too much and had a bad moment with Lila?"

"I don't know. But she could have. Or Julian could have decided that Lila was in the way, and maybe if he got rid of her, Clara would go back to getting on her knees whenever he wanted her to."

I grimace again. "Really? You think he'd kill his daughter to get sex?"

"I think he'd do anything to get power," she said.

She fell silent, and I tried to digest what she said. Before I could wrap my head around it, though, she downed the rest of her wine and said, "but enough about that. It occurs to me that I haven't gotten on my knees for you yet."

My heartbeat instantly quickens. "Oh?" I say.

She giggles and stands up. "Oh?" she mocks.

She leans over me, and I feel my body begin to respond. She smiles slightly, then kisses me softly.

Then she kisses my throat. Then my chest. Then my navel just above my belly button.

Then she gets on her knees, and once more, I forget about everything but Vivian.