Gods & Monsters(47)
“Really? You just moved?” At my nod, she looks me up and down and I feel self-conscious. “Wow. I love your hair. Is that the real color? All yellow?”
I flick fingers through the strands of my yellow hair, fidgeting. “Uh, yeah. Yes, it is.”
“No way. Gosh, blondes are so freaking popular. People love’em. Like, I can’t even tell you how much. So where’d he find you?”
“Where’d who find me?”
She smiles at me, all calm-like. “Ethan.”
Either this girl is super weird or I have no idea how people talk in the big city. “I’m here with Abel. Ethan’s friend. He’s letting us crash in his apartment until we find our own place. Um, I’m E… You can call me Pixie.”
“Cute name.” She grins. “Cookie?”
“Yeah.” I gratefully reach for her offering and wolf it down in exactly zero point five seconds.
“So you just moved here? With your boyfriend, you said?”
Putting something in my stomach is already starting to make me feel better. “He’s my fiancé and yes. Just.”
“Huh. I’m sorry. Ethan didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, it was sort of sudden. We weren’t planning on moving.” Or eloping. When she looks curious again, I sort of change the subject. “In fact, they’re out together right now. They’ve gone to Ethan’s studio. Abel’s a photographer too, and Ethan said he could try to get him a job.”
Despite my wariness, I smile. I can’t stop smiling. I probably never will. Who can when they are in love with a guy like Abel? The mark on my neck throbs. I clench my thighs thinking about the intense way he ate me out. So intense that I passed out. Great move, that.
“No kidding. A photographer?”
Well, there goes my smile. I don’t like her expression, surprised and sort of condescending. Does she think Abel’s less in any way or something?
“Yes, he is,” I bristle. “In fact, he’s one of the best photographers I know.” Honestly, Abel’s the only photographer I know but I speak the truth. He is the best, or if he’s not, he will be.
After studying me for a beat, she holds her hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sure Abel’s great. I just…” She searches for words and I narrow my eyes at her. “Got a little surprised when you said Ethan was gonna hook him up with a job. That’s all.”
“Why?” I’m suspicious. “Do you think he’s lying? Ethan?”
She chuckles. “No. No. Ethan’s cool. I just… I wasn’t expecting to see you here and find Ethan gone. I was supposed to meet with him.”
I make a non-committal sound. I don’t like her. I feel like she’s hiding something. Is she here to steal from Ethan, after all? Because who the hell goes to meet someone in a bathrobe? I’m about to ask her that when her phone chimes and her focus shifts. I take the moment to study her made-up face, smoky hazel eyes, red lipstick and wavy dark hair. She’s pretty, I guess, and tall and athletic, like a model and unlike me. I think she’s a bit older than me too. Maybe in her mid-twenties.
At last, she looks up from her phone and gives me a calm smile. “It was Ethan. He forgot to tell me that our appointment was canceled.” She finishes off the last of her cookie. “Well, anyway. I’m gonna go now. It was nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy the city. It’s a great place to live.”
She gets up and grabs her bag from where it was sitting on the counter, telling me she needs to use the bathroom for a second. I can’t exactly stop her; it’s not my house. While she’s gone, I hunt for coffee and some toast. I’m trying to work the coffee machine, and wondering about the girl’s strange presence, when I hear footsteps and I find Blu in the living room, dressed in a maroon dress.
That’s when I get it. Blu is a model, someone Ethan met at his job. And she was here to have sex with him. That’s it. That’s the whole secret. That explains the bathrobe now. She was probably naked underneath, waiting for Ethan but instead, found me.
Now I feel bad for her. He should’ve told her that he wasn’t going to be here for their appointment. Who the hell calls it an appointment, by the way?
Something about all of this looks fishy to me.
“It was really nice to meet you,” she says again.
“Yeah, same here.”
“Listen, I know you’re new and I feel like we sort of started off on the wrong foot. But if you need help or anything, just let me know.”
“Yeah. Okay, thanks.” She smiles and with a final nod, gets ready to leave, when I think of something. “Actually, can you tell me where I can buy a camera?”
An hour later, equipped with directions from Blu, I venture outside on my own, carrying my backpack. There’s a store not far from here that will get me a nice, decent camera. I hope I find the one Abel likes and it fits in my budget because I only have a limited amount of money. It’s not my money, though. I took it from my mom’s purse the night I ran away.
Yes, I stole the money.
I was creeping down the stairs, trying not to make any noise, and then the lightning struck and spotlighted the purse sitting on the table in the foyer. I didn’t think, I simply acted. I reached out and took whatever money was in there.