At Any Turn

I laughed. “Sorry if I embarrassed you back there.”

“If he goes out with me, you are forgiven.”

I paused. “So…I was going to duck my head in and say hi to her when I drop you off, if that’s okay. I texted her, but she hasn’t gotten back to me.”

“Sure…she’s probably taking a bath or something.”

When we got to my car, I threw him the keys. “Wanna drive it?”

Heath’s jaw dropped and he looked almost as perplexed as he had when I’d tossed that napkin at Connor. “Fuck, yeah.”

My 1953 midnight blue Porsche 356 Cabriolet was my pride and joy. The license plate was the finishing touch: UBR L00T, translated from gamer language to mean “uber loot.” The very best kind of loot you could get in game was referred to as “uber,” and was lusted after by gamers everywhere. I loved that car like a cherished pet. Emilia had driven it a few times but then declared the clutch “impossible” and refused after that. I think she was more afraid she was going to scratch it. It came with a price tag that made most people squeamish. And the way Heath was looking at it now, with lust in his eyes, I could see he was thinking the same thing.

“Go easy on her,” I said and plopped into the passenger seat.

Heath slid in behind the wheel and shot me the ecstatic grin of a ten-year-old, reminding me of when my nephews liked to jump in the car and pretend they were driving. He gingerly turned the key in the ignition and when the engine roared to life, he sank back in the seat with a sigh. “I think I just creamed my pants.”

He kicked it into gear and we took the long way back to his house, through the twisting roads of the Orange hills, a few miles east of downtown. He lived in an upper-end condo up there, which he was now sharing with Emilia.

I sobered and allowed my thoughts to drift from Heath’s enjoyment of the car. He tossed me a few speculative glances as he downshifted, then cleared his throat. “How are you holding up, dude?”

I grimaced. He’d been reading my mind, apparently, or more likely, my face. “I’ll live,” I said, trying to forget how much I hated not seeing her every day, not holding her when we were sleeping. We hadn’t lived together long, but I’d grown accustomed to it quickly and it had felt normal. Poor five-years-ago me. He was a distant shadow of a memory now.

Heath’s features grew troubled, pensive.

“How is she?” I asked.

He shrugged. “She’s okay.”

That stab of jealousy again. Heath was a great guy. A good friend. I was glad Emilia had him in her life, especially when she needed someone who wasn’t me. But fuck if I didn’t want to pummel him every time I thought about her crying on his shoulder instead of mine.

I cleared my throat and willed the dark emotions away.

“I was wondering if I could ask you a favor…” I said after a long silence while we climbed the big hill up Chapman Avenue.

“If I can do it, I will.”

“Call me…or text me or let me know if—if she needs help and she’s too stubborn to ask me. If it’s money or—anything.”

His jaw bulged where he clenched it. “Is she acting that skittish around you?”

I stared straight ahead. “Things are…delicate.”

Heath frowned. “I’ll take good care of her for you, man. She needs to do what she needs to do, but—this isn’t going to be permanent. Be patient and try not to pull another stunt like that proposal, okay? She’ll come to you when she’s ready. She’s strong and she can take care of herself, but she has to learn that she doesn’t have to do it all herself. I’m proud of her and I know you are, too. She’s basically my sister, you know? My sister from another mister…”

I threw a dark look out the side window as he peeled one out in a high-speed right turn with a whoop and a holler, apparently uncaring of a possible reckless driving ticket. Those were pricey and too many points on the driver’s license. I knew from personal experience.

When we got out of the car and I took the keys from him, he thanked me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I winced, as he landed right on top of a particularly large bruise that he had put there with a paintball.

I followed him into the apartment, but the place was dark. I checked my watch. It was only ten o’clock. Had Emilia gone out?

Heath echoed my thought as he threw his keys and wallet down on a table near the entrance. “Hmm. Maybe she went out with Alex and Jenna?”

I glanced over at the glow of the computer screen coming from the alcove in his den, recognizing the low-level music playing in the background—the main theme music to Dragon Epoch. She’d left her computer on at the log-in screen. “Looks like she forgot to exit the game,” I said.