Sweet Temptation

“What are you girls up to tonight?” Blake asks them.

“We’re going to the movies,” Michelle says. “Want to come?”

“Not tonight. I’m taking Kai out on my boat.”

Michelle’s face lights up. “I want to come!”

“I mean the fishing boat,” he backpedals. “We’re going fishing.”

“Ew, never mind. You guys have fun.”

Blake winks at me. He and Michelle kiss again and the beauty posse leaves, sending a few backward glances my way.

“You have a girlfriend,” I say.

“You’re not working,” he retaliates.

We search around us to be sure nobody has heard, then Blake tosses back the rest of his rum runner. “Look,” he says. “My pops is making me, okay? It’s not enough for me to date. I have to be able to land the big one and take her off the market. Trophy wife and all that.”

“Shite,” I whisper.

“Yeah. Don’t say anything to anyone.”

“I won’t.”

We look around again, paranoid. I wish we had a way of talking without worrying about anyone eavesdropping. I take a drink of my water and think about it.

“We should learn Sign,” I say.

“Sign language?” Blake scoffs. “We can’t be caught doing that. They’ll know we’re being secretive.”

“No shit. We’d obviously only do it when nobody’s around.”

He thinks about it and nods. “Yeah, all right. I’ll let Gin know, and she can tell the others to learn too. I hope it’s not too hard. Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

I do. I’ve got all the time in the world these days.

I end up spending a lot of time in Santa Barbara to keep my distance from the other Anna and to give Blake time from Michelle. I’ve never truly had a best mate before—someone I can be myself around. Our fathers approve of us “working” together, so it’s a brilliant setup.

We’ve spent a lot of time learning Sign and trying to talk to each other. I had to dig a bit online to find all the swear words, though. Blake let the twins know, and they also want to learn. They’ve got a bit of time away from their father to safely practice now that they’re both airline attendants.

All is well until the autumn afternoon I get a call from Marna.

“Hallo?” she shouts. “What is that noise?”

“Music.” I’m stretched out on my bed with a hand under my head. Rage Against the Machine is blaring through the room: The microphone explodes, shattering the molds . . .

“Well, I can’t bloody well hear you!”

I flick it off with the remote and silence falls.

“Honestly, Kai. You’re likely to go deaf.” When I don’t respond, she sighs. “You alone, then?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Just me and Gin. Father’s up north.”

She sounds nervous and it puts me on edge. “What’s up?”

“Something.”

I sit up, waiting, but whatever it is, she won’t say it over the phone. My heart picks up speed.

“Everyone all right, then?” I ask.

“Yes . . . we’ve just had visitors. I’m sure you’ll hear everything soon.”

Visitors. She’s dying to tell me—I can hear it in her voice.

“Did ‘A’ visit?” I ask.

“Mm-hm.”

Something’s up, and it involves Anna. I stand and begin to pace. “Who else?”

She clears her throat. “K.”

I stop.

“They’re taking care of some business, that’s all,” she says. “But you should be on the lookout.”

“Did someone send them on this business?”

“Yeah. B.”

B . . . ? Oh, Belial. I have no patience for these riddles we have to use.

“What are we talking about here, Marna?”

“Tell him not to get his knickers in a bunch,” Ginger pipes up in the background. “They’re both too proper to be anything more than friends.” She says the word with disdain.

“They’re traveling together for business purposes.”

What the hell is going on? Why has Belial sent Anna and Kopano traveling together?

I let out a low growl and Ginger mutters to her sister, “Told you not to call him.”

“I’m sorry,” Marna whispers. “Don’t be upset, Kai. It’s not bad.”

Not bad. “I’ve got to go.”

I hang up and pace the floor, growing more and more unsettled. I switch the music back on, letting it rattle my eardrums. For whatever reasons, good or bad, Belial has Kopano and Anna working together.

I can scarcely breathe. I bend into a crouch, grabbing my hair in my fists.

I can tell myself over and over that I want her to stop loving me, but it’s a damn lie. The only thing that’s gotten me through the past ten months has been my hope that she’s thinking of me at night, as I’m thinking of her.

My phone rings again and I snatch it up, hoping it’s Marna. But it’s Blake. I hesitate, then switch off the music again and answer.

“Yeah.”

“You okay, man?”

“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. Marna obviously called him to check on me.

“Don’t go jumpin’ to conclusions, brah. I’m sure it’s nothing.”