Page 44 of After Effect

“You got here much faster than I expected. And you’re cuter than I expected. Christian was right about you.” He looked me square in the eye, then offered me a hand. “Where are my manners- It’s Andrea. Andrea Machiavelli. And no- no relation to the philosopher, unfortunately.”

I shook his hand mechanically. “Right- Finch Corbin.” My eyes were inexplicably drawn to the man in the trunk. “Uh, he probably needs…”

“Of course, of course!” Andrea clapped to himself. He turned to his door and called into the house. “Gio! Can you come down here?”

In less than a minute, a large Italian man stepped into the compact garage. Without saying a word, he hoisted the still bleeding, nearly unconscious man over his shoulder and hauled him into the house.

I blinked a few times in an attempt to process it all.

“You know what they say,” Andrea’s voice penetrated the murk of my confusion, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I don’t think he’ll be playing any more games in the future.” He placed his hands on his hips and gave me a wide grin. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

I was completely taken aback by the question. “No. I don’t believe so.” I feigned confidence, but Andrea continued to study my face.

“Oh! you must be-” He cut himself short. I must be what? “Thank you for the help and discretion tonight, Finch Corbin. This won’t soon be forgotten.”

“No problem…” The words sounded hollow even to me. As the garage door shut behind me, I didn’t know where to go. What to do. My mind was spinning in my skull. I pulled over at the first open stretch of beach, and just sat in my car, listening to nothing but the waves outside.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I answered without even looking at the screen.

“This is Finch.” My voice sounded in my ears with just enough soullessness to sound professional.

“Like anyone else would ever be answering your phone.” Lilly chuckled. I have never been more relieved and annoyed to hear her voice. I

“Where the fuck are you?” It was as though just hearing the frequency of her voice was enough to snap me back into my rhythm.

“So funny story-“

“I’m not in the mood to laugh.” I scowled into the receiver.

“Well, then amusement-neutral story. So one of my exes from my very brief stint in rodeo happened to have a sister who happened to be getting married today, and she just so happened to be a big fan.”

“So, what, you’ve been fucking off and partying and banging the wedding party, when your entire career is on the line?” I didn’t even bother pretending I wasn’t mad anymore. She’s impossible. She’s selfish. She’s inconsiderate. And I shouldn’t have agreed to any of this. Baek basically has me by the neck, I have no fucking clue what I’m getting involved with anymore, while Lilly’s out fucking her ex without a care in the fucking world.

“Well, when you put it that way…”

“Please, by all means, how else should I put it?”

“Maybe put it like ‘I’m out here winning over the entire rodeo community of Ventura County, and am basically guaranteed to have a packed show tomorrow.’ Then add in a ‘Thank you so much Lilly!’ and a ‘you’re amazing!’ and one of those ‘I’ll give you the best head of your life when this works out!’ and I think we have a more reasonable response.” One thing was for sure. In all this uncertainty, at least Lilly was still Lilly. “Oh, and since you still seem confused on this whole thing- no, I won’t let anyone play with my pussy but you.”

“Keep your voice down when you say that shit.”

“Chill. There’s no one around.”

I took a deep breath “Are you drunk?”

“Maybeeeee…” She paused for a touch longer than an extended second. “How could you tell?”

“Because you honestly thought telling me about this wedding thing would somehow excuse you for screening my calls.”

“That’s a valid point.” Lilly spoke thoughtfully, considering my words. “Well, why don’t you come pick me up, and I’ll make it up to you in other ways.”

“What am I going to do with you?” I exhaled an exasperated sigh. “Text me the address. I’ll be there in thirty.”

“Wait, in thirty?”

I hung up the phone, not planning to explain further. She doesn’t need to know, I kept telling myself. It was as though Lilly was both the refuge from my mistakes and the reason for them at the same time. And tonight, I just wanted her to be refuge.

But at the same time, I still couldn’t shake a subtle anger in my gut. I’m sure there was a reason she felt it was a good idea to not tell me what she was planning. There had to be. We were supposed to be a team, and despite everything I’ve sacrificed for her, it felt like she was shutting me out.

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