Page 99 of Deadly Designs

“Where’s here?”

“In Norfolk. I came to see you.”

“You’re here now?”

“Yes.”

“Polly, where’s Dirk?” If she had that low-life scumwith her, Aja Blue would refuse to see her. She was done with Dirkand his aggressive hostility.

“Oh, I-I, uh, don’t know. I l-left him.”

“Good for you, Polly. I’m proud of you.”

“Aja Blue, I need to see you. I could use a friendright now.”

Aja Blue glanced in the room at Christian. He wasstill asleep. She could go to Polly and bring her back here. “Whereare you?” Polly named a chain hotel about twenty minutes away. “Myboyfriend is in the hospital. I’ll come get you, and then we canreturn here.”

“Ok. Please hurry.” She recited the hotel address andher room number.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Aja Blue hated to leave Christian for a moment. Shehoped he didn’t wake up while she was gone. With that thought inmind, she approached the nurse’s station, asking for paper and apen. She wrote a note to let him know where she was going andplaced it on his lap. Then, she used his phone to hire a ride-shareservice. Thankfully, she had an account since she had no cash orcredit cards on her.

She almost placed the cell on the bedside table butslid it in her pocket instead. After amending the note she’d leftfor Christian, she headed to the lobby. She thought about lettingPresley and Kayne know where she was going, but they were probablysleeping. She’d be gone an hour max.

A copper-colored sedan pulled under the portico, andshe slid into the back seat. The driver was in a chatty mood,asking if she’d heard about the excitement at the harbor lastnight. Aja Blue wasn’t about to tell him she was the cause and lethim prattle on. They got stuck in traffic after an accident, addingan hour she didn’t have to the trip. She needed to be byChristian’s bed when he woke up and almost had the driver turnaround. Finally, they reached the motel. She let the driver knowshe’d included his tip with the online payment.

Aja Blue glanced around as she crossed the cracked,litter-strewn parking lot. A car honked in the distance, and thesmell of rotting trash and mold permeated the air. It wasn’t thenicest part of town, and the motel had seen better days. A few carswere in the lot, but none were outside the room number Polly hadgiven her. She wondered how her friend had gotten to Virginia andhow she had managed to crawl out from under Dirk’s controllingthumb.

Aja Blue had barely knocked on the door when itwhipped open. A wave of nostalgia hit her hard. She remembered thefirst time she and Polly had met. They’d both been so young andnaïve. Scared. Their parents had pushed them into acting, andthey’d had no idea what they were getting into. They had navigatedchildhood and young adulthood together. At one time, they’d been asclose as sisters. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done forPolly, and she knew her friend had felt the same way.

As Aja Blue hugged Polly, sadness washed over her athow thin she was. It felt as if she were embracing a skin-coveredskeleton. When Polly was young, she carried baby fat, which madeher chubby cheeks adorable. She’d been self-conscious even at thatage and had flirted with eating disorders most of herchildhood.

“Polly, it’s so good to see you.”

“I can’t say the same thing, Aja Blue.”

Aja Blue jerked back and looked into brown eyes,which she realized were bloodshot and glassy. “What do youmean?”

“She means you betrayed her.”

Aja Blue froze at the voice as Dirk stepped out ofthe bathroom with a pistol pointed at her. She was getting prettydamn tired of men holding her at gunpoint. On top of that thoughtwas the soul-crushing one that her friend, the woman she’d beensearching for and worrying about for years, had sold her out.

Another memory assailed her. Aja Blue was a junior incollege, and Polly had come to visit. They’d had tutors when theywere children on the set, but Polly hadn’t been a great student.Getting a degree had never been one of her goals. She’d tried tocontinue acting, but the jobs were few and far between. They hadbeen lounging on the sofa in Aja Blue’s apartment when Pollyblurted out,“I’m jealous of you, Aja Blue.”

The remark had taken her by surprise.“You are?Why?”

“Everything always comes so easy to you.”

“That’s not true,”she’d argued.“I’veworked hard for everything I’ve ever accomplished.”And she’ddone it by herself. Her mother certainly hadn’t helped once she’ddecided she didn’t want to act anymore.

“Well, it seems that way. You are the one who wonthe awards and had roles thrown at you. You never had to sufferthrough humiliating casting calls.”

“I did, too, Polly. You know that.”Granted,it had been when she was very young, but she’d been to plenty.

“Whatever. I start a new job next week at the BlueDragon.”

“Oh? Is that a dinner theater?”Polly hadtalked about possibly going that route. Aja Blue had beenencouraging since it was still in the show business realm.

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