Page 65 of Safe Harbor
"The Cast of Amaretto, where the guy takes his drunk friend and puts him in a wall."
Lucy laughed and stepped closer to him. "The Cask of Amontillado, and it's not like that."
"Promise?"
She stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Yes, I promise I'm not leading you to your death."
"Well, that's nice. Thank you."
Lucy pulled away and turned, walking towards his bedroom again with him behind her. She flipped on the light and led him over to the bed.
"Sit here," she instructed. "Get your clothes off and I'll be right back, OK?"
He didn't let go of her hand, instead staring up at her as her dark hair cascaded around her face.
"You're a beaut."
"A what?" she asked. "Are you talking Canadian again?"
"It means you're hot!" Ryan announced.
She smiled at him. "Thank you," she said. "Now, shirt and pants off, and I'll get you some water."
"But every time I take my shirt off, you can't talk to me right."
Lucy laughed. "Don't worry, I've become immune to your shirtless charms."
"Liar."
She just shrugged and walked out of his bedroom door. "Clothes off."
Lucy Evans was demanding, especially about taking his clothes off apparently. Well, if she told him to do it, he was going to do it… as soon as he figured out how to undo the buttons on his shirt. Wait, got one. And another one. And…. Well, it took awhile but he did it! Ripping his shirt off, he tossed it on the floor and sat down on his bed, leaning back against the pillows. Oh, the pillows with the high-thread-count sheets. He was so thankful his mom talked him into those.
He started to unzip his pants and paused. It was hard to unzip his pants when he just wanted to close his eyes. But that was OK. He could close his eyes for, like, five minutes. Just five minutes. It would be totally super duper fine.
He woke up with the sun filtering through his blinds. His shirt was on the floor. His pants were only partly unzipped. There was a glass of water on his night stand and two aspirin next to it. He was going to need those.
He sat up slowly and looked around. Still in his clothes — sort of —from the night before. Still laying on top of the covers. Everything looked the same since he laid down on the bed last night. But there was something different: it was quiet. Way too quiet.
"Lucy?"
His words echoed through the apartment and there was no other sound. Lucy wasn't there.
