The undersigned agrees.
“You have thirty seconds to make me understand this.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms.
He does a good job. Within twenty-seven seconds, I know exactly what my father thinks of me, how badly this guy wants money, how fucked this all is.
“Look.” I balance on one foot, putting my other against the wall, where it leaves a dark smudge. “If this is about cash, I’ve got some nudes you can sell if you can get anyone to believe it’s me.”
His eyes darken. “I don’t see why this is such a problem. You’re already going to be at the event; I’ll just stand next to you. Unless you’re not planning to cooperate.”
“I know this is hard for your earnest little brain to comprehend, but you have no idea what this is really about.”
“Sure I do. Rich people getting richer. An unscrupulous brat making a comeback instead of taking responsibility.” He looks sullen as I laugh. “I’m late for work,” he snaps, shoving the contract at me. “Sign it and send it back to your father’s office.”
Pinching it between two fingers, I pull a lighter from my pocket. He watches incredulously as I ignite the corner of the paper and send fire crawling up through all my father’s words.
Just before it burns my fingers, I drop it on the floor. When Ethan raises his foot, I stop him with a hand across his chest. The flame starts to die, then flares again as it catches the edge of an old, brittle floorboard. I hold him back more firmly as an orange tendril sways dangerously close to the wall, with its peeling wallpaper. I glance over and watch the flame reflected in his eyes.
Finally, when it’s almost too late, I let go of him and he stamps the fire out. “What the hell?”
“You and Gray and my father can draft all the paperwork you want. Sign the deals, print the money. But I’m the one with the match, and I don’t give a shit if the whole place goes down. So if you want to come in here and stick your hands in things you don’t understand, just remember that.”
He shakes his head, a strange expression on his face, voice low. “If that was true, Victor, you wouldn’t be talking to me right now. I know what a cornered animal looks like.” Walking to the doorway, he turns around. “Think of it as an opportunity to rehabilitate yourself.”
I flex my hand at my side and imagine strangling him.
Stalking toward the door, he pauses for a second in the living room. It smells like desperation and the sweat of unfamiliar men. He looks at me, shakes his head, and leaves.
I cross to the door, then step outside into the fresh, peaceful dark and stand on my front step, watching him back down the driveway. As he waits for the gate to open, I walk on my bare toes across the cool concrete, following the path of his tires until I’m leaning against the gate, looking through the bars at his tail lights as they disappear.
I rest my head against the wrought iron, grip it in my hands. When I look over my shoulder, Ian’s standing in the doorway, waiting for me. I turn back to the place where Ethan was, but he’s gone.
Maybe you forgot something. Maybe you’ll turn around.
He doesn’t.
Ian whistles. “Come on. It’s cold out here.”
Ethan
When I get home from Qwik N’ Go the next morning, I wait until Mom’s in the shower before calling Werner’s assistant. “I’m sorry for wasting your time. I tried.”
She sounds surprised. “It says here that he signed a couple of hours ago. Are we good?”
I lower the spoonful of Cheerios halfway to my mouth, remembering the weight of his arm against my chest as we watched the fire burn a hole in his floor. How small he looked in that house, with all those guys. How I spent my shift wondering if it was really ok to leave him there.
“I guess we are.”