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My suspicions and fears were confirmed when I reached the end of the hall, and rounded the corner into the living room. I scanned the area skittishly, taking in the bizarre scene in front of me, and trying to make sense of what I was seeing and hearing. I was seeing Drew—which given I’d recognized his voice, wasn’t a total surprise—except for what the fuck was he doing in my apartment?
Well, that was the second surprise. He was chatting away to my father in Spanish, and the two of them were laughing and joking and playing dominoes like old friends. What. The. Actual. Fuck? The blood rushed from my head to my toes and I felt lightheaded, like the ground was going to fall away beneath me. Do not faint. Do not faint. Do not faint. I chanted the words over and over in my mind, as the two men stopped mid-laugh, to turn to greet me.
“Aye, m’ija. ¿Que tal? !Te pareces mal!”
“Gee thanks, Dad, great to see you too, and you know, you don’t look so hot yourself.” It was a low blow—he didn’t look well, because he wasn’t—but I was shaken and shocked, and more than a little pissed, to find him laughing and joking with the enemy as though he didn’t have a care in the world.
Not that he knew Drew was the enemy, I presumed. I hadn’t breathed a word of what had been going on, and if he’d had any idea of Drew’s connection to Cavanagh Corp, he would have run him out of the apartment, even with his mobility issues, and connected to an oxygen tank.
He stood up from the table, his steel-gray eyes narrowing as he critically appraised me.
“It’s true though, baby, you do look a little sickly. Tiring day at work?” I didn’t miss the emphasis on the word. He was an asshole through and through, given he knew that I hadn’t been at work, and he was the reason why.
He approached me, then snaked one hand to the nape of my neck, while the other rested on my hip bone, before lowering his mouth to mine for a quick, but brutal kiss. When he let me up for air, I daren’t even look across at my dad to see what he made of this unprecedented display.
“Did you forget our date tonight? It’s ten after eight. I said I’d be here at seven.”
“Umm… no, I didn’t forget, but I got held back—you know what slave drivers they can be at the club sometimes—there was a function and a lot of extra work to be done, asked me to do an extra shift at the last minute.” I mentally high fived myself for my quick thinking.
“I’ll be glad of the extra overtime money, though, so I’m not complaining. Anyway, by the time I finished my double shift, my phone was dead, so I couldn’t message or call.” I stared at him pointedly, for a beat too long, then glanced around him to look at my dad.
He was watching the whole thing play out with rapt interest, and I didn’t blame him. Drew was the first guy I’d brought home, like ever—not that I’d actually invited Drew, or technically brought him, given he’d invited himself, and barged in while I was out. But as far as Dad was concerned I had invited him, which made him the first.
And given that Dad has no idea that I was looking into the Cavanagh/Maclean case, I wasn’t about to tell him that Drew had muscled his way in as part of his plan to intimidate me into silence on the matter.
I guessed I needed to offer up some kind of introduction, even though my dad and Drew had possibly already spent more than an hour together, and anyone who didn’t know would be forgiven for thinking that they were old friends.
“Um…so Dad, this is Drew.”
“I know, we’ve met. Obviously.”
“Yeah...we’ve been hanging out a bit. I guess.” The awkwardness was killing me.
“I know that too. Unlike you, this young man isn’t keeping secrets from me.” I tried to school my features into some semblance of an expression that didn’t betray the white-hot rage I felt. The irony of that statement made me feel sick, and I was strongly debating just ending the charade, and telling my father the truth about Drew.
Drew must have sensed my rising anger. “Well, I won’t keep you out too long baby—you look beat—why don’t you go freshen up, and I’ll finish whooping Luis at manos.” He smiled at me indulgently. He was a good actor, I’d give him that. I’d have believed his act if I didn’t know it was all bullshit.
“Hey! You’re doing no such thing!” Dad looked fake indignant. In stark contrast to Drew, he never was a good actor or liar. I must have inherited my own skills in that area from my mom.
“If you say so.” Drew winked conspiratorially at me, and stage whispered “I totally am.”
Dad looked at me, and raised an eyebrow. I knew his unspoken question was nothing to do with the supposed thrashing at dominoes, and everything to do with wondering why he’d hadn’t heard of Drew before now. I was going to have to find a way to explain that all later.
I melted away back down the hall, and into my room, collapsing heavily against the door, and sliding to the ground, as soon as it closed behind me. I’d known he knew where I lived—he was our landlord after all—but that didn’t lessen the shock of seeing him in my home, surrounded by my things, chatting and laughing with my father.
Maybe it smarted more because it was also on the same day that he’d cost me my job, but I wasn’t so sure if that was it or not. I was a churned up mess of emotions. It felt like this total invasion of my privacy—even though I knew he’d been in the house when we’d been evicted—had taken our battle to a whole new level. Now it was personal.
I stayed that way—slumped on the floor with my legs bent, forearms resting on my knees, head in my hands—until there was a knock at my door.
“Fuck off.” It was an urgent whisper. Hopefully loud enough for Drew to hear, but not to reach my dad’s ears in the living room.
“Don’t be like that. I’ve been waiting patiently for you for almost an hour, chatting to Luis, being nice, and managing not to flip my shit. The least you can do is return the favor.”
“Go away.”
The door handle clicked, and then the door bumped open against my back, before clicking back into place.
“You’re going to want to move away from the door before I make a big fucking scene out here, and then you’ll have to explain to Daddy dearest what the hell is going on.”
