Page 9 of Play Dirty

“What?” Alexander turns to look at me.

“What did you do to her? To make her like this?”

Alexander drops the bags on the ground next to him. One hand lifts his sunglasses up and places them on the top of his head. He stares at me.

He still looks good. I mean, he’s what? Thirty-seven? Thirty-eight now? But he still looks good. Sandy blond hair. Blue eyes. Square jaw that doesn’t have a regular date with a razor. And he’s still very fit. He’s tan too, even though they left LA a while ago. He looks like a guy who drives a Land Rover. Not because it’s a hundred-thousand-dollar status symbol either, but because he needs it to get places other cars can’t go.

“You did this to her,” Alexander says.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “This has nothing to do with me.”

“Then why are we here, Jordan? Hmm? God, you are so fucking stupid sometimes. Do you ever look around and just… see what’s happening? Or do you like it in the dark?”

I don’t answer, since I figure that was rhetorical.

So he picks up the bags, turns away, and goes inside.

CHAPTER THREE

I spend that entire afternoon still wondering what the fuck we’re doing. Augustine is morose, Alexander is quiet, and I’m just… confused.

At one point Alexander says he’s going to drive to the small store we passed on the way in and pick up some food. I try to go with him, but he says, “No. I want to be alone.”

OK.

So now it’s me, still confused, and Augustine, still morose.

I sit on the couch wishing I’d asked Alexander to pick up some alcohol. Because I really feel like getting drunk.

“Because I want you to watch us,” Augustine says out of nowhere.

“What?”

“Have sex,” she explains. “I want you to watch us.” She looks me in the eyes. “Then tell us what you see.”

I have a million things to say in reply. Like so many words popping into my head in this moment, it’s impossible to choose one direction. So I say nothing.

“Will you do that? Will you give us an honest assessment?”

“Augustine… I don’t know what you’re looking for, but Alexander clearly isn’t into this. OK? He doesn’t like men. We’ve always known that. He doesn’t want me watching you two fuck. And he certainly doesn’t want my opinion on his goddamned performance.”

“You’re wrong,” she says.

“Look, I don’t know what happened to you two, but this has nothing to do with me.”

“Wrong again.”

I want to fucking choke her right now. Like… I have no clue what I ever saw in this woman, because I see nothing attractive about her now. In fact, her dismissive attitude towards Alexander is kinda pissing me off.

“Maybe I don’t really need that building,” I say.

“Maybe not.”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I told you. Watch us. Tell us what you see.”

“I don’t understand.”