CardsNeverLie (21 page)

“Not if no one knows.”

“Jack does. And you certainly can’t trust him.”

“As long as Professional Massage can’t afford to buy
LeatherWorks, he’s safe.”

“You’re a fool to think Professional Massage is the only
company who would purchase Jack’s company,” she spat. “I can’t believe I’m
hearing this.”
I can’t believe I trusted you.

“Jack said Mr. Black would only sell to a local company,
Melanie. I just wish everything I did would have worked out. Why did Jack stop
loving me?” Jill burst into noisy tears.

Melanie stood up, feeling old and tired. She ran a hand
across Jill’s shuddering shoulder and turned away. “He never loved you, Jill.
He was using you. There’s a shelf full of self-help books waiting for you at
the bookstore on this particular topic.”

Melanie started shoving things into her box, not knowing how
to be kind to Jill. How could she have made such a terrible decision? Women did
such stupid things for men. She knew, she had been there. As she carefully set
her essential oil set into her box, she wondered if she was any smarter than
Jill. After all, her words had been the final straw in delaying the sale. But
it had been an accident because she trusted Rob. Did she love him? Even an
honorable man, which she knew him to be, could really mess with a woman’s life.
Getting close meant taking risks, like sharing secrets others could overhear.

That night, Melanie walked around in a daze. She didn’t call
Rob, didn’t call Brisa. Her mother called, but Melanie ended the half-hour
conversation not feeling any more decisive. It seemed that all the major
decisions of her life had been made with Brisa’s advice.

She dialed her cousin’s number at ten p.m., but no one
answered.

“Brisa, it’s me,” she said into voice mail. “Call me, okay?
I don’t know what to do.”

Melanie stayed up until one a.m., watching the late night
talk shows, but Brisa didn’t call.

The next morning, Thursday, Melanie didn’t wake up
automatically at six thirty a.m. She was getting used to being unemployed and
this kind of sloth wouldn’t get her mortgage paid. After her shower at the
sluggish hour of nine a.m. she looked up the unemployment office and went to
tell her story in the hopes of getting an unemployment check if she decided
against going to work for Rob. The caseworker didn’t hold out high hopes under
the circumstances of her firing. It was one more nail in the coffin of her
dream of a sex life. What had happened to her dreams of the wild and crazy life
she had missed?

She had dreamed about Rob last night, she remembered as she
drove to the grocery store. It had been a weird Rapunzel-like fantasy with her
up in a tower and him down below. He had looked totally hot in a form-fitting
jerkin and tights. She wanted him to make love to her. But she didn’t want to
be rescued.

Arriving home, she set to work cleaning the living room.
“It’s time to get on with it,” she said out loud. “I’m strong. Everything is
going to be okay.”

The doorbell rang behind her. Melanie turned around and
opened it.

“Melanie,” Brisa said. “I honked at you when you passed me
at the corner.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” At the sight of her cousin’s
beautiful, sympathetic face, she burst into tears.

Brisa pulled her to the couch. “Sit down, hon. We’ll figure
this out.”

“Maybe we should pull out the tarot cards,” Melanie joked.
“Didn’t you get any sleep last night?” she asked, taking a closer look at the
bags under her cousin’s eyes.

“I got a phone call last night from someone I had hoped I’d
never hear from again. I turned the phone off after that, so I didn’t get your
message until this morning. I’m sorry.”

Melanie waved off the apology. “Who called?”

Brisa shook her head. “Let’s not go there, okay? Let’s talk
about you.”

Melanie sighed and pulled out a Twinkie that had been hiding
in plain sight under her glass coffee table. Brisa slapped it out of her hand.

“I cleared out my desk and applied for unemployment,”
Melanie said, salivating at the sight of the semi-smashed Twinkie lying
helpless on her beige carpet.

“Good for you!” Brisa’s frown at the near Twinkie orgy
turned to a shy smile. “I had a good job interview yesterday.”

“That’s great!” The note of optimism in Brisa’s voice
heartened her. “Do you think you got it?”

“It was just with a personnel department, but I think
they’ll pass me on.”

“Did that placement agency that Rob sent you to get you the
interview?”

At Brisa’s nod, Melanie said, “Maybe I should sign up with
them.” She picked the Twinkie off the floor and set it on the table under
Brisa’s watchful gaze.

“I thought you were offered a job at LeatherWorks?”

“After your experience, you think I should work there?”

“I think all the diversity training they’re going to do will
turn those guys into humans.”

Melanie opened her mouth then shut it again, frustrated.
There was a bigger problem and really, the only one she cared about at this
point. “But what about Rob?”

“What about him?”

“I can’t date my new boss,” Melanie reminded her. “You know
I have principles about these things.”

Brisa rubbed her hand across her eyes. “Will you be working
directly for him?”

“I expect so.”

She grimaced. “Rats. You’re right, you don’t want to do
that. Everyone will think you’re getting special treatment.” She considered. “I
don’t suppose you could keep it a secret?”

Melanie laughed. “With the sparks flying between us like
they do? I doubt it.”

“Then it’s not an option.”

“So which do I pick? The job or the man?”

“The job,” Brisa said in a flat voice.

Melanie’s eyes widened. “Really? You were the one who
thought I should date him.”

“You need to keep employed. You’re only going to work there
for a few months, right? Until LeatherWorks is sold. If he’s worth it, he’ll
wait that long. You can be friends.”

“So you agree that I can’t do both?” Melanie wheedled.

“I’m sure of it.” Brisa snagged the Twinkie and opened the
package then broke the treat in two and gave Melanie half.

Melanie stared at the creamy mess in her hand. “I cancelled
one date with him, but I can’t stop thinking about him. We’re supposed to go
away for the weekend tomorrow.”

“Don’t do it,” Brisa warned, waving the cake at her.

Melanie raised an eyebrow. “I’m not working for him yet.”

“Why don’t I tell you a cautionary tale?” Brisa tossed back
her Twinkie half in one bite, as if it were a shot of tequila.

“A horror story?” Melanie licked her fingers.

“Yeah.” Brisa laughed sharply. “The story of my life.” She
settled against the arm of the couch.

Melanie gave Brisa’s hand a squeeze. Her cousin held on
tight.

“My first year of college,” she said. “I didn’t find my
classes too hard so I partied a lot. And drinking led to unprotected sex and
that led to getting pregnant.”

“Ethan?”

Brisa shook her head. “I didn’t want my parents to know. I
was friends with a girl who was graduating and she got me a job as a
receptionist in Los Angeles.”

“We moved into a house with three other girls to save money.
When I was about four months pregnant, I miscarried. It was really awful and I
was supposed to rest for a couple of weeks because I lost so much blood. But I
was so upset. I didn’t pay any attention to my doctor’s orders. I started
partying with one of my wilder roommates. A stripper.”

Melanie could see where this story was going. It amazed her
that her cousin could have been so dumb. The two-year age difference between
them had given Brisa an aura of maturity to her younger cousin that had clearly
been imaginary. Of course, Melanie’s own romp with Gerald hadn’t been any more
intelligent.

“Partying didn’t help matters for someone who was already
run-down. Who knows? I may even have brought the miscarriage on in the first
place by not taking care of myself. I got fired after too many sick calls on
Mondays and going home early because I didn’t feel well.”

“So you became a stripper,” Melanie said.

“Exactly. And you made a lot more money as a stripper if you
also did movies. You’d get featured then. I had the hospital bill to pay off. I
had met Drew by then too. I got really drunk one night and slept with him. But
afterward, he bought me a little diamond solitaire on a chain. It made me feel
appreciated, so I kept sleeping with him. And when he asked, I acted in a movie
he was producing.”

Melanie shook her head. “And it made you a star.”

“Funny, huh? Usually girls are in movie after movie and are
worn out and full of disease after a year. But I didn’t like fucking in front
of a camera and refused to do any more. Drew wasn’t very nice, even slapped me
around a bit.”

“Oh Brisa,” Melanie choked back her cry of alarm. How could
this have remained a secret for so long? How deep had Brisa buried her terrible
story? “I can’t even imagine this.”

“Don’t,” Brisa said flatly and continued the story, though
her eyes took on a sheen of tears. “I went back to dancing. Within a couple of
months of doing the movie, I was pregnant again, this time from Drew. I had
terrible morning sickness. I was probably still not recovered from the
miscarriage—it had been less than a year. I knew Drew would make me have an
abortion and I didn’t want one. I resolved to change my life.”

Brisa clutched Melanie’s hand as she finished the story for
her. “So you came back home.”

“Yes. And the moral of the story is, it never would have
happened if I hadn’t lost my job.” Brisa grinned weakly and rubbed at her eyes.
“Not that you’ll end up a stripper. But you know what I mean. Take the job. The
man can wait.”

Melanie’s life was vastly different from the life Brisa had
chosen over a decade before and Rob was no Drew. But like Brisa, her life was
in a vulnerable stage and she needed to put her needs first. Before sex, before
love. “You’re right.”

“So you’re going to take the job?”

Melanie nodded. “It’s the smart decision. But what about
you? How are you managing?”

Brisa shrugged, pushed her hair back and started to braid
it. “Fine. It’s been a little less than a month since I quit. Thank goodness
Ethan doesn’t go to private school!” At the mention of her son, she pursed her
lips.

“What’s wrong?”

Brisa looked down. “I told you I got a call that I wish I
hadn’t.”

Melanie put a hand to her mouth. She hated to say it. “Drew
Huntley?”

Brisa nodded.

“Oh my god.” Melanie ran the words together. “I’m so sorry
he found you. It’s all my fault.”

A tear dripped down Brisa’s cheek. “It was purely an
accident. Don’t worry.”

Melanie pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it
to Brisa. “What’s he going to do?”

“I don’t know.” She laughed lightly. “He suggested I make a
comeback.”

“What did you say?” The memory of that greasy-haired, evil
man made Melanie’s flesh crawl. She felt a wave of protectiveness crash over
her. She wouldn’t let that man harm her family. “Does he know about Ethan?”

Brisa twisted the handkerchief in her hands. “No, I don’t
think so. Anyway, I told him I’d left the business.”

“What did he say?” Melanie gripped the table.

“Something foul, like once a whore always a whore, only
worse.”

“I was terrified of him,” Melanie admitted.

“I don’t blame you. After I found out I was pregnant again,
I sobered up and realized what I had done with my life. Drew went from seeming
good-looking and sort of charming in an oily way to a repulsive monster.”

“He’s certainly that now.” Melanie shuddered.

Brisa nodded. “Believe me, I got over him quickly.”

“Do you really owe him money?”

Brisa hesitated. “I had an advance from his company for a
second movie, which I never completed.”

“Two thousand dollars?” Melanie suggested, the amount burned
into her brain.

Brisa drummed her fingers on the table as she thought. “No,
not that much. Maybe five hundred.”

“So now he wants it back plus interest.”

Brisa’s face hardened, making her look older for a moment.
“He offered a cash deal in a cash world. I’m not giving him eleven years of
interest on a debt like that.”

But then her face contorted, as if she held back tears and
she was the Brisa Melanie knew again. “He had the gall to suggest I work it
off.”

“You won’t be doing that,” Melanie said briskly. But she
knew Huntley would have to be dealt with sometime. “I think you should pay him
the five hundred, at least.”

“No. I won’t do it,” Brisa cried. “I’ve tried to tell myself
that he gave me Ethan and anything else Drew could do was worth it to have him.
But I still have nightmares.” Brisa’s voice had become soft, with a tremble
Melanie had never heard before.

Melanie remembered the helpless feeling she had had in Las
Vegas when she hadn’t been able to escape without Rob’s aid. He had been able
to reason with the evil man in a way she hadn’t. Their Vanderpool cousin
Stanley might have been able to go up against LeatherWorks, but for this job,
there was only one man. Rob Black.

“Back in Vegas Rob knew how to reason with Huntley,” Melanie
said. “You worked for Rob for a long time. I know he’ll help us. He already
told Huntley to work through him.”

But the cousins looked at each other, knowing that when it
came time, Drew Huntley had contacted Brisa, not Rob.

“At least I know he won’t try to take Ethan,” Brisa said
shakily. “He always hated kids, really couldn’t stand them.”

That gave Melanie an idea. What if Rob told Huntley about
Ethan and said he was going to sue for back child support? That might get rid
of him. She didn’t know if you could sue someone who didn’t know their child
existed, but she’d heard of welfare offices hunting down the biological fathers
of children whose mothers went on welfare and Brisa was out of work. It might
be a useful angle.