“But it isn’t business this time, Rob,” I say, eyes locked on his. “It’sextremelypersonal. She’s my sister.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little rough sex once in a while,” he says, keeping his eyes on me.
“You can tell that to your future cellmate if I walk out this door,” I tell him.
“So that’s your offer?”
“A take-it-or-leave-it offer.”
He leans back in his chair and folds his arms in front of him, looking up at the ceiling now as if deciding.
“So you’re basically making me choose between you and your sister,” he says. And smiles again. “Not exactly the way I had this particular fantasy playing out.”
I stand.
“That’s it, we’re done here,” I say, walking around the table and toward the door.
“You’re bluffing,” he says. “Winning means way too much to you. That’s why you won’t quit.”
“Watch me.”
“What would you do without me in your life?”
I say, “Die in peace.”
My hand is on the doorknob when he says, “Okay.Okay. I’ll stop seeing her.”
“What if she doesn’t want you to break it off?”
“Trust me on this, Janie,” he says. “I know how to cut them loose.”
There’s more I want to say to him. I don’t. So I just open the door and am nearly into the hallway when I hear him say, “Hey?”
I turn back around.
“In case you were wondering?” Rob Jacobson says. “The Carson girls liked it rough, too.”
SIXTY
THAT SAME MORNING, AROUND the same time, Robby Sassoon is standing in Allen Reese’s kitchen when Reese comes walking in there from his backyard.
The view of the ocean,Robby thinks,even from here is something, well, to die for.
“What the fuck is this?” Reese snaps when he sees Robby standing there.
Reese is tall, wide, bald, tanned, and clearly scared shitless at this intruder in an otherwise empty house, even if the intruder is dressed as impeccably as Robby is and, Reese has to see, is as good-looking as he is, the sunlight streaming through nearly a wall of kitchen windows glinting off Robby’s earring. Robby has even added a little extra bronzer today, though his color isn’t nearly as deep or brown as Reese’s.
“A powerful real estate mogul like yourself should have a better alarm system, Allen,” Robby says.
Robby watches Reese’s attitude change now, can see it even in a setting like this, Reese still desperate to come across as a big guy. It’s something they all fall back on, that pose, even when they’re scared little boys.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Reese says. “Who are you and what are you doing in my fucking house?”
“Well, if you put some thought to it, Allen, you canprobably figure out what I’m doing here, even if who I am is irrelevant to that particular discussion.”
And, just like that, Robby can see some of the rope go out of Allen Reese, along with some air, almost like exhaust. He’s wearing a faded blue Giants T-shirt and cargo shorts. He seems to be in pretty good shape, all in all. The stubble of his beard is white, making him likely older than he looks at first glance. The face, Robby sees as he studies it more closely, is too unlined. Either filler or Botox.
Or both.
