"Because you sound like you're gonna cry."
"I amnotgoing to cry," I said, wiping a stray tear from my eye. "I'm gonna throttle Brody."
"For what now?"
"Well, remember when I told you how the film crew was walking me through the house, making me talk about the damage and stuff?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, get this. We get to the upstairs hallway, and I see this hole that wasn't there before."
"What kind of hole?" she asked.
"Oh, that's the funniest part," I said. "It's like, well… a peep-hole."
"A peep-hole?" She hesitated. "Into what?"
"The bathroom." When she made no reply, I felt compelled to explain. "You know, the one where Brody barged in on me."
"Ohhhhhh,thatbathroom. So, do you think he's a perv?"
"No. I think he's a jerk."
"You do realize, you can be a pervanda jerk at the same time, right? In fact, I'm pretty sure they go hand-in-hand."
"Not with Brody," I said.
And then, there was the thing Ididn'tsay. Even if Brodywerea perv, he would never get pervy with me.
In fact, other than our attic encounter – which had ended only with my humiliation – Brody had shown so little interest in me that I might've gotten some sort of complex if I happened to be interested inhim, which I totally wasn't.
"So if he's not a perv," Cami said, "why the peephole?"
"I'll tell you why," I said. "He was thinking of shooting me."
She hesitated. "You mean with a gun?"
"Well, I'm not talking about his 'love gun', if that's your other guess." I sighed. "Anyway, the next time I see him, I'm gonna let him have it."
I meant it, too.
And just fifteen minutes later, I had my chance.
Chapter 31
Arden
Brody gave me a look. "Hell yeah, I made a peephole. What, you think I'm nuts?"
We were standing in the kitchen of the crew house, and I'd just confronted him about that hole in the wall.
If Brody were anyone else, he would've been mortified at my discovery, or at least a little embarrassed. But Brody wasneitherof these things, and his lack of shame was a real kick in the pants.
With growing indignation, I considered his question.He was nuts, alright.And he was makingmenuts, too.
I glared up at him. "How am I supposed to answer that?"
"With an honest opinion," he said. "Pretend you're me. It's the middle of the night. And you hear someone in the bathroom – someone who doesn’t belong. So tell me. Are you gonna look to see who it is? Or wait for them to come at you first?"
