“And everything’s in order?” A sense of calmsettled over me before he even spoke.
“Yep, and it will definitely stand up to anytest anyone throws at it.” His face held a satisfiedexpression.
“Perfect. We better get downstairs.”
He gave me a quick nod and opened the doorfor me to go through.
Once downstairs, Jeremy had us run throughthe plan one last time so that they would know my whereabouts.
Ace said, “We’ll be here listening in onJericho. Good luck, Christy. Oh, and Halluis was able to get intohis Gramercy Park condo and bug his landline. How would it be tohave a mansion on Long Island for the weekend and a luxury condowhile at school during the week?”
“Yeah, he lives a hard life. And I bet thosearen’t the only houses his family owns.” I took the car keys andheaded out. Jeremy left out the back door—as always.
***
Once at the restaurant, I told the hostess Iwas meeting someone, and she directed me to the table where Viktorsat. He was alone. It surprised me. It made me wonder if he was notonly a recruiter, but the boss. There was a spooky feel in therestaurant. The lights were kept low, and the décor was all inblack and deep red fabrics. I couldn’t see all the way across theroom. Creepy, just like him.
I walked hesitantly up to the table, andViktor stood as the waiter slid my seat back. I sat, and he helpedme move closer to the table. I smiled, easily slipping into myalias of Amber. The waiter poured me water and then asked what I’dlike to drink. I glanced over at Viktor. He was already drinkingwhat looked like Coke.
“Could you just bring me some lemon for mywater? I’d love that.”
The waiter nodded.
One side of Viktor’s mouth shot up and hehuffed a bit, but said nothing.
I kept folding and unfolding my hands like Iwas nervous. He kept looking at them. He reached across the tableand put his hands on mine when I placed them, folded, on my platefor the fiftieth time.
“Just relax. We’re two friends sharingdinner together.” His eyes lingered on mine, and I felt heat entermy cheeks. He was handsome in an angular way. His eyes seemed toprobe mine. It was a shame he was so ugly inside. I took it as agood sign that he was sitting across from me. Maybe we wereentering a more business-like relationship now. I could only hope.His warm hands on mine sent a terrible jitter up my spine. Myspidey senses were raging. Real danger was here. I wondered if itwas him or someone else in the restaurant. I would have to wait itout to see.
“I couldn’t believe how fast you were lastnight. I’ve never, and I mean never, seen anyone beat Wind in afoot race, even when he was twice the distance away from thegoal.”
I pulled gently on my hands, to let him knowI was okay. I clasped them in my lap. He smiled.
“I’m really great with a keyboard, too.Fastest fingers in the east.” I laughed, but the joke fell on deafears because the waiter came up with a nice salad and asparagus andasked what we would like for our meal. We had no menus, so I lookedat Viktor with a question on my face.
“You like steak, don’t you, Amber?”
“I love it, actually.”
“Great. Get us two filets, please, and somegarlic potatoes on the side.” He turned to me. “I hope that soundsgood to you.”
“Sounds great. Thanks.” I licked my lips,lifted my napkin, and whispered. “But I don’t have any money to payfor it.” I wanted to drill in the fact that I needed money.
He smiled. After sending the waiter away, hesaid, “I got this. No worries.”
“Oh, good, cause this place is screamingmoney.”
“My parents own it.”
I looked around, letting my mouth turn intoa frown. “Wow! This place is great.”
He nodded.
“You didn’t tell me you were a richie, too.”I took a big bite of salad.
“Just because my parents are rich doesn’tmean I am. And yeah, they have a lot of money, but nothing likeJericho’s parents.”
After swallowing the salad, I said, “Sorry.Do they make you work here?”
“I used to, but now that I can drive, I havea much better job.”
“Oh. Am I going to need a car for this job,because my parents—” I wanted him to tell me more without censoringwhat he wanted to say.
He put up his hand and waved it back andforth while shaking his head. “No business during dinner.”
I stared at him, open mouthed, wanting tolook a bit silly.
“Okay?”
“All right.”
“So, tell me about your parents.” Thequestion was direct and demanded an answer.
We then went into a long conversation aboutmy life. I was glad that Jeremy had made me go over everything athousand times, it truly felt real as I told him about it.
“They’re teachers.” I made my voicemonotone, uninterested. “They work at Helman’s Academy for theBlind. They feel it’s important to give back to a distressedcommunity. My summers are all spent in other countries, doing somesort of service project.”
“I get it. Your family isn’t poor. They justchoose to spend their money on others instead of you.” He raised aneyebrow.
I looked down at my empty bowl of salad andhalf-eaten plate of asparagus, trying to look like that reallybugged me.
Our main course came, and we ate and talkeduntil the last bite left the fork. He told me freely about hisfamily and his past. He didn’t live a charmed life like I’dthought. While he revered his father, I could tell there wastension there. When he told about his father forcing him to kneelwith bare knees on rice for ten times the duration of his lateness,no matter the excuse, to show him the importance of keeping hisword—no matter what—I couldn’t help but soften toward him, but thatdidn’t mean I condoned his choices. No matter his past, he couldchoose for himself who he wanted to be. What surprised me was thathe agreed with his father’s methods after having to endurethem.
My stories of woe didn’t come close, but heseemed to bury the true feelings he had for those encounters andcreate a wall, thick and rough to keep
