Crimson Footprints (35 page)

Daichi fingered the doily at
his table setting.

“
It is—the burden of an
oldest child to accept responsibility for all things. I too am
guilty of this.”

He looked up. “Have you
ever—inquired as to her motivations for murder?”

“
No.” Deena lowered her
gaze. “No.”

“
I see.” And to Deena, it
seemed as though he did see.

She looked up suddenly.
“Plenty of people have made a success of their lives without having
a mother. I’ll do the same.”

“
I suspect that you
will.”

Their eyes met and he looked
sincere. Deena smiled.

Daichi swallowed the last of
his tea and began to stack papers. He placed them in his
briefcase.

“
Are we done so
soon?”

“
Yes. Perhaps a stroll
might do us some good.”

Deena looked up and spotted
Kenji, the lone straggler from that morning’s volleyball game,
sitting on the beach, watching waves.

“
Maybe Kenji could use some
company,” she said softly.

Daichi glanced at the boy,
and for a second, a look of uncertainty crossed his
face.

“
Actually, I believe
there’s some unfinished business that requires my
attention.”

“
I see,” Deena
said.

He picked up his briefcase
and turned to leave.

“
You know Daichi,” she
said.

“
Yes?” He looked
up.

She had no idea what to say.
She glanced over at Kenji and couldn’t help but feel that in her
silence, she was betraying him.

“
You have to confront it,”
she said.

Instantly, she wanted the
words back.

“
What?”

She looked at Kenji again.
“The thing that consumes you. I think you—I think we have to
confront it.”

He stared at her, for an
eternity it seemed, though truly he didn’t seem to see her.
Finally, he offered a short nod.

“
Perhaps,” he said softly.
“Perhaps.”

Daichi headed for the door
again, stopped, and faced her.

“
You should know that I
haven’t been completely honest about my requiring your presence
here, at this time.”

Deena froze.

“
Claudia Oppenheimer has a
home about an hour north of here in Beverly Hills. She’s
considering your proposal to come on board as the interior
decorator for Skylife. But she would like to meet you first. On
Thursday.”

He disappeared.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-TWO

John wondered how his
brother could ever miss the signals between Tak and Deena. The
gazes and lingering smiles, the innuendo and “accidental” touching.
Just the day before Tak inadvertently called her ‘muffin’ or
‘cinnamon’ or some other kind of digestible nonsense. It was enough
to nauseate a man.

John and Tak stood on the
terrace, their eyes on Deena as they spoke. She laid poolside, a
book in her hand, a red two-piece on her body. It fit like wet
latex on curves.

“
So, why didn’t you bring
Allison?” Tak asked casually.

John glanced at him. “You
kidding me? Allison and Daichi? I want no part of that.”

“
It’s inevitable
though.”

“
Yeah. This from the guy
who was just introduced to his girlfriend of the last three
years.”

Tak rolled his eyes. “Don’t
remind me.”

“
Of course, I will. I’ll
remind you every time I’m feeling self-righteous.”

John paused at the sight of
the glass doors sliding open and Mike stepping out of the
house.

“
John, I swear to
God…”

“
Be cool. Besides, you
don’t believe in God, remember?”

Tak shot him a warning look
just as Michael joined them.

“
Admiring the view, boys?”
Mike said it as if he’d practiced the words a few times before
trying them out. He jutted a thumb towards Deena, who shifted in
her lounge chair and adjusted the top on her bikini.

John sighed. “We’re
just…talking, Mike. That’s all.”

“
Well me, too,
fellas.”

Mike looked from John to Tak
in exaggerated innocence. It had always been that way with him.
Mike with this perpetual need to prove he was one of the guys.
Gawking at a girl when a simple glance would do, or harping on
things other guys barely mentioned—watching a game, drinking a
brew, or a prime piece of ass he saw the week before. And always,
all of it rang false.

“
I’m just talking about the
view here. I mean, did you get a load of those
knockers?”

Tak shot John a single,
lethal look.

“
How about taking the edge
off that enthusiasm, huh?” John said.

Mike shook his head. “You’re
spoken-for, John. But me and Tak, we’re free to roam.” He grinned
at Tak as if expecting an endorsement. When none came, he fell
silent.

Deena stood, set aside her
book and shades, and dove into the pool. She swam a few laps under
the sun, a web of chocolate hair plastered to her neck and
shoulders and when she climbed out, water ran down her body in
rivulets. The shine from her swimsuit complimenting the curves of
her breasts and backside.

“
Now that’s a woman.” Mike
breathed.

“
Oh fuck this.” Tak
snatched him by the throat and shirt and dragged him across the
terrace before hurdling him under the shade of a palm
tree.

“
Get a fucking clue, Mike.
Get a fucking clue.”

His nostrils flared. His
teeth clenched. His fist wanted Mike’s mouth. He took a deep breath
and resolved to try again.

“
Listen. I need you to cool
it. This infatuation you have with my—with Deena. I need you to
stop it.”

“
What? Why?” he rubbed his
throat absentmindedly.

“
Because she’s with me,
Mike. She-is-with-me.”

“
Well she certainly doesn’t
appear to be with anyone.”

Tak hesitated, Mike’s words
biting like hell.

“
Just trust me. This isn’t
going where you think it is.”

Michael shrugged, seemed to
loosen his joints and stand up straighter.

“
No way. You like her too,
Tak? Fine. So be it. But you’re not going to tell me to back
off.”

Mike began to
pace.

“
Our whole lives I’ve sat
back and watched you and John take girl after girl that I’ve
wanted. You’re like the golden boys of the family. Everyone’s
favorite, anything you want, it’s yours. Well, no more! I’m putting
up a fight.”

“
Mike, you don’t know what
you’re saying. Just listen for a minute.”

“
I’m tired of listening.
You want her? Then do something about it. But you’re not going to
intimidate me. No matter how strong you are.”

He stalked for the house,
paused, and then turned. “We can both pursue her, Tak, and the
better man will win.”

Michael strode off again;
head high, leaving Tak behind to stare in disbelief.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-THREE

“
You wouldn’t help me cause
your brother wants her!”

Michael stormed into Kenji’s
room.

“
What?” Kenji sat up. He
was getting so confused. He just wanted to go back to Miami,
where keeping this farce up was easy.

“
Your brother tells me that
he’s interested in Deena, too. And that’s fine! I just know where
your allegiances are now.”

Michael paused. “Just
promise me you won’t help him. He doesn’t need help.”

“
Help with what?” Kenji
cried.

“
With her! Help pursuing
her. A guy like Tak doesn’t need help!”

“
With her. Help pursuing
her. A guy like Tak doesn’t need help.”

Kenji frowned. “I think you
should sit down and talk to Tak about all this. He can help
you
understand. And keep me out of it.
This is between you guys, anyway.”

Mike paused. “Is he in his
room?”

Kenji breathed a sigh of
relief. “Yeah. He should be.”

Michael padded down the dark
hall towards Tak’s room. As he walked, he thought about
what

he would say. He would
reason with him. Make him see that there were plenty of girls that
he

could have, plenty that he
had had. Why not leave this one to Mike? For Tak, it was all the
same anyway.

Mike raised a hand to knock
on the door and froze mid-motion.

The sounds were muted, but
distinct. He’d know them anywhere. He had a monstrous pay-per-view
bill that could attest to his intimate knowledge of those sounds.
He cracked the door slightly, praying that it didn’t squeak. It
didn’t and he peeked in. It took a few moments for his eyes to
adjust to the darkness, but when they did, the heavens blessed him.
The faint spring of coils, the moaning, and then two bodies coming
into focus. He could see them, and it was incredible.

She was beautiful, even from
that side view—especially from that side view. Her hair curled like
a waterfall, and her breasts swayed as though they were heavy. Mike
was certain they were heavy. Tak’s hands were at her waist and he
was guiding her, balancing her, heaving the full weight of her atop
him. And she was begging for him. God, she was begging for
him.

Tak and Deena. Tak and
Deena. Mike bit on his fist, struggling to understand what this
meant. But he could hardly think clear. Not with her before him and
naked.

But what did it all mean?
They’d met days ago, and yet Tak, ever the ladies man, was here
making love to her.

Maybe she was one of those
new age girls, free and in tune with her body, who sought sexual
gratification constantly and made a practice of exploring their
sexuality. He wondered if she’d been with a woman, or if she’d had
multiple partners at once.

Mike looked down at his
erection, then back and forth down the hall. Much as he wanted to,
he dared not nurse it. There were about half a dozen things wrong
with this situation, and him doing something about his arousal
would add a dozen more. He turned his attention back to the
pair.

He had to rethink his
approach. Anyway, he should’ve known better. She was an intelligent
woman and beautiful, painfully beautiful. What made him think that
she would want what every other woman wanted, when she was clearly
like no other woman? A woman as brilliant as this must have
boundless desires and an open and progressive attitude. The thought
excited him. He’d approached her time and again, appealing to her
intellect, her interests. But his cousin had shown him the
way.

Mike would appeal to her
appetite.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR

Claudia Oppenheimer was a
tall and svelte German woman with platinum blonde hair and a body
like an exclamation point. The fur about her neck sat brushed to a
gloss, worn in spite of the warmth. Oppenheimer positioned herself
across from Daichi, who wore an oxford with the sleeves rolled up,
and Deena, whose short-sleeved blouse was the most appropriate for
the weather.

Oppenheimer, who sat taller
than both Daichi and Deena, looked down a beak of a nose as she
spoke. The conversation she insisted upon was completely
irrelevant, and consisted of what Deena thought of men who played
polo or women who gouged on strawberries. When she confessed that
she had no idea such women existed, Oppenheimer laughed as though
Deena had a knack for comedy. Daichi sat through it all, pain-faced
and quietly obliging, leaving Deena to do most of the
talking.

In the end, Oppenheimer
agreed to come on board. Deena’s aura was pleasing and her palate
sensible, and with that, they could form a formidable team,
Oppenheimer said. Deena and Daichi exchanged a look of curiosity, a
look of “what-the-fuck” as Tak was fond of saying, before
smothering a laugh they would later enjoy.

That afternoon, Tak, John
and Kenji tossed a Frisbee on the stretch of beach behind the house
as Deena thumbed through a book on the art and architecture of
ancient Egypt on the terrace. Intermittently, she looked up to
watch Tak, shirtless and hard-bodied, wet with sweat and ocean
water as he moved. At least once, she shivered.

“
Deena,” Michael said,
appearing at the back door. “Just the person I was looking for.
Mind if I join you?’

He took a seat on the swing
without need of her answer.

Mike reached over and lifted
her book for a peek. “Ancient Egypt, huh? That mind of yours
doesn’t rest. Not even on vacation.”

Deena met his gaze. “I’m not
on vacation. You are.”