Like a Bird (11 page)

“Good morning,” Rose smiled.

“Morning . . . Rose, do you know when Gareth is coming back?”

“No, sorry. I’m not sure when he plans to be back. Probably before lunch though.”

Sky’s disappointment was evident.

“If you really want something to do, you can help with the laundry,” Rose said.

Sky perked up. “Really?”

“I’m joking, dear. You can do anything you want, why would you want to do chores? Why don’t you relax in the sitting room. I’ll get you a pot of tea.”

“I don’t want to relax, I’m sick of relaxing! I need something to do.” Sky pleaded.

“All right, if you wish. You can take these towels down to the storage room in the basement. Do you know where it is?”

Sky shook her head.

“At the bottom of the stairs, turn right. It’s the door straight ahead at the end of the hall.” Rose passed the stack of towels to Sky.

Sky gripped the pile with her hand and steadied them with her other arm. She carefully made her way down the basement stairs and at the bottom a camera pointed at her from the corner. She turned right, and at the start of the hall she passed the locked room. She slowed and almost dropped the towels. Sky examined all the obvious corners. There was no camera in this hallway. She continued past another door, this one made of metal with a big wheel that looked like a prop in a sci-fi movie. Sky figured there was no point in even bothering with
that
door.

At the end of the hall was a plain door with a simple handle and no lock. Inside there were rows of neat shelves stacked with the usual supplies in uncommon quantities. Every shelf was labeled. Sky spotted the other towels and placed hers next to them. Her stack was not as neat as the others and she made a half-hearted attempt to adjust them to match.

Back on the main floor, Sky looked for Rose and even popped into the kitchen to ask whether Takao had seen his sister. He stopped chopping vegetables long enough to shake his head. She checked upstairs but found only a pile of sheets on the top step. She carried them to the laundry room on the main floor. With Rose still out of sight, Sky scurried to the basement and turned right at the bottom, determined to satisfy her curiosity.

She punched in the code she had seen Gareth use and held her breath as the lock slid open with a pleasing electronic swoosh. She turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room was just light enough from the small window to see the outlines of objects.

She groped the wall for a switch and flicked on the first two her fingers touched. A row of neat cupboards lined the far wall where the window was, and the counter below them was full of small pieces of equipment. A soldering mask and other tools hung neatly on a peg board. There was a project underway on the table in the middle of the room, some kind of electrical device with wires, gears, and a circuit board, a small machine that had spilled its guts onto a clean table.

Sky took one final look around the room before she turned to leave. The tall cupboards that lined the wall next to her caught her attention; one of the doors was worn near the handle. When she opened it, a small light flicked on and shone down on a shelf with a picture in a silver frame. In front, a diamond ring sat wedged in black velvet box, the large rock glittering multicolored rays. Sky reached to touch it but pulled back as if it were electrified. She scrutinized the smiling couple locked in an embrace in the photo. They looked like the beautiful people whose picture comes with the frame. A woman with long blond hair and high cheekbones nestled into a man with the same striking features. His face was rugged and his short hair was dark. Sky held up two fingers and covered half of his face.

Her lower lip dropped open. Sky examined the woman closely: her blue eyes beamed confidently at the camera, her shoulders almost level with the man who held her close. Sky flipped the frame over to remove the cardboard and reveal the back of the photo:
Gareth & Robyn
. There was a date under their names. Sky quickly did the math on her fingers to figure it was taken twelve years ago.

The pounding of helicopter blades broke her concentration. Sky froze. Through the little window she could see the machine approach the landing pad. As she lifted the frame to put it back, it hit the cupboard door and knocked it out of her light grip. Glass littered the floor.

“Fuck,” she said between gritted teeth.

As she hastened to scrape up the glass into a pile, she cut her hand. Cursing again, she held the photo with one foot while she ripped it in half with her hand. She stuck Gareth’s image back in the glassless frame, placing it back on the shelf behind the ring.

The front door opened in the foyer above her. Sky straightened her shoulders and looked at her statement piece. She swatted the cupboard closed leaving a streak of blood on the door and darted out of the room. She re-entered the code to lock up, but the door wouldn’t seal.

Gareth’s voice echoed through the foyer and down the stairs, while Sky tried the code again. The door remained open.

The sound of Gareth’s heavy steps mingled with the clicking of Wisdom’s nails across the floor. Unsure where to go, Sky landed in the exercise room. She spotted an exit to the outdoors and took it.

Sky stood on the grass as the helicopter ascended. The wind from the takeoff yanked the bloody image of Robyn from her hand and carried it over the cliff, into the valley. Sky watched until Robyn became a mere fleck of paper that dissolved into the greenery.

- -

Kitty patted on another layer of concealer over the tender red corners of her mouth. She turned her head from side to side, examining her work. She slipped a wide silver cuff on her wrist over the purple marks. She turned away from her mirror and toward her computer.

“Good afternoon my darlings,” she said softly, her eyelids heavy and her posture deflated. “I’m a little under the weather today . . .”

- -

How are you?

Gareth hit
Send
. He stared at the phone for a moment, hoping Kitty would respond. He shoved the silent device in his jeans pocket.

Rose came into the foyer with a pile of fresh sheets in her arms.

“Hi, Rose,” he said.

“Oh!” Rose peered over the top of her load. “I didn’t know you were here. I’m so sorry, I would have come to take your bags!”

Gareth smiled. “I don’t have any bags. I do like clean sheets though.”

“Yes sir, I know.” Rose continued on her way up the stairs.

“Have you seen Sky?” Gareth called after her.

“Not for a little while. She was helping me with the laundry, said she was bored,” Rose clarified.

Gareth nodded and went to get something to eat.

After lunch, he turned on his computer in his office. He opened up the security application and skimmed the camera images until he located Sky sitting at her spot next to the creek.

- -

Sunlight danced like a birthday sparkler on the surface of the water and Sky had to squint while she washed her cuts in the creek then dabbed her hand dry on her jeans. Perched on her log, she rolled wide blades of grass into knots until her thumb and forefinger were green; a pile of knotted blades lay beside the fallen tree.

Wisdom came down the path toward her. Sky straightened up and looked behind the wolf to see a tall dark figure following. Sky hugged the wolf and gave her a good rubdown.

“This is a nice little spot you’ve found,” Gareth said.

Sky nodded stiffly but remained focused on Wisdom. Gareth sat next to her and ran his hand along Wisdom’s back.

“I hear you’ve taken to doing chores,” he said. “I guess that means I have to pay you more.”

“You don’t pay me anything.”

“That was a joke.”

“Oh.” Sky smirked.

Gareth turned to her and stroked her silky hair with his mangled hand.

She tried to relax but his intimate gesture only made her tense. Despite her unease, she shuffled closer and put her arms around him to press her head into his chest. “I missed you,” she mumbled.

Gareth returned her embrace and kissed the top of her head.

Sky stood to straddle Gareth. She slid in close until her warm, pulsing groin connected with his. He held her face and kissed her hard, biting at her lip. Sky pressed back until their teeth collided. Her fingers tangled in his knotted hair but he only groaned a little when she set her hand free.

Gareth slid his fingers down her back then around to her front. He pulled up her shirt and pressed his mouth against her breasts, her prominent cleavage emphasized by a satin push-up bra. After he’d left his mark on her chest, Gareth lifted Sky to standing and with a few swift motions, her jeans were undone. Sky slid them off, her shoes coming with them as she pulled the narrow ankles over her feet. With his fly undone, she wiggled her way onto him and rolled her hips forward and back as he held her close and kissed her neck.

- -

Why are there 50 Prowler T-shirts in my office?

Gareth’s phone buzzed with Louis’s message, but he was too busy to respond.

You know I look like a fool in pink.

And I’m trying to set up a time for a phone call with the diamond guys for Friday. Will keep you posted.

Also, I’m inviting myself to your place on Thursday.

Where the fuck are you?

CHAPTER 11

“What’s up with you? You’re not your chipper, cartoon self,” Daniella said to Kitty, who was curled up on the sofa, watching TV. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work today?”

Kitty sighed. “I need a vacation from men.”

“I’ve been on a love sabbatical for six months now. I don’t recommend it. Plus, you couldn’t go that long without someone to worship you.”

“You’re a stronger woman than me, Daniella.”

“No, just not as cute. Maybe that makes me tougher, I don’t know.” Daniella leaned against the doorframe that led to the kitchen and bit into a red apple.

“Since when do you eat fruit?”

“Since I decided to eat healthier.”

“When did that start?”

“This morning,” Daniella replied. “So . . . tell me all about your boy issues. I promise I won’t laugh. Or say anything mean.”

Kitty wrapped her arms around a small pillow. “I don’t know what to do about Gareth. Sometimes he scares me in a fun way and then sometimes he’s just . . . too intense.”

“Does this have anything to do with the bruises on your wrists?”

Kitty pulled down the sleeves of her sweater.

“I’m no expert, but maybe you just need a break from this guy. Focus on your videos and your career. You’ve got a good thing going there, I think you can make money from it.”

Kitty stared unseeing into the TV. “I’ve tried that a million different ways. The T-shirts are doing pretty well, but not nearly well enough to live on. I’m just you’re average twenty-something failure who works at a shoe store.”

“Oh shut your perfect little trap! You have a bazillion followers. Random weirdos from fuckin’ Germany stop you on the street to have their picture taken with you.”

“That was
one
time.” Kitty began to show a little life.

“And then the other time we were out and this cloud of Japanese schoolgirls mowed you down in a department store to get you to sign their Happy Kat backpacks.”

“They were a band, not schoolgirls.”

“Well they were all wearing little kilts. Whatever, you get my point.”

“It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Kit, normal people don’t get assaulted by strangers on a regular basis. Normal people don’t have thousands of viewers hang on their every digital word. You are not normal, so go with it.”

Kitty propped her head up on her hand. “I still seem pretty dull compared to some,” she said.

“Compared to who? Monster face? I think you fail to see the distinction between scary-weird and awesome-weird.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway,” Daniella said, now leaning forward in a chair, “you just need to get serious about making a business out of it.”

Kitty watched Daniella return to the kitchen to throw out her apple core. “Eating fruit seems to have turned you into a smarter, kinder woman.”

Daniella turned and wrinkled up her face. “Yeah, I feel kinda funny.”

- -

Gareth and Sky had dinner together then settled on the living-room sofa to watch a movie with Wisdom curled up near their feet. Gareth put his arm around Sky who rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

Sky awoke to the credits rolling. Gareth’s head had fallen back and he was snoring, his limp arm still around her shoulders. She gently moved his arm aside, and as she stood Wisdom sprang up. Gareth snorted himself awake and sat up in a panic. He squinted and rubbed the sleep out of his eye.

“You fell asleep,” he said, his voice raspier than usual.

“So did you,” she replied.

When Gareth stretched, Sky admired his toned arms that flexed as he put his hands behind his head.

“I have to get some work done,” he said, stifling a yawn, and staggered slightly on his way.

Sky followed close behind him. “I’m going to get ready for bed.”

Gareth marched up the stairs, taking them two at a time, leaving Sky far behind.

In her own room, Sky went straight to the closet and hunted through the mess to find her corset. The silk was snagged in a few spots and there was food on the bust. Sky took it to the bathroom and carefully wiped off the crusty remains with a damp cloth and trimmed the snags with her nail clippers. She rethreaded the twisted ribbon and smoothed out the wrinkles with the steam from a hot shower.

There was nothing to reveal how she looked as she dried her hair. The mirror had been removed from her bathroom as well, and in its stead a floral photograph. She used the tiny mirror on her foundation compact to blot away the shine and apply black eyeliner. She dusted on a little blush and painted her lips a bright shade.

Sky slid the corset on and tugged the ribbon to lace it tight. She tied a neat bow at the top, just in front of her amplified cleavage. Once her stockings were pulled up and clipped, she slipped on her stilettos and wobbled to the door. She looked down at herself to make sure everything was in place.

At the door to Gareth’s office, Sky knocked softly.

“What?” Gareth asked, agitated.

Sky peered into the room. Gareth’s frown dissolved as she opened the door wide to reveal her hourglass figure tucked neatly into her seductive ensemble. Gareth’s gaping mouth turned up into a mischievous grin.

“Come here,” he said, closing his laptop.

Sky deliberately placed one foot in front of the other, balancing on her heels.

Impatient, Gareth wheeled over to pull her onto his lap. He leaned in and kissed her before he scooped her up and carried her to his bedroom.

He laid her on the bed and reached for the bow at her chest. She brushed his hand away and he scoffed. Gareth straddled her and slid his hands underneath her torso, flipping her on top of him as he rolled onto his back. The scars on his face were revealed where his hair had fallen away.

Sky tilted her head and smiled at him, caressing his face with her hand. She leaned forward and pressed her breasts into his face. As she sat up, he gripped the ribbon in his teeth and it slipped undone, making Sky laugh.

“I like the way you laugh,” he said. “You don’t do it enough.”

Sky smirked. “Neither do you.”

Gareth grunted and flipped her onto her back again. He pressed his lips to hers and flicked his tongue into her mouth.

Sky moaned and wrapped her legs around his torso, pulling him close to feel his hardness against her. The stiff cotton of his jeans glided smoothly across the silk of her corset until she was moist all the way through.

Gareth stripped, then proceeded to unclip her garters. Her ribbon slipped undone with ease and he slid his fingers through each loop, playing his way down her center like a skilled musician glides across harmonic strings. When her corset was on the floor, his fingertips rolled down her breasts, light as water droplets, until she gasped and tried to wiggle her way onto his cock. He held her back and she vainly fought him, their bodies writhing around the massive bed. Sky growled at him and pushed his face away, but Gareth finally pinned her down and slid inside.

- -

The leaden clouds were heavy with rain, and a strong wind tossed the trees. Gareth frowned and rolled over. A crack of thunder forced his eyes open, and he picked up his phone to check the time:
8:30 a.m. One new voice mail.

He dropped his phone on the side table and turned to look at Sky who snored softly, her hair splayed across the pillow. Gareth showered and dressed. A breakfast platter, keeping warm under a silver dome, awaited him in his office, where he checked the message.

“
Hey Bear, it’s me. I have to cancel lunch today, one of my clients was arrested this morning. I’m going to be working all day. I’m so sorry. Can we reschedule for next week?

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to mention that I’ve got about fifty pink T-shirts in my office that say Prowler on them. Are they from you? What the hell am I supposed to do with them? Drop me a note or something, OK? Bye.”

Gareth texted Ellie a short reply. He opened his laptop as Denise rang.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi, Mr. Renaut. I know you’re busy, but I have some good news.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve been nominated for a Sterling Award again this year.”

“Which one is that?”

Denise laughed. “It’s the philanthropy award. They have a ceremony every year that you never go to. They’ve nominated you for your Futures Foundation program. You know, the one where . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, I know which charity it is. I started it.”

“Well anyway, if you want to go it’s in about a month. I don’t suppose you want me to put it in your calendar and rent you a suit.”

Gareth looked out the window and brought his hand to his chin.

“I’m not sure yet. Put it in my calendar and remind me in two weeks.”

“Uh, all right. I’ll do that.”

“Anything else?” Gareth asked.

“One more thing. Louis has asked me to book you a flight to attend a meeting. I guess you want to go to that, too?”

“What meeting? I don’t know anything about that. It’s supposed to be a phone conference. Call him back and change it. No wait . . . I’m supposed to see him tomorrow. I’ll tell him myself.” Gareth shook his head.

“OK, I won’t book you a flight. Is there anything you need?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll send you a list later today.”

“That’s fine. Stay dry today, Mr. Renaut.”

“Bye, Denise.”

Gareth stood next to his desk and watched sheets of rain wash the forest colorless, his face carved into a frown. He turned to see Sky standing in the doorway, wearing a bikini. His lips turned upward into a smile as he released pent-up air from his lungs.

Sky flashed him a crooked grin and averted her gaze as he approached.

Gareth took her small face in his hands and kissed the tip of her nose. “I have some work to do this morning, but we can go swimming in a couple of hours, OK?”

She nodded and silently turned away, with Wisdom following behind.

Gareth sent a message to Louis.

Did you think I wouldn’t notice when I found myself on a plane trip across the country?

I had no choice, they insisted they meet you in person.

You can say no.

Are you kidding? That’s my negotiating style, I say YES to everything.

We’ll talk tomorrow.

In frustration Gareth rubbed his hand over his face. He sat at his desk, staring at the screen. He turned on the second monitor and watched Sky flip through a magazine, enveloped by a large chair in the library, with Wisdom dozing on the rug nearby.

Sky checked the clock on the wall. It had been only an hour since she had seen Gareth, and the entire house was dreadfully quiet, except for the rain banging against the thick windows. She felt as if she were living inside a huge washing machine. “I miss the sun already,” Sky said to Wisdom, who only turned her ear.

She went upstairs to Gareth’s bedroom and fell backward onto the bed. Sky stared at the strange light fixture that seemed too ornate for the stark, modern house. It might have been a family heirloom nobody wanted or a sentimental gift, she thought. Sky ran her fingers through her greasy hair and got up to take a shower.

Next to the bathroom door, she noticed a simple white panel on the wall with small button in the center. She touched the subtle bump on the panel. Six buttons lit up and she jerked her hand back. Sky leaned in again to examine the arrows and symbols on each button. Glancing around the room everything still looked the same. Sky tapped the down arrow and jumped when she heard a buzz. The light fixture began floating down from the ceiling, which startled Wisdom, who trotted out of the room. The light stopped just a few feet above the bed. Sky stared at it, gripping her stump.

She examined the guts of the light, far more complicated than she would have expected, with brass-colored gears, wires, and small pistons. Sky touched the lamp with one finger and leaned back as if a metal arm might leap out and grab her, but the fixture only swayed slightly. She tried another button. The fixture began to unfold like a mechanical creature, its insect legs dangling just above the white sheets. Sky was drawn to it, despite its menacing appearance, and she bent down to take a closer look at its various appendages. There were splatters of dark red paint on the metal that seemed out of place with its well-oiled joints. Or was that blood, she wondered.

“Are you having fun?” came a gruff voice from the doorway.

Sky jumped and let out a scream. She stepped backward, tripping over her own jeans on the floor, and fell on her ass with a thump. Gareth approached the panel on the wall and pushed a button. The mechanized insect folded up neatly and ascended toward the ceiling. “You shouldn’t play with that. It’s not a toy.”

“I . . . I didn’t mean to. It was an accident,” Sky said. “I’m sorry.” She braced for punishment.