You get the picture.
Now a month later, we sat outside of the new home Lenny had purchased. I’d convinced her to finally cash in the life insurance, so at least we had that. Slowly I would start transferring funds from my accounts to her name, but the key word was slow. Some days I wondered if I should have buried gold bars instead of hiding my fortune in offshore accounts, in tiny algorithms and numbers.
Life was complicated living as a dead man, to put it mildly. Everything had to be done in Lenny’s name. Theoretically I could come back from the dead, I could petition the courts, but all of that was a risk not worth taking. When Vic Wall died, so did his enemies. I’d made a lot of enemies, even if they weren’t as adamant as Alice.
I had enough knowledge in creating fake identities that if for some reason I ever needed one, I could create one. Until that time, Lenny and I were content. The Vic Wall on paper might be dead, but I was more alive than ever living with Lenny. Plus we had a new home with a really, really sturdy bed.
And no more lofted ceilings, just in case.
On our deck, pale wood slats masked the sand that always blew onto them. Even then, I could see the grains piling up. Beach living was beautiful if you don’t mind sand in your house and up your ass. That night, the breeze was cold and salty, the ocean dark. Waves crashed angrily. Zoe and Lissie sat across from us, drinking hard lemonade, but that wasn’t the only hard thing about the dinner. The entire time we ate, Zoe pinned me with a vicious glare.
“No Krav Maga tonight?” Lissie asked, giving Zoe a less than subtle jab in the ribs.
Lenny looked at me. “I haven’t done Krav Maga in about a month.” I frowned, thinking back to the night I’d made myself known. She’d defended herself and hadn’t needed me. I wasn’t an asshole; I knew that was a good thing.
“You were doing Krav Maga?” I asked. We’d been together a month, but really hadn’t done much talking. The sex was great, but it was always great between us, no matter the climate. This time was supposed to be different, we were supposed to be different. We were supposed to be a healthy, talking couple that shared things and talked about their feelings or some shit.
Instead I’d been back for a month, she was already shirking her training, and I was clueless. I reached beneath the table and squeezed Lenny’s hand, realizing what an idiot I’d been. I’d thought our ways would change, as if simply wanting it would make it happen without any effort on either of our ends. Sitting across from our friends—well, judging by Zoe’s glare, perhaps former friend—I realized Lenny and I had hopped aboard the Titanic yet again. We’d been eating the food, dancing on the deck, and ignoring the iceberg.
After our reconciliation we’d fucked and fucked and fucked, not because it was right for us, but because it was simpler. It felt great and we were good at it. It made it easier to ignore the iceberg filled with questions an
d regrets and fear looming straight ahead.
“With you gone I figured I needed to finally learn. Now you’re back and…you know…” Lenny looked back to Lissie. “Anyway I’ve been busy.” Lenny had surprised me in the alley. She’d handled her own and there was nothing sexier than that. There was no reason for her to stop, no reason for us to go back to before. I squeezed her hand tighter but she yelped and I loosened.
Zoe scoffed. “Figures.” Releasing Lenny’s palm, I placed my own above the table and braced myself for Zoe’s contempt. Eyes set firmly in her drink, Zoe refused to look anywhere but the clear colored martini. Still, the hostility radiating off her was as thick and hot as car exhaust.
“Do you want to play charades or…” Lenny asked, attempting to break the tension.
“When Nox said she had a surprise, I didn’t know it would be of the living dead variety,” Zoe said coolly.
“I thought you would be more surprised, honestly,” I replied. When they’d arrived, Lissie had hugged me, handed me a weird pasta dish with marshmallows, and asked for a tour of the house. Nothing like when Eli had called me zombie.
“Nox told us a week ago,” Lissie said, a smile on her face. Even sitting across from the dead, nothing could dim the girl’s glow. I looked to Lenny, once again tempering the feeling we were dancing beside an iceberg. I wasn’t upset with her for sharing my secret and then keeping the fact from me; the cold truth was that I wasn’t even surprised. If it wasn’t pillow talk it didn’t pass our lips.
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Lenny explained. “I mean Grace already knew and when I stopped returning their calls and texts for a month they thought I was going to kill myself.”
“Quite the opposite,” Zoe muttered.
“Zoe girl has been practicing what she would say ever since,” Lissie offered, smiling.
“Have not,” Zoe said icily. “So what, you guys are like a fairytale now? Barbie dream house complete with black eyes?” Hitting Lenny was not something I would ever forget, and it apparently wasn’t something Zoe was keen to let me forget. I leaned forward, setting aside the dessert so I could get closer to Zoe.
“You have to understand, Zoe—”
“I don’t really have to understand anything, Vic. I gave you a chance to explain yourself months ago, then you faked your death, nearly took Lenny to the grave along with you, and now you’re back pretending like everything is all Donna Reed.” Zoe cursed under her breath, kicked herself out of the chair, and stormed inside the house.
“I’m sorry…” Lissie attempted to say, but I put my hand up. She had nothing to be sorry about.
I followed Zoe inside the house. Leaning against the kitchen island, she was angrily sipping water. I could see her lips moving, as if she was muttering to herself. I knew what that meant with Lenny; it meant get the fuck out and do not engage.
Like I was walking into a minefield, I stepped inside the kitchen.
“Where’s Thea?” I said, trying at small talk.
“With a fucking babysitter,” Zoe snapped, eyes locked on the stainless steel fridge. “Why, have plans to kidnap her or something?”
Sighing, I did a half-pushup against the island and spun around until I was sitting next to her. “We’ve never really talked about what I used to do for work, but you’ve been pulled into the shit because of it a lot.”