“If I knew you weren’t going to talk, I would have never come.” It was my tenth attempt at starting conversation. My patience evaporated on my fifth try. Alvarez’s personal assistant, Reece, had organized this shopping trip and explained that Hex would be throwing a goodbye party for all of his friends. She’d handed me a credit card and told me to use it for my clothes and his.
“So how many people are going to be at the party?” I shifted in my seat. “Will it be a theme or simple dinner affair?”
He removed his thumb. Small bubbles and saliva saturated the fat finger. “Would you please shut up?”
“Excuse me?”
“Be quiet. You’ve been running your mouth the whole time.” He stuffed his thumb back into his mouth and leaned his head against the back of the seat.
“Well, I’m going to keep talking just on the principle that I don’t let guys who still suck their thumbs like a baby tell me what to do.” I showed him my middle finger.
“Is this how Michael taught you to be a model?” He didn’t even look my way, figuring the fact that he’d brought up my ex-boyfriend’s name would probably silence me. Hex was wrong. It only pissed me off.
“Do you realize how absurd your being rude to me is? The very fact that your finger is lodged in your mouth negates any barb you have to sling at me.”
“Have mercy. Now I know why Michael fired you.”
“He didn’t fire me. I left.”
That got his attention. He slid his thumb out an inch, yet the tip still remained between his lips. “Why?”
“I didn’t like working for him anymore.”
“Why?”
“Your turn. Why have you been sitting in the car this whole time, moping and suckling your finger like a newborn baby?”
“Did you really see a dead body leave the property?”
He’s still worried about the possibility of the dead girls. He should be.
“I didn’t see a dead girl.” It wasn’t a lie. I hadn’t seen her, just the body bag she lay in. “There shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Is that why you’re worried? You’re scared you’re in danger?”
“No. Nothing would happen to me.” He pulled the thumb all the way out of his mouth. “I just don’t want the killing to start again.”
My heart stopped. My stomach knitted in pain. “Killing? Again?”
Hex raked his fingers through his hair. “Forget what I just said. It’s something that happened a long time ago. When I was young, a tragedy happened around me. I can’t deal with too many people dying.”
My body relaxed. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He shoved that thumb back into his mouth.
“Would you please stop with the freaking finger? It’s not only disgusting, but it will ruin your teeth and the skin on your thumb. Not to mention, I could go on and on about how ridiculous you look.”
“It’s how I soothe myself.”
“Goodness gracious. Why not get a freaking addiction that’s less embarrassing?” I scooted over to the bar within the limo’s interior wall. “Have a drink with me like an adult.”
“I don’t drink much and when I do, it’s hard to stop, so I don’t.”
“Instead, you just suck your thumb?” I rolled my eyes. “As if that’s the most reasonable thing to do.”
He raised one eyebrow, opened his lips, and chuckled. “Are you ever going to let my thumb sucking go?”
“No.” I yanked out two small wine glasses and a long bottle of white wine. “In fact, I feel it’s my duty this summer to get you over that raunchy habit.”
“Raunchy?”
“Disgusting. Absurd. Insane. Name it whatever you want. It’s not normal.”
“What is?”
“Not sucking your thumb, for one.” I giggled.
A chuckle left his lips. I poured both of us a glass of wine and couldn’t care less if Hex drank or not. Having him shift from thumb sucking to alcohol might’ve been a bad idea, but at least he appeared less unusual. I handed his glass to him. “So back to this party for tomorrow night, what are we celebrating?”
“It’s more of a farewell.” He studied the glass and jiggled the gold colored liquid. A little spilled out at the edges. “Al wants everybody off the property to be safe. That makes me scared.”
“Why?”
“He thinks I can’t handle things so he’s always hiding stuff from me.”
“Well, you were just moping over there and sucking your thumb.”
“Stop bringing up my thumb sucking.”
“Never.” I sipped my wine. The sweet liquid slipped down my throat with ease and reminded me of a sugary juice versus a typical white wine. He watched me and then took a pathetic sample of his drink.
“So this is a goodbye party for best friends?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t say that. We’re more like colleagues.” His next sip was bigger. “Every time I spot something inspiring on a television show, magazine, or an event, I discover who the creator of this magical thing is and then invite them to my place.”