“Meaning?” Adele prompts.
“Meaning more of that perfection and I could lose all common sense.”
If I have any, that is…
Carly hands me a drink, inquiring, “Perfection?”
I nod slowly.
Carly blows out a breath.
“So, let’s get this straight,” Adele says. “You liked him. You flirted and made a date. You got scared so you backed off and he got tenacious about it. You had sex with him and that made him more persistent, so he moved in with you. You tried to run him off and he dug in. You’ve gone on a date that he ended, brought in a cat that he’s allergic to, and now you lost the bet because he’s figuring out your secrets.”
“Pretty much. Fake-allergic. He’s fucking with me. There’s even more, but he’s like Teflon. Nothing I do has scared him off. And he fights dirty. He walks around in a towel. He even sicced his mom and gramma on me! They made me bread and wine and cleaned my apartment!”
“What a horrible guy. Run the other way!” Adele rolls her eyes. “Good in bed and takes care of you. Yuck.”
I grunt in frustration. “You don’t understand.”
“Are you gonna have sex with him and then go to Japan?” she asks, sipping her drink. “Because you should definitely hit that one more time.”
“She’s not going to Japan,” Carly denies. “We need to all sit down and you need to come clean about everything and we’ll figure out where to go from there. What did you bet?”
I blow out a breath and shoot a look at Adele who blows out a breath, too.
“I don’t wanna tell you. It’s embarrassing.”
“I know…” Adele murmurs.
“You just told Adele and you don’t wanna tell me?” Carly accuses.
“You said Carly is like a sister and Carly is my sister, too, by marriage so technically, I’m your sister now, too,” Adele declares. “I need to pee. Be right back. Don’t decide anything without me.”
She heads for the door, wobbling a little.
“You can use the ensuite,” Carly points out.”
“I’ll make sure they’re doin’ the dishes,” Adele says and then hiccups before she leaves.
“I think she’s drunk,” I tell Carly.
“She’s a lightweight. Don’t worry, she’ll be discreet.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been honest. It’s the ex I told you about, or not told you about but that you know about. I am fucked up over him because he’s dangerous. I found out he’s a dangerous criminal and I took off, but I also did a bad thing so he’s for sure after me. And his brother is a psycho who would love any reason to do very bad things to me.”
“What do you mean?”
I breathe deep. “I’ve told you more than I should already, but in a nutshell, I took something of his and he will not only want it back but also feel he needs to punish me for what I took. And his brother is a nutcase criminal who I’m pretty sure wants to rape and murder me. The brother got a dirty cop to try to flip me to inform on them so that he could prove to his brother I’m trash and then I’m sure his plan was to act like he has every right to rape and murder me. I had no idea they were criminals.”
“What did you take?” she asks.
“I found a big bag of money in his car while deciding I had to make a run for it. I knew I’d need some money to get away, so I grabbed it and left. I was chased by the dirty cop and got away and met someone who helped me start fresh. The money though? Way more money than I even expected it to be.”
Carly stares wide-eyed.
“You can’t tell anyone. Not Aiden, not anyone. I shouldn’t have even told you. I shouldn’t have taken that money and I should’ve gotten a passport as soon as I landed here but I was only supposed to stay the original three months for the temp contract and then get another gig, another identity, but I love it here. I love my job and this city and you. Life was good. I liked who I was turning into with this Ally persona and…”
“Persona?” She rears back.
“Remember the bobbleheads you gave me?”
“Yeah.”
“The normal-looking blonde one?”
Carly nods.
“That’s who I was. When you moved here to reinvent yourself I totally, totally got where you were coming from. Just for different reasons. You’re Carly 2.0 but I’m now Ally… like… 4.0 or something.”
Adele comes back in.
“He’s here.”
“He-who?”
“Hot PI.”
“Fuck my life,” I grumble. “Does he know I’m here?”
“I’m thinking yes,” Adele says.
“Yes, he does. Aiden and I just talked,” Carly tells me.
“And you didn’t tell me so I could take off?” I cry out.
“No, because we had a thirty-second pow wow and decided that I should convince you to let Jude help you. Aiden says he’ll help, too.”