by Robyn Nyx
“She’s not really told me any more than I passed on to you. I know she’s been working with a cop friend, and even he’s warned her off doing anything else. He’s worried for her safety after the Powell guy disappeared.”
“Who’s this cop? She trusts him why?”
“Ash Coleman. He’s an LAPD lieutenant, and I think he knew her father.”
“That name sounds familiar. We knew a Coleman back in the military, and he was a real badass. Even gave us a run for our money, do you remember?”
She didn’t. She’d tried hard to forget everything and everyone but Ice. “I guess it could be the same one.”
“I might look him up, then. He could prove useful if we need some local backup.”
“Are you saying you can’t protect her alone?”
“I’m not saying that, no. I’m asking if she has any idea what she’s been thrown into. The woman who passed this info on has practically dropped a bag of fucking snakes in your girl’s lap. You need to let her know what I’m telling you. She needs to know I’m around, and she needs to let me protect her. I can’t do it properly from a distance.”
“Have you seen anybody around her? Do you know where this trafficker is right now?”
“She’s based here in L.A. somewhere, but there’s no way of knowing if they’re on Madison’s trail or not. It could just be a coincidence. Could be that they’re completely in the dark and Madison’s safe. But I can guarantee she won’t be if she publishes that article before they get caught. No matter how fast the FBI shut that shit down, you can be sure they won’t rest until Madison’s been taken care of.”
Ice’s words sent a shiver down Elodie’s spine. She’d finally found someone she could see forever with, and she was in mortal danger. Elodie knew she had no choice but to keep Madison from writing the article.
“So I should get her to give everything to the cops and let them handle it? The insider was worried someone in the FBI was involved, and given that there doesn’t seem to be an ongoing investigation despite her sending them the same package as Madison’s, she was obviously right.”
“No, you need to get her to give everything to me. I’ll pass it on to someone I trust implicitly. Let them deal with it, and I’ll keep Madison safe in the meantime. After they go down, then she can write her big article.”
“I don’t think she’ll give it up. I reckon she’s already looking up the other four clients Gillian gave her details of.”
“She’d be insane to take them on herself.”
“I don’t think she’s insane. I think she might just have an unhealthy disregard for the value of her own life.”
Elodie’s phone interrupted their conversation, and she answered it without checking the ID, hoping it was Madison. Ice had done an excellent job of putting her on edge and made her desperate to hear Madison’s voice again. She had to know Madison was safe.
“Finally, you’re answering your phone again. I’ve been trying for hours, but even your landline was off. I was beginning to worry.”
Elodie sighed loudly. She did not want to speak to Paige right now.
“What do you want?” Elodie didn’t have the patience for this. All she could think about was Madison and her safety. Ice motioned to the door, waving an iPhone. Madison had accepted Elodie’s Find My Friend app request laughingly. She said she thought it was sweet that Elodie wanted to know where she was and joked that Elodie could be a professional stalker if she hadn’t stumbled into acting. Elodie’s real motive, however, was to give Ice an added advantage while she was tailing her, so the iPhone she’d just given Ice became a relatively cheap tracking device, and it meant Ice could leave Madison in place once in a while to go about her own life. Briefly.
“I’m heading out. She just left Soho House,” Ice said as she began to leave.
Elodie nodded and Ice was quickly gone, leaving her to deal with Paige.
“I’ve got the script for you for the female Bond franchise. Do you want me to bring it over?”
“Not really. I’m kind of busy with something else.”
There was a small pause, in which Elodie expected Paige was taken aback by her lack of interest in the script she was offering.
“Are you okay? Is there something I can help with?”
“I’m fine, Paige. Just leave me alone.” Elodie knew she was being harsh, but she was so intensely worried about Madison she didn’t have the energy to waste finessing Paige.
“Wow. Okay. I’ll leave you to it.”
Paige hung up, and Elodie slammed the phone on the marble countertop.
“Fuck!” She felt helpless. Deep down, she had a sickening ache in the pit of her stomach. Her phone rang again, and she was relieved to see Madison’s face appear on the ID.
“Hey you.” She tried hard to control her voice.
“Hey, baby. What’s up?”
“Nothing, why? I’m just missing you. You’ve been gone forever.”
“You sound strange.”
There you go again with that sixth sense. “I do? Must be how I sound when I’m lonely. Where are you? Are you on your way ho—back?”
“I am, but the traffic’s bad as usual, so I could be a while. I just wanted to hear your voice, but it sounds like something’s wrong.”
Elodie traced the trails in the marble. “It’s nothing.” She clenched her fist and knocked her knuckles to her head. She already hated lying to Madison. “How was your meeting? What was the offer you couldn’t possibly refuse?”
“It doesn’t sound like nothing, but fine, I’ll play along and we’ll talk when I get back to you. He had a book offer. Troy Donovan has a deal with Simon & Schuster to produce a biography-cum-photo book, and he wants me to write it for him.”
Elodie didn’t care that much for Donovan. She hadn’t liked him when he was a woman, and she liked him even less now that he was a bombastic testosterone-pumped ass. Madison had managed to make him almost likeable in her feature series, but in real life, he was tough to take, with his fake self-deprecation and false sense of humor. And there was his story about Madison.
“Do you want to do it?” Elodie recalled the conversation she’d endured with Donovan on one of her movies he’d gotten a small part in just after his feature had been released. He was trying to impress her with tales of his conquests and had bragged about fucking the journalist and photographer in a New York threesome. Elodie already had a thing for Madison, and the way Donovan spoke about her really pissed her off.
“I’ve signed the contract. I think it’s a good move for me…and it keeps me in L.A. for a while longer.”
“Am I not enough of a draw to stay in this hellish city?” Elodie couldn’t decide if she was teasing or was half-seriously disgruntled at the prospect of not being a good enough reason.
“You know you are. But it does help to have a little distraction while I hang around you.”
Elodie took a stubby glass from the shelf and pushed it under the ice dispenser. Satisfyingly giant chunks dropped into the glass and made crackling fire-like noises as she poured Disaronno onto them.
“Are you two okay after your New York liaison?” She took a sip of the sweet almond liqueur, and the fiery liquid slipped down her throat like a snake sliding across sand dunes. Everything felt too out of control, and she wanted a moment of calm before she talked to Madison about not writing the article. About not doing her job. How would I feel if someone said it to me?
“What do you know about that?”
Madison sounded a little concerned.
“Relax, sweet lady. I’m not jealous about who you’ve bedded before me. Though I wouldn’t have thought threesomes were your style.” She took another hit of the fierce soother and tongued the sticky liquid from her lips. Stop picking a fight. You want her here and this is a good reason. Don’t be stupid.
“Threesomes! What are you talking about? I haven’t had a threesome since I was at college, and that was enough of a disaster to put me off them for life. What have you hear
d?”
“Donovan has a mouth on him. A while back, he took a lot of pleasure in telling me all about his wild night with you and your photographer friend, Geva. Sounded like you guys had fun…if you like cock.” Elodie couldn’t keep the distaste from seeping into her words. Keep a lid on this, or she won’t be coming back.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s all in his head. He made a pass at me one night, and we kissed. I was drunk, and he was partway through his transition. But I stopped it. And Geva wasn’t involved at all. Maybe he doesn’t need me to write his book since he seems to have such a vivid imagination. And since you’re asking, I don’t like cock—not real ones.”
Elodie finished her drink and poured another, much larger one. “I’m glad.”
“Glad I don’t like cock?”
“Well, yeah, of course, that too. But that you didn’t fuck him or that he didn’t fuck you. He’s a false Romeo, and he pisses me off.”
“False Romeo? You mean he brags about bedding the number of women you’ve actually fucked?”
Madison’s annoyance was clear, but Elodie wasn’t sure if it was directed at him, her, or both of them. She tried a different approach.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s great you’ve got the job. I want you close to me.” Another swallow, and Elodie felt her emotions beginning to float dangerously close to the surface. How did Madison do this to her so easily?
“You do? Tell me why.”
Madison’s voice had softened. Elodie could hear the smile in her voice, and it made her sigh. Making Madison happy seemed to be of the utmost importance. “You’ll laugh. I’m too shy.”
Madison did laugh. “You’re too shy?”
“It’s a little known fact, but yes, I can be shy.” She refilled her empty glass again, noticing the ice barely had time to melt.
“I like it. It’s sweet. But still, tell me why. It’s not as if you’re having to tell me to my face. I know that’s hard—for both of us.”
Madison was right. Elodie wanted to be the most honest and open version of herself for Madison, but actually doing it was almost painful. To lay herself bare, to be this vulnerable, felt so alien, and yet she’d never felt more accepted. “You’ve got a one fifty-one IQ, so why don’t you work it out?”
“Tell me.”
Elodie sighed and took another shot of Dutch courage, briefly wondering why it was called that. It wasn’t like the Dutch were widely known for being big fighters, didn’t they have a similar reputation to the French in that respect? False courage?
“I really like being with you. I like the me that I am when I’m with you. I like how everything and everyone softens in the background, and you’re my leading lady.” Another drink, another truth. “I like our conversations, I like that we can talk about anything, and I’m really enjoying getting to know you. It feels…you feel…right, like we’ve only just met but you’ve been there all along, waiting for me, waiting for this, waiting for us.”
Elodie paused. There was utter silence from Madison. She looked at the glass and cursed its power to release the chain on her emotional drawbridge.
“So traffic’s bad, huh?” Elodie changed the subject with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
“Baby…”
The way Madison said it made Elodie deep sigh again. God, I love your voice. You have no fucking idea how sexy you are. “Let’s talk when you get back. I’m gonna have a quick swim while I wait, release some of this sexual energy.”
“I bet I’ve got a better way of doing that.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second, but there’s plenty of it to spare for the pool, trust me. I’ll see you soon.”
Elodie had already placed the phone on the counter, not wanting to hear Madison say good-bye. She never wanted to hear Madison say good-bye.
*
Head in, breathe out, stroke, stroke, stroke, head out, breathe in. Elodie loved to swim, and she loved water. It calmed her. Even though whenever she dreamt of dying, it was almost always by drowning. When she’d made enough money to buy and develop her dream house, an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool with a retractable roof had been one of her first considerations. Now she could swim every day.
She hit the edge of the pool after twenty laps and stopped for a brief rest. As she emerged from the water, Madison handed her a towel.
“Hey you.”
Elodie lifted herself out of the pool and took the towel. “Hey you.”
Madison leaned in to kiss her.
“You’ll get wet.”
“I’m already wet.”
Elodie smiled. It was a comeback she’d have been proud of. “You’re turning into a sex addict.”
“Maybe I’ve always been one, and I just needed the right dealer. Make me high.”
She opened her arms, and Elodie pulled her close. Her wet body soaked Madison’s blouse, and she could feel her breasts soft against her. They kissed, hot and hungry, almost enough to make Elodie forget. She broke away, needing to get the words out before she lost her nerve. “Baby, we have to talk. You can’t write the human trafficking article.”
Madison looked bemused. “What? Why not?”
“It’s too dangerous. You’re gonna get hurt. I can’t let that happen.”
“Lots of my jobs are dangerous, baby. It goes with the territory. But I’m taking a break from it when I’ve finished this one. That’s one of the reasons I’ve agreed to write Donovan’s book, although now I’m questioning that decision too.”
Elodie took Madison’s hands and led her to the poolside bench. “You don’t understand. I think you’re in danger. But if you hand that package over to the authorities, you’ll be okay.”
“You sound like Ash. Has he called you? This is my story, Elodie. It’s what I do. Gillian trusted me with it, and I have to make sure she didn’t die in vain.”
“What do you care about Gillian? You didn’t even know her.” Elodie felt the effects of the alcohol rise along with the volume of her voice and paused to control herself. “Your cop hasn’t called. Ice looked into it for me because I was worried about you, and it turns out I have good reason to be. You haven’t thought this through. You put your name to an article that puts a cartel in prison, and they’ll come after you. My friend has contacts she trusts. Give her the package, and they’ll do a proper investigation. When the gang’s brought down, then you write your article. Gillian’s dead. Now Powell. What if you’re next?”
Madison looked like she might be considering Elodie’s words. At least, that’s what Elodie was hoping. “How do you know you can trust your friend?”
“I just do.”
Right on cue, Ice entered the pool house.
“Evening, ladies. It’s nice to finally meet you in the flesh, Madison, instead of just following you around like gum stuck to your shoe.”
Ice was typically blunt, and Elodie flashed a “shut the fuck up” look as best she could.
“What do you mean?”
Elodie sighed. “I hadn’t got around to that bit yet, Ice, but thank you.” Elodie shook her head, thinking she should have told Ice to wait for her call.
“What’re you waiting for? Time’s not for wasting. I need to get your package to my guy, and we need to talk about me keeping you safe by being closer to you, rather than a few cars or tables behind you.” Ice was used to dealing with military types and politicians; she simply expected her advice to be taken. Which was why she’d only done one movie consultancy. Elodie’s director hadn’t taken kindly to being ordered around by a tall, butch woman packing a Beretta.
“You’ve been following me?” She turned to Elodie. “And you told her to?”
“Baby, this isn’t a game—”
“No, it isn’t. And it isn’t one of your movies either. Who do you think you are, telling me how to do my job? I don’t come on your set and give you acting directions. What gives you the right to tell me what to do? And having someone follow me? What gives you the right to infringe
on my privacy?” Madison moved away, putting physical and mental distance between them.
“Madison, I’m sorry that you think Elodie’s overstepped the mark, but you need to understand who these people are. The woman who sent you the package ended up dead—she’d been with the gang for over a decade. She was practically family. But still, Therese beat her almost to death, slaughtered her mother, probably in front of her, and then burned her alive. She kills for sport. You’re nothing to her, so how do you think she’d deal with you? Elodie was right to be worried about this, so you need to let me protect you. Give me the package so I can get a proper investigation started. I’m pretty sure they’re already—”
“I don’t even know who you are. How do I know I can trust you anymore than anyone else?”
“You can trust her, Mads. I trust her.” Elodie rested her hand on Madison’s leg, but she brushed it away.
“You had me followed, Elodie. What were you thinking? Why didn’t you just come straight to me with this? Now how do I know I can trust you?”
“It wasn’t like that, babe. Ice was checking it out at the same time as keeping an eye on you.”
“No, that’s no excuse. I won’t let you treat me like a child. I don’t need your protection. I’ve worked in countries where women and children are used as bait and shields, where there are people who wanted me dead from the moment I stepped off the plane until the moment I got back on it. I was practically escorted out of Russia. And you think I don’t know what I’m doing now? I’m a big girl, and I can look after myself—just like I’ve always had to.” Madison got up and ignored Elodie reaching out to her. “I need to get out of here. You’re starting to seem toxic, and I’m not sure I want to be in your bubble.”
Elodie stood and grabbed her wrist. “Please, Mads, please don’t go. I need to keep you safe.” I can’t lose you now that I’ve finally found you.
Madison pulled away. “No. No, you don’t. The only thing you need is control, over everything and everyone around you. I’m not another toy for you to play with as you see fit, and I sure as hell won’t be controlled or told how to do my job.” As she left, she turned to Ice. “And you, don’t you follow me anymore in your scary black Escalade.”
