And this was how she had put herself back together.
‘You know when people are really good at something?’ Juliet-Dylan was saying. ‘It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be, I don’t know, flower-arranging. Singing. Dog-grooming.’
‘Sailing?’ Kumiko asked.
‘Sure, sailing, whatever. Like I said, it doesn’t matter what it is. It could be simple. Tiny. When you see someone absolutely killing it at something they’re great at, that’s the sexiest thing in the world.’
Another good answer. Something else I could use to make it look like the Dylans were a perfect match.
Do your job,I tried to tell myself.
But I’d lost control. It was like someone had come in and narrowed the focus on the camera, making the close-up more and more extreme.
All I could see was Lily.
She was tapping her fingers on the table again, fingernailsBlood of My Enemiesred. Her eyes were darting between Juliet-Dylan and Amanda, assessing what was happening.
It felt like I was looking at a ghost.
Amanda smashed her fork down on her plate so hard that it broke, the cracking sound like a gunshot. ‘Excuse me,’ she snapped, and stormed out of the room.
‘Mandie!’ Juliet-Dylan exclaimed.
The cameras swarmed, immediately tracking Juliet-Dylan as she followed Amanda, the other women hot on their heels. ‘Amanda’s on the staircase,’ Suzette said in my earpiece. ‘She’s either headed to the bedroom or the bathroom.’
‘Follow her,’ I said. ‘You’re running point.’
‘What do you—’
I yanked my earpiece out and grabbed Lily by the wrist.
‘It wasn’t me,’ she protested. I jerked her back past the crew members as they chased the other women upstairs andkicked the door closed behind them. ‘I know I’ve played fast and loose with your rules around girl-Dylan, but whatever drama is happening between her and Amanda has nothing to do with – mmph!’
I pulled her to me so hard that it almost knocked the wind out of me, and buried my face in her hair.
Her arms came around me, fingers smoothing gently over my shoulder blades. ‘Murray, hey, hey,’ she said softly. ‘What happened?’
What happened?!
What happened?!
I drew back, and – there she was.
Lily Ong was looking at me, face full of concern. ‘Talk to me.’ She reached up and cupped my face in her hands, stroking her thumbs along my cheekbones. ‘Is everything okay? Did something to happen to your parents, or Julia, or—’
I shoved myself away from her, stumbling back like we were standing at the edge of a cliff.
She blinked. ‘Murray, I’m confused. What—’
‘You’re confused?You’refucking confused?’
‘You just crushed my ribs and then ran away from me like I was radioactive, so yes, I’m pretty fucking confused.’
‘You areruiningme, Lily!’
She just looked at me.
‘You are absolutely destroying me,’ I said, fighting to control my tone. ‘Every time I see you it’s a different kind of heart attack.’
