As soon as he was out of the house, I took myself on a tour of all the rooms. It was so much bigger than I had thought at first - I assumed it was just the living spaces, but there was a fuckton more than I even I could have imagined. I took my time going around the place, finding little passageways here and there. What was there to say? Everything from a wine cellar to a cinema, to a little route that led out to the sea to swim. I was too nervous to go outside - I needed someone here with me before I would feel comfortable leaving the house - but I could imagine coming out here in a less stressful circumstance and having an amazing time. I pictured Anthony and I splashing about in the shallows, me in a tiny bikini, him in trunks that showed off his incredible body. Maybe getting intertwined in the sand, one thing leading to another…
I wandered back upstairs, not wanting Lily and Anthony to arrive back and see me not there. At this point, anyone not being where they said they were was cause for major panic, and I didn’t want to be the one who caused any of it. I wandered around the wine cellar and picked out a nice bottle, assuming Anthony wouldn’t mind. I mean, this place was all about absurd luxury, and it seemed silly not to take advantage of that in any way I could. If I was going to be stalked by murderous bandits, that I could at least enjoy the vino, right?
I stood by the window and stared out at the ocean, letting out a small, satisfied noise to myself. I found myself calming as I took in the enormity of it, the regularity of the waves as they lapped up against the beach below.
I wasn’t sure how long I was standing there, but before I knew it, Anthony and Lily were coming through the front door. It was the first time in a while that I hadn’t jumped at someone appearing around me. I guess this place made me feel safer than the others.
“Sab!” Lily exclaimed as she ran towards me. She threw her arms around my neck and clasped me to her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I replied, gently extracting myself from her iron grip. “Here, I got us a bottle of wine. Is that okay, Anthony? I took it from the cellar.”
“Sure.” He waved his hand distractedly. “Help yourself to anything you want. I have to head back into the city, but I’ll be back later tonight.”
He came over to me and planted a quick kiss on my cheek before he left again, offering a small nod to Lily as he backed out of the door. As soon as it shut behind him, Lily turned to me, her eyebrows raised.
“Um, can we come to your boyfriend’s beach house whenever we want?” she asked, gesturing around. “Because I might close the restaurant for good and move in here.”
“It’s pretty amazing, right?” I grinned as I looked about the place. But I suddenly felt tense, odd, as though we were being watched. A shiver ran down my spine, and I frowned as I looked around.
“Sab? What’s wrong?” Lily followed my gaze, trying to figure out what had bothered me.
“Nothing.” I shook my head, finishing my visual sweep of the place and finding nothing. “Hey, you want to get into this bottle of wine?”
I held up the expensive bottle in my hand, and she took it and wandered over to the kitchen area to pour us a couple of glasses. We left the bottle to aerate for a few minutes and leaned in silence up against the counters. I knew what Lily was thinking, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid her questions much longer.
“Sabrina, are you going to tell me what’s going on here?” she asked softly. She caught my hand in hers and looked up at me intently. “Because… Anthony said you were here because it was the safest place you could be. What are you trying to keep safe from? Who’s after you?”
Before I knew it, a tear had welled up in my eye and dripped, fat and wet, down my cheek. Sabrina squeezed my hand comfortingly, but I knew she was expecting an answer. I knew I owed her one, too - she had come all the way out here to be by my side right now, and she needed to know what she was getting into by doing that. I took a deep breath, dashed away the tear of my cheek, and began.
And once all that stuff started, it was hard to get it to stop. I told her everything. From my date with Anthony to that awful message to fleeing the city and taking up residence at any number of his hideouts. I told her about Anthony too - that he had been a hitman and I wasn’t sure if he was still in that line of business or not. She stayed quiet as I blurted it all out, occasionally reaching over to swill the wine lightly in the glass. When I was done, she took her first sip, letting the wine sit in her mouth for a moment as she savored the taste.
“That’s really good wine,” she remarked. “Really good.”
I took a shaky sip from my glass and peered at her over the top of it.
“If you want to go, I’ll totally understand,” I mumbled. “I don’t think anyone’s entirely safe around the two of us at the moment.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she shot back emphatically. “Wild horses, and all that. If you’re in danger, then I’m in danger too.”
“You’re so pigheaded,” I laughed. God, it felt good to laugh - to let go of all the tension and suffering I’d been struggling with the last few days and give myself over to something altogether better.
“I am,” she agreed with a shrug. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at her gratefully. “That means so much to me.”
“Anthony said we’d be fine here though, right?” She glanced over her shoulder as she headed to the couch.
“I don’t think anyone else knows about this place,” I explained. “Not that I’m aware of, at least.”
“Huh, well, then I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t get quite drunk on all the expensive wine I’m guessing he has down in his basement,” she pointed out. “If you’re into that kind of thing.”
“Do you even know me at all?” I replied playfully and threw back the entire glass in my hand in one theatrical gulp. “Let’s get drunk.”
I leaned my head on her shoulder for a moment, the two of us staring out across the sea outside, and I felt at peace for the first time in a while. Finally, things were going my way.