I lifted the phone and tried Beverly’s number for the fourth time this morning. It had been like this every single day since she’d found out we were more than just employee and employer.

“Come on,” I muttered, and hit dial again. “Pick up.”

The phone switched out to Bev’s cheery greeting and I listened to her, shaking my head. The tone beeped. “Bev, I know you’re upset, and you’re probably going to ignore this message like you did the last half million I sent you, but please. You’ve got to talk to me. Things are… well, they’re more than complicated, and as selfish as it sounds, I need to talk to you. I need to explain, too.” I hung up, then slipped my cell into my pocket.

I was alone in Bryan’s mansion of a house, once again. Carly was at school, not due for a pick-up for another few hours, and I had nothing to do around here except stare at the TV and pretend I cared, all while worrying about… everything.

About losing touch with my best friend. About Carly’s questions. About Bryan and what the hell any of this meant. And about his conversation last night and the mention of Marcus.

My cellphone blipped, and I checked my notifications. A small smile tugged at my lips at the sight of the stylish “d” in the top right-hand corner of my screen. A message on the #dateme app.

“Thinking of you today. I’ll pick up Carly from school and meet you at home for lunch.”

My eyebrows lifted. That was seriously weird—Bryan was always busy with work and certainly too busy to fetch Carly and make it home for lunch. From what I’d gathered, he spent most lunchtimes pacing up and down in front of his desk.

Something to do with new apps, with growing the business so he could finally take time off.

I hesitated, then typed out, “All right. See you then. Can’t wait.”

A heart emoji came through in response, followed by three dots which promptly disappeared again.

Oh god, I hated that. Whoever had created the three dots and read receipt needed a smack upside the head. The two just created too much anticipation or frustration, depending on the situation. I locked my phone and slipped it back into my pocket again.

This was the perfect excuse to take some time off and go see Bev. She was the first on my list when it came to problem-solving.

Forty-five minutes later, I parked my car next to the River Walk’s inlaid steps, hopped out of the car, and rushed down the steps. The place was as busy as ever, even though there was a certain chill to the air, and it was mid-morning. Folks chatted, all happy, all going about their own lives, and it was… dreamlike. As if I’d come from a different world to them.

As if the world moved around me, and I was the one standing still.

I hurried through the restaurant’s open doors and pushed my way into the kitchen as I did every time I came to see Bev. A shout from one of the new wait staff chased me into the kitchen, but I ignored it and scanned the chefs.

Bev stood at one of the stations, whipping up what looked to be a hamburger. She wore a hairnet and apron and kept her bloodshot eyes focused on her work.

Bloodshot eyes? Oh god. Is that my fault? Our fault? Why? Why would Bev take it this hard that Bryan and I had gotten together? Surely, she could be happy for us in some capacity.

“Beverly.”

She looked up at me, kind of like she’d been expecting to see me all along. “Yeah,” she said, then looked back down at her burger patty on the grill.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

Some of the other cooks looked up from their stations, but no one commented.

“No,” Bev replied, “I’m in the middle of a shift.”

“Come on, Bev, you know this is serious. You don’t have a second to talk to—”

“Oh my god, Riley, the world doesn’t revolve around you,” Bev snapped. “I know you hate to hear it, but some of us also have lives. We also have problems.” She fed the patty onto a burger, shaking her head. She walked past me and to the kitchen window. “Order up!” She placed the plate down, then returned to her position at the grill.

“Bev, please.”

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “Madge, I’m going for a smoke.” She walked off to the back door, opened it—more kicked it—then stormed off into the back alley, slamming it shut behind her.

Now, every cook in the place stared at me, all accusing with their eyes.

I hurried past them and toward the exit, pressing the door open and stepping out into the breezeway.

Bev stood with her back to the door, leaning on the railing, a cigarette dangling from between her fingertips. She took a long drag and exhaled a puff of smoke.

“I asked you not to do this, Riley. You remember, don’t you?” Bev asked. “How I told you that my brother isn’t ready to get his shit all fucked up again, and neither are you. I asked you.”

“I know,” I replied, evenly. “But you don’t understand. And I don’t understand either.”

She put out the cigarette under her shoe, then turned on me. “What the hell does that mean? What don’t you understand?” Her green eyes blazed bright, even in the shade, and she ran fingers through her short hair, spiking it up.

“That I don’t understand why this is such a big deal to you,” I replied and squared my shoulders. “Bev, he’s your brother, I get that, but even if I had met him and fallen in love with him conventionally, what difference would it have made to you?”

“Yeah, clearly you don’t get it.” Bev rolled her eyes and reached for her pack of cigarettes but left it in the breast pocket of her uniform blouse. “What do you think would happen if this doesn’t work out? Who do you think would be caught in the middle?”

“Bev, we’re not in high school. I’m not going to fill your ear with—”

“And how do you think that would make me feel? You not telling me how you felt. And Bryan freezing me out because he associates me with you. I’d lose both my best friend and my brother in one fell swoop, and I’d be on my own again.”

“Bev—”

“No, Riley, you know how it was. Growing up for me, the orphanage, my parents, nearly losing my brother. I—you know how it was. And I really don’t need that type of thing happening again.”

“It won’t,” I replied. “I won’t let anything that happens come between us.” I took her arm and squeezed it, and she let me, didn’t tug it out of my grasp. “Let me explain, OK? Remember how you were so fixated on me moving on from Marcus a few months ago?”

“Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?”

“You insisted I get out there and dating, and I was adamant not to do it?”

“Uh-huh, are you going somewhere with this?”

“Dude, bear with me.” I inhaled. “I got on a dating app as a compromise and you kind of forgot about it after that. What I didn’t tell you was I met a guy on there. And I had a date with him on Halloween. We agreed it would be a one-time thing, until a month later when I—well, I went to the interview with your brother.”

Bev’s cogs turned behind her eyes. “You’re not serious?”

“I am. It was him. Your brother was the same guy I’d been talking to on the app all along. So, you can see how complicated things got. I didn’t even think I was going to get the job until he called me back. I don’t know what changed his mind, but here we are.”

Bev groaned and gripped her forehead. “Wow.”

“What?”

“Nothing. OK, so… why didn’t you tell me about this guy on the app from the start?” Bev asked.

“Because I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Because I knew you would have pushed me to meet him and go on loads of dates and try to be happy.”

“Because being happy is a bad thing?” Bev laughed, threw up one hand. “Sorry, I forgot about that.”

“No, because you can’t force being happy. And I just wasn’t ready yet. The point is, it was a big misunderstanding, but it’s progressed past that phase now. I’m sorry if it pisses you off, but Bryan and I are still involved, and we’re not even sure where this is going. We’re taking it slow.”

Bev finally got her pack of cigarettes out again and slipped one between her lips. She lit it, cupping her hand to shield the flame from her lighter. “Fine,” she said, and exhaled smoke. “Fine. I mean, it has to be fine, doesn’t it? There’s nothing I can do about this. I can’t tell you to break up with him.”

“Bev.”

“No, I’m serious. I have no say. Why do you think I Pontius Piloted this shit?”

“I—what?”

“You know, the guy in the Bible who washes his hands of—never mind, it’s not important. I was trying to ignore you both to save myself the grief of what would happen when you two did break up, but I guess I can’t do that. You’ll just come crashing into my kitchen and interrupt my working hours. Speaking of which, if I don’t get back in the kitchen—”

“I know, I know. I just wanted to work this out once and for all.”

Bev puffed on her cigarette, stamped it out, then drew me into a quick hug and patted me on the back. “We’re OK,” she said, “I just wish you’d told me about all of this from the start. You don’t always have to be a closed book, Riley. You can afford to trust people sometimes.”

“I’m trying,” I replied, softly. And wasn’t that the truth? Last night, walking away from that study instead of demanding answers Bryan clearly didn’t want to give, had taken every inch of my restraint. “See ya!”

Bev blew me a kiss, I waved it aside. She flipped me off, I caught it and stuck it in my back pocket. And just like that, she was gone. It still felt as if we hadn’t fixed everything 100 percent, but it was a start.

I was on the path to making things work.

I walked down the breezeway and exited into the alley between the restaurant and its competitor, then hit the River Walk and made my way back to the steps at its far end.

Finally, I slipped into my car and started the engine, drove out and back toward Canyon Springs, mulling everything over. I kept my focus on the road while my mind wandered this way and that, trying to work out all the issues in one.

The growl of a bike’s engine swallowed my thoughts, and I glanced up at the rearview mirror.

Ice dropped down my spine. Sweat beaded on my forehead.

Two bikers sat on Harleys behind my car, their helmets painted with the crimson skull insignia. They wore sunglasses and were burly. Neither of them were Marcus. One of them revved their engine, and I increased my speed slightly. My heart leaped in my throat.

I was five minutes from the gate to the community.

All I had to do was stay on the road and focus. Get back to the house. That was it. The minute I got to the gate, I’d be safe.

Will you be, though? Marcus got inside before. He could do it again.

“Fuck,” I muttered, and geared up, put my foot down. It was faster, but not fast enough to warrant a chase. Still the bikes followed, the men smiled, flashing teeth, yellowed and white apiece.

I flicked on my blinker, turned into another road, and they followed, the sun glancing off their chromed-out handlebars.

“Please, please, please,” I muttered under my breath, driving even faster now.

One of the bikes roared, and I let out a shriek, swallowed it halfway through. The biker rode up beside my car and leered into my front window. He reached over and tapped a gloved hand on the glass.

I slammed my foot to the pedal at last and shifted all the way up into fifth. I zoomed down the street, turned right, then left, then right again, while the bikes gave chase, the men shaking their fists behind me, in joy rather than regret.

They lived for this. For the thrill of the ride. Of the hunt.

And I was the prey.

“Not today,” I hissed, blinking sweat.

I swerved again, into the next road, the one adjacent to the entrance to the community, and the bikes followed me. I screeched around the corner to the front gate and halted in a scream of burnt rubber and smoke.

The guard at the front gate hopped out from his little guardhouse, swearing, clutching his clipboard. “Lady! What are you doing? This is a peaceful community. You can’t drive around here like—” he cut off as the two Harleys turned into the road behind me, growled closer.

“Please,” I yelled. “Let me in. Let me in! Please!”

The guy’s eyes widened. He took one step, then another, then ran.