Kitt

I jumped when the phone rang. Then my heart settled back into my chest when I saw who it was. Paulie. He was furious when I answered.

“Two weeks!” he shouted. I barely got my hello out. “We agreed you would stay out there two weeks and not a day more. It’s getting closer to two months.”

“Paulie,” I said, finding the calmest tone I could. I loved the guy. I did. I supposed he was as close as I would ever come to having a little brother. I’d been the one to look out for him in high school. He was afraid people would bully him about his chair. He wasn’t wrong. But I was there, right by his side, ready to take down anyone who gave him so much as a sideways glance. I always wondered how it would have been for him if I’d stayed longer.

“I’m listening to the police scanners,” he said. “It’s not safe in Green Bluff. There have been shootings. Were you anywhere near it?”

It was the first I’d heard about any shootings. I felt a cold pit in my stomach. I hadn’t asked Switch many questions when he took calls in the middle of the night. Club business, he’d said.

“I’m fine,” I told him. “And no. Whatever you heard had nothing to do with me.”

“When are you coming back?” he asked.

I bit my lip. He wouldn’t want to hear the answer. I wasn’t. Topeka wasn’t home anymore. It never had been. Being with Switch these last few weeks had been the safest I’d ever felt. And that’s why I had such a hard time trusting it. I couldn’t tell Paulie any of that. Knowing him he’d find a way to hack into Switch’s life and upend it. It was Paulie’s way of trying to protect, misguided as it was. It was never a good idea to encourage Paulie’s darker side if I could avoid it. The work he did for me on Sly had stretched the boundaries enough.

“I don’t know, Paulie,” I answered. It was as much honesty as I was willing to give.

“You like it there,” he said.

I let out a breath. “I don’t hate it.” That too was as much honesty as I could offer.

“There’s a guy, isn’t there?”

“Paulie …”

“No ... there is. I know you. Who is he?”

“Uh ... no way. Even if there was somebody, I know better than to give you any ammunition. Remember, Paulie, you’re supposed to use your powers for good.” I was teasing ... mostly.

“I worry about you,” he said. “And I miss talking to you every day.”

I sat down on the bed. The four walls of my hotel room were starting to close in on me. Paulie and I hadn’t lived in the same town for years. But he was right. We normally texted and emailed every day. Since I came to Green Bluff, that had stopped.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just been weird here. You know? I’ll do better. When I get some time off, I’ll come and see you. We can go to the beach or something. You always liked that.”

Paulie was breathing hard. Usually that meant he was about to lose his temper and knew it. I felt like a jerk. He’d been the one constant in my life over the years. I owed it to him to check in more than I had been. But how in the hell could I tell him about Switch? I wasn’t even sure how to explain him to myself.

Except I did.

I was falling for him. Hard. And that was the most dangerous thing of all.

Switch could hurt me. Not physically, I knew. But if he pulled away. When he pulled away, I had to be sure I could take it.

“Kitt, cut the crap,” Paulie said. “There’s a guy. Just admit it.”

I ran a hand through my hair. The sun was coming up again. I’d barely slept all night, hoping Switch would come back. He said it might be a few days before he could see me again. I couldn’t stay cooped up in this room forever. I was going crazy from it.

“Yes, Paulie. Okay. I met someone here.”

Paulie let out a victory laugh. “I knew it. You’re so easy to figure out, Kitt. Please tell me you didn’t meet him in a bar.”

“Oh, stop it.”

“Send me a picture,” he said. “Do you have one?”

“What? Uh ... no, actually.”

“Give me his name. I’ll look him up on social.”

This got a laugh out of me. Switch Madison was not on Facebook. “He’s not that kind of guy,” I said.

“Hmm.” Paulie got quiet. I could almost picture him right now. He lived in a one-bedroom apartment in La Mesa. He’d moved in the day after he graduated from high school. I’d actually had to co-sign the lease with him because he was only sixteen at the time. I lived there for a little while then when it started feeling permanent, I left. Now, three years later, he had his place set up just the way he wanted. His living room was a wall of computer monitors connected to the machine he built himself. He had a nice view and the grocery store was only two blocks from him. He had a cleaning lady who came three times a week. Paulie was completely self-sufficient, but completely isolated. It made me sad, but I knew it was only me. He lived his life the way he wanted to. I’d been trying to figure out how to do that for as long as I could remember.

“Is he nice to you?” he asked.

I smiled. “Yes, Paulie. He’s nice to me. But …”

“You love him,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“Paulie ... I …”

“I can tell. You’re breathing different when you talk about him. It’s good, Kitt. I’m not mad.”

I knew what he meant. Paulie wasn’t jealous. He loved me, but he never had a crush on me. We were too important to each other for that.

“I’m glad you’re not mad.”

“Is he a good man?” he asked.

Tears formed at the corner of my eyes. The question caught me off guard. “He’s ... yes. I think he’s a good man.”

“Does he know about Sly Cullinan?”

I hesitated. My first instinct was to lie. But this was Paulie. “He knows,” I said.

“Good.” Paulie didn’t miss a beat. “You need other friends, Kitt. It can’t be just me.”

This got a laugh out of me. “You should be so lucky.”

“Are you going to stay there for him?” Paulie asked.

“We haven’t talked about that. It’s new. It’s early. We’re just trying to work our way through it all. You know?”

“Just be careful, okay? This thing with your dad ... it’s heavy enough. You’re vulnerable.”

Paulie always made me smile. “Thank you. I love you, Paulie. And it helps to know you’re thinking about me. But I’m so sick of talking about me. How are you? How’s the new job going?”

Paulie worked as a consultant for a big tech firm in Silicon Valley. He did everything over the internet. It was the perfect job for him. He wouldn’t tell me how much they paid him, but I knew it was staggering. Enough to get him out of debt and to give me the seed money I needed to make this trip to Green Bluff. I hadn’t wanted to take it. I owed him so much.

“It’s good, Kitt. What’s his name?”

Smiling, I decided to give him just a little. “Andrew.”

I heard some clicking on the other end of the line. For heaven’s sake, Paulie was already trying to figure out who Switch was.

A text came through and saved me from having to talk about it more with Paulie. It was Switch. My pulse quickened. I tried to contain it. Love him though I did, I didn’t want to answer any more of Paulie’s questions about it.

“Hey,” he said. “I gotta go.” Lord. I half wondered if Paulie had done something to my phone and could see everything on it. Except he knew I’d kill him. That was the one sacred trust we shared. Paulie was a skilled hacker. He would never use it on me unless I asked him to or if he thought I was in trouble.

“Okay, Paulie. And I promise. I’ll stay in better touch.”

“Love you, Kitt,” he said.

“Love you back.”

I clicked off. Before I had a chance to read Switch’s text, he called.

“You okay?” he asked, breathless.

“What? Yeah. Bored out of my mind, but yes. What’s going on? I heard there was a shooting.”

Switch got quiet. “Baby ... I can’t talk about that. Just ... know that I’m okay. We need to talk, but I don’t want to do it over the phone. I’ve got some things I have to do for the club or else I’d be there right now.”

“Switch, you’re freaking me out a little. You didn’t tell Sly …”

“No!” He practically shouted it. “No. And not on the phone, Kitt. Listen, I have to ask you to do something for me.”

I rose from the bed and went over to the window. Peeking through the curtains, I saw the parking lot was clear. He wasn’t down there.

“What is it?”

Switch let out a sigh. “Baby. I’m sorry.”

He was still talking, but my head started to buzz. I knew the words to this song. I had jinxed it all saying too much to Paulie.

“Kitt!” he said. “Are you hearing me?”

“What?”

“Baby ... listen. Things are getting a little out of hand in Green Bluff. I’m going to text you an address. I want you to go there.”

“Switch, what’s going on? First you tell me not to leave this hotel room. I haven’t. Now you want me to leave?”

“I can’t explain it all. Not yet. It’s just ... it’s not safe for you here right now.”

I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“This isn’t what you think,” he said. “I’m not trying to blow you off. I’m trying to keep you safe. For right now, don’t tell anyone about you and Sly. Will you promise me that?”

I moved away from the window. “Sure.”

“How soon can you have your things packed?”

Tears came again. “I’m already packed,” I said.

Switch went quiet for a second. Then his tone darkened. “Your car is ready. It’s in the north lot.”

“What?” I peeked through the curtain again. I couldn’t see that lot from here.

“Your bill is paid. All you have to do is go.”

His words stabbed through me. “Have I done something?”

“No. Jesus. No. Don’t freak out on me. I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just need you to trust me.”

Trust. That was the hardest thing. Then it started to make sense. Maybe Switch was lying to me. Maybe he’d told Sly everything. This was Sly’s doing. I was a problem. The simplest solution was to make me go away.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said, all emotion leaving my voice. “I’m a big girl, Switch. I know how this works.”

“Kitt, don’t. Don’t shut down on me. I told you ... I need you to trust me. I would be there right now if I could. I can’t.”

“Right. Club business.”

“There’s a beach house,” he said. “It’s in Alameda. I told you, I’m sending you the address. Go there. Don’t talk to anybody. I’ll reach out when I can. You’ll have everything you need. I’ll send you a number where you can call me. After we hang up, delete this number from your phone and don’t call it again.”

Pressure built in my chest. He could be lying. Or he could be telling the truth. The question was whether I had it in me to trust.

“I got it,” I said. “Take care of yourself, Switch.”

“Kitt …”

I hung up before he could. I couldn’t breathe. This was everything I feared. I’d let him in too much. I set myself up so he could hurt me.

Packing was easy. Running was what I did best. Just as he promised, another text came through from Switch. It had an address in Alameda, just like he said.

I was about to seal my suitcase when there was a knock at the door. My heart leaped. Without thinking, I opened the door.

Three men stood there. Each one was more menacing than the other. My eyes traveled over them. My heart turned to ash.

“Got time for a little talk?” one of them said.

I tried to shut the door but one of the men put his booted foot in the way. He pushed me backward and they entered together. One of them slammed and locked the door behind him.

I lunged for my phone on the table. The tallest of the men grabbed it before I could.

I couldn’t take my eyes off their jackets. All three of them wore leather cuts. Their patches read Hellz Rebels.

“We’re just here to talk,” one of them said. I tried to run. I tried to scream. But he grabbed me by the arm and pushed me back into the room blocking me from the door.