Page 81 of One Filthy Kiss

Amber dozes on the cushions inside the den, and I let her sleep while I prepare dinner. Homemade pizza made with puff pastry and all the toppings. I tune into a radio station that plays music from the 80s and 90s, and turn the music up loud, singing along to old songs by George Michael, Duran Duran, and Culture Club while I load up the pizza crust and slice salad ingredients.

Nikki doesn’t share my love of 80s music. She showers and goes outside to take some pictures of the mountains to send to her parents.

I’m so busy singing along to Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ that I don’t hear the voices outside the cabin to begin with. One of them is a voice I’ve known for so long that it doesn’t even register in my brain that Nikki is talking to someone else. Her voice fadesin and out of my consciousness while I focus on the song lyrics in my head until I hear a man’s voice.

Ric.

And he sounds angry.

“What the fuck!” Nikki yells. “I was in the middle of a call.”

I don’t hear what Ric says, but I wipe my hands on the dish towel and head outside, checking that Amber is still asleep as I pass by.

“What’s going on?” I ask from the doorway.

Ric and Nikki are squaring up to each other just outside the cabin, feet planted firmly apart, her cell phone in Ric’s hand.

“He won’t give me back my phone,” Nikki says.

“You didn’t clear the call with me first.” Ric is a head taller than she is and built like a brick wall. “You’ll get it back a whole lot quicker if you tell me who you were speaking to.”

“It’s none of your business.” Nikki’s chest is heaving. I don’t recall ever seeing her this angry before.

“Then, I’ll have to trace it myself.”

Ric turns away from her to head back inside the cabin when she lunges at him and tries to snatch the device from his hand. She fails, of course. Ric is fast. He raises his arm as she swoops in, causing her to stumble across the path and catch her balance before she lands on her knees.

“You have no right to trace my calls!” She eyes up the phone as if she can erase her call log through telepathy. “It’s illegal.”

“So is abduction and murder, but people still get away with it.” Ric isn’t going to back down.

I can guess who Nikki was speaking to. Her mystery lover. The man with the social media girlfriend who doesn’t want their relationship to hit the news and affect his movie ratings.

“Nik.” I speak low; I don’t want Amber waking up to raised voices. “Who were you talking to?”

She widens her eyes. “I’m not going to tell you his name if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“It wasn’t.”

She’s angry, I get it. But I don’t understand why she called him when there’s a possibility that it might compromise our situation. Unless she has convinced herself that Amber imagined the guy who supposedly waved to her, and that she isn’t doing anything wrong by calling her lover.

“But it will help if you can tell Ric where he is and how to find him.”

“No, Meg. You know I can’t do that.” Her lips are a thin line.

“Please, Nik. This is important. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.”

“You can’t make me. If anyone finds out about us…” She’s scratching a spot on the back of her hand, and blood is already welling to the surface.

“You won’t be in any trouble.” I step closer, and she backs away from me as if I’m the enemy. “Nikki? Are you worried that he’ll end it if anyone finds out?”

She doesn’t answer, which is all I need to know.

Before I can tell her that he’s a dickhead for holding her to ransom like this, Ric intervenes. “Does he know where you are?”

She avoids making eye contact with him. “Yes.”

“Did you tell him who you’re staying with?” Ric’s voice is gravelly, his eyes hard as pebbles.