Page 70 of A Crazy Kind of Love
“Josie. Unless you tell me to take a hike, or, in some dystopian universe, I tell you we’re through, you’re the only girl for me.”
Chapter 20
Zion must have carried me to my bed during the night. I slept late into the morning and woke more rested than I’d been in days. I got up and made some tea, checked my glucose, and then started scrambling eggs.
There was a message on my phone from Andy:Good work, Scout. Maybe I misjudged you. Come on into the office on Monday. We’ll talk.
Zion opened his door, wearing his ratty bathrobe. His hair stuck out in every direction, an homage to Adrianna perhaps, though far shorter.
“What time did you get in last night? You look like a horror show.”
A woman emerged from his room, wearing Zion’s silky kimono. Without her blond wig, it took me a second to recognize her.
Zion waved back at her. “Josie, you remember Adrianna?”
“What the—” I clamped my mouth shut. “Of course. Hey, Adrianna.” I shot Zion a you-better-start-talking look, but he yawned and went into the bathroom.
Adrianna hugged the kimono tighter around her rail-thin body. “We met last week at Eden’s show, right?” Her natural hair was cropped short and reddish brown. She had noticeable acne scars that she must have hidden under all the makeup she usually wore. Her appearance reminded me of nothing so much as a shaved poodle. Still beautiful, but strangely different without all her usual trappings.
I threw another egg into the skillet. A little warning would have been nice. Zion had some explaining to do. I had my chance when they swapped places in the bathroom, and I arched an eyebrow at Zion, waiting for him to fill me in.
He pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “So I’ve been chatting with her, and we decided to meet last night.”
“I gathered.”
He stood and reached into the fridge for juice. “Want some?”
“Why’d you bring her here?”
“She can’t exactly bring someone to her place. I mean, someone’s likely to notice and report it. Even people who go in her apartment alone are probably scrutinized.”
“And they wouldn’t notice her coming over here?”
He popped a strawberry into his mouth. “She camouflages well.”
After seeing her this morning without her wig, I could almost believe that. “But her face is constantly on magazines. She’s instantly recognizable.”
“Ever notice how few out-and-about pictures ever turn up of her?”
I hadn’t, but now that he mentioned it, I’d never seen her myself. I guess I’d always assumed she was a recluse.
She emerged from the bathroom, wearing a navy FDNY T-shirt and a pair of white nylon sweats with two bars of stripes running down the sides. She put on a baseball cap backward, and joined us at the table. To say she was perfectly androgynous would be understating things. Dressed as she was, with her height, she could even pass as a boy.
“Oh,” I said. “OH!” All at once, I understood why Zion had been so attracted to her. To him? She looked up at me, but when Zion opened his eyes wide, I recovered and managed to blurt out, “I just remembered Micah’s coming over soon.”
I couldn’t stop staring bug-eyed at Adrianna though. Was she still a “she” when she was dressed as a “he?” I’d need to get Zion alone and make him answer every single question, but for now, he covered for me and explained. “Jo’s seeing Micah Sinclair.”
Adrianna smiled, coy. “Seriously? You are so lucky.”
I shot her a dirty look. Zion was sitting right there. I was sitting right there.
She held up a hand. “No, I don’t mean it like that. Although he is a fine piece of ass. Am I right?”
“Mmm. You are so right.” Zion horrified me sometimes.
“Oh, Lord, give me strength.” I finished my last bite of egg and pushed my chair back to start clearing.
“Seriously,” said Adrianna. “Micah’s a really beautiful person, inside and out.”
