Page 55 of The Bet
She placed her finger over the top, her heart pumping. “Try me.”
“You are a feisty little girl, aren’t you?” His dirty smile did it. She pressed the top and kept her finger on it.
“You fucking bitch!” he cried, his large, fleshy hands shielding his face as he stumbled backwards.
“Get out!” she screamed, “Get out, get out, get out!” She slammed the door and bolted it in both places before securing the door chain. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the door, her insides fluttering violently, like a frightened, caged canary.
Seeing Shoemoney had brought it all back. The feeling of grime, the guilt, the hole in her stomach. She started to sweat, her throat turning drier than sandpaper.
She covered her mouth with her hands, trying to hush her loud, labored breathing, as she strained for sounds that Shoemoney might still be on the other side of the door.
She listened, trying to get her breathing to calm down, and after a while, when the thudding of her heart quietened, she heard nothing.
When her cell phone rang, she quickly silenced it, and answered the call without looking to see who it was.
“You’re late, Izzy!”
“Huh?” she looked up, scowling.
“Don’t worry. We’re coming to pick you up.” Jacob’s voice shook her out of her nightmare. “Izzy? Izzy, are you there?” His sweet words made her want to cry with relief.
“I’m running late, sorry.”
“’Sokay. We’ll be there in…” She heard someone say it in the background first, before Jacob said, “Five minutes.”
“Okay.”
It was only after she had put her cell phone away, after she had waited for her breathing to still, and when she was sure there was no sound coming from the other side of the door, that she realized it had been Xavier’s voice she’d heard in the background.
A short while later she heard a knock on her door. “Izzy!”
She had been sitting on the floor the entire time, slumped up against the door. She got up slowly, unbolted the locks, took off the chain, and opened the door to find Jacob’s smiling eyes looking at up her. Behind him stood Xavier, not smiling. If anything, he looked uneasy.
“How many locks do you have?” he asked.
She had never been so relieved to see him before.
“We’re going to the movies, remember?” Jacob said.
“Yes, we are,” she replied, her voice sounding lackluster, and she couldn’t instantly summon up the energy to hide her emotions.
“What’s the matter?” Jacob asked.
“I was … I was studying for a test, and I got carried away,” she replied. A quick glance at Xavier told her that he didn’t quite believe her.
“Can I take a pee, Izzy?” Jacob asked. He still hadn’t taken a step inside.
“Sorry, come in,” she said, opening the door wider, then, “I don’t know. Can you pee?” She smiled at Jacob, using the boy’s energetic spirit to help dispel some of her shock.
“It’s here,” she said, showing him to the washroom, and by the time she had walked, Xavier was standing inside her apartment with the door closed.
“You were studying?” he asked. “Do you always bolt the door like that when you’re studying?”
“This isn’t the Upper East Side.”
“No. But two deadbolts and a door chain? Who are you hiding from, Laronde?”
“No one.” She clenched her mouth tightly, then forced herself to push out a smile.
