“Who are you?” I ask, standing a few feet away from her instead of sitting down.
“I’m Phoenix; I work for Langston.”
“Why do you live in a locked and walled off part of the house?”
Phoenix smiles and looks out to the ocean. “It’s part of my job. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
I shake my head. “That I don’t believe. Langston wouldn’t allow any of you to kill me. He wants to do that himself.”
Phoenix laughs and finally turns to look at me. “That he does, so I think it’s best we don’t talk about me. That way, neither of us has to kill the other.”
“What are you doing?” I nod toward her two glasses of drinks.
“I was instructed to meet you out here every night at sunset, drink a bottle of scotch with you, and try to get you to spill your secrets.”
I glance down. “That’s a bottle of tequila, not scotch.”
She scrunches up her face. “I’m not really a scotch fan, and I don’t really plan on getting any secrets out of you. But I figured I should at least attempt to do the job Langston gave me so I don’t get fired, unlike those idiots back at the house.”
I smirk as I rub the spot where the rope started to dig into my wrists. “Yea, I’m going to enjoy watching those assholes burn when Langston gets back.”
Phoenix grabs the tequila bottle and pours us both a shot.
Then she holds out a glass to me, waiting patiently for me to sit.
“Can you just sit and drink the tequila, so Langston can see that I tried on the security footage?”
“Fine, but only because I want the tequila.” I sit down on the sand next to Phoenix, who is still wearing jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt despite the heat.
I want to be nosy and ask her about it. I want to ask a lot of questions, but based on her appearance, the Langston employee uniform, she must really work for him. My guess is she’s a hacker who controls the security cameras. She’s probably been watching me this entire time.
Instead of talking, I throw my tequila shot down my throat, enjoying the fiery burn.
“How long have you known Langston?” Phoenix asks me.
I raise an eyebrow as I hold out my glass. She pours me another shot.
Apparently, she doesn’t know Langston and I’s story. Or if she does, she’s playing dumb.
“We met in high school,” I lie.
I take the second shot.
“What about you?”
“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” she replies.
I blink rapidly. There is no way Langston has known this woman since they were kids. I knew Langston back then. We used to hang out every day. I would have known this woman, too, if that were true. She’s lying just like I am.
“So you go way back. When did you start working for him?”
“Really? We are going to talk about boring topics when we could be trading dirt on Langston?” Phoenix smiles.
“Fine, tell me an embarrassing story from his childhood.?
??
Phoenix’s smile falters for just a moment before she starts talking. “We were eight. Langston crashed his bike racing me down a hill. He broke his arm and cried like a baby. I nicknamed him crybaby after that, and I’ve called him that ever since.”