she says, looking at Jack.
‘Are you at the apartment?’
‘No.’
‘Can you get there in thirty minutes?’
‘I guess so.’
‘See you in thirty minutes.’
‘That was him?’ Jack asks.
She nods. ‘I’ve got to go. I’l take a rain check on lunch with you, but I’m buying and we’re going somewhere nice.’
‘With his money?’
She doesn’t say anything. Of course it’s his money.
Her credit cards were maxed out before him.
‘Thanks, but no thanks. I understand why you’re doing what you’re doing, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to help spend his money. As far as I’m concerned it’s blood money—your blood. I’m not going to drink from it.’ She looks at him helplessly. ‘It’s not that bad. Don’t let it come between us, please,’ she begs.
‘Nothing will come between us. I’ll always be here for you and will be long after he is gone. I’m your brother.
No matter what happens, I want you to know I’m always here, a phone call away. You can always come to me.’
Tears spring into her eyes. She blinks them away.
‘What’s the name of that girlfriend of yours?’
‘Alison.’
‘Jesus, she’s lucky.’
He smiles. ‘You must tell her.’
‘When?’
‘You’ll see at Tom’s birthday party. I’m bringing her.’
She bites her lip. ‘If I am allowed to be there, I would love to meet her.’
His eyes narrow dangerously. ‘Are you some kind of sexual slave to him, Lana?’
Lana feels the hot color run up her neck. ‘No, but it’s the arrangement—I have to be there whenever he wants me.’Jack draws a sharp breath. ‘That is just sick,’ he fumes.
Lana covers her cheeks with her palms. ‘Please, Jack, leave it.’
‘You’re such a fucking innocent. Does your mother know about this pact of abuse you have signed up for?’
‘Of course she doesn’t, but it’s not abuse, Jack. It’s not exactly a hardship to sleep with the man that Hello!
magazine has called the most eligible bachelor in the world.’
‘So what does your mother think?’
Lana bites her lip. ‘She thinks I’ve got myself a rich boyfriend.’ She pauses. ‘You know I don’t believe in God.
All my life I’ve thought it’s a cruel god up there, if there is one at all, but you do, and your god is kind and forgiving.
Will you pray to your god to save my mother?’
‘I pray every day for your mum, Lana.’
The tears spill down her cheeks.
Sadly, he reaches out a hand and wipes them. ‘Don’t cry, little one. Maybe this treatment will work. Maybe she will get better.’
She smiles. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you, Jack. Sometimes when I am really sad I think of you studying in your dorm, and it makes me feel happy. “Dr Jack Irish, your next patient has arrived.”’
Jack smiles, but it is a sad smile.
‘I did what I had to do.’
Jack puts his hand on his forehead; his eyes are unexpectedly gentle. ‘All right, Lana. We’ll play it your way. Be safe and remember I’m here for you. Always. If ever it gets…strange or dangerous, call me immediately. I swear if he ever hurts you, I don’t care if I end up in prison, I’m going to punch his lights out.’
She nods. ‘I’ll be all right. It’s just sex,’ she says and he winces.
‘Please don’t say that again, Lana. It hurts my ears.’
‘I’ve not suddenly become Fat Mary, you know.’
‘Perish the thought,’ Jack says, the ghost of a smile flickering into his face.
‘I have to go now.’
He stands. ‘I’ll pop by and see your mum later.’
‘Thanks Jack. She’ll like that. She likes you. Do you know she thought you and I would get together?’
He makes a face. ‘Oh dear.’
She laughs. ‘I know. Goodbye, Jack.’
She moves forward, kisses him on his cheek and walks towards the entrance. As she crosses it her phone flashes with an incoming text.#p#分页标题#e#
Wear nothing.
She looks at the screen again. Wear nothing. And feels a stirring of excitement deep within her belly.
Eighteen
n the bathroom her eyes are smoky in the mirror. She Iundresses quickly and pulls on the bathrobe hanging behind the door. She still hasn’t got used to her hairless body. It seems too girlish, somehow, but she knows why he wants it so. Everything in his life is neat and tidy. Not a pubic hair out of place.
When she hears him in the corridor she freezes.