The Survivors Club by J. Carson Black Page B

quicken.
    “Hey,” he said, grabbing her arm. “What’s the hurry?”
    “I have to get home.”
    He got up close to her. Infringing on her space, his face looming over hers. “What’s the matter? You seem spooked.”
    He looked puzzled, but Brayden knew his puzzlement was a fake. Like everything else about him.
    “I have to go.” She dug into her purse for the alarm remote. What if he accosted her here in the parking lot?
    She heard him jog a couple of steps to keep up with her. His breath on her neck as he touched her arm again.
    She said, “Look. I have a boyfriend—”
    “No you don’t.” He grinned his crooked grin, his face close. “Don’t you want to know where I saw you?”
    “What?”
    “Where I saw you.”
    She shook her head. “I’ve got to go.”
    “Atlanta. Ring any bells?”
    Her heart seized up for a second. “That wasn’t me. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Okay,” he said. “I wasn’t there. Maybe it wasn’t you, but you know what I’m talking about.” He leaned in close to her. “We have a lot to talk about.”
    She managed to pull away. Fumbled at the remote button, unlocked the car.
    As she slid onto the seat he rested his arm on the roof. “We really should talk.”
    She turned the key to the ignition but it didn’t seem to catch so she turned it again—the grinding clash of gears shrieked across her nerves. But the engine was running. She put the car in gear and it lurched forward. Barkman stepped back.
    Brayden floored it, and watched him in the rearview mirror.
    He was laughing.

CHAPTER 10
    Tess at home: Feed the cat. Decide what to eat for dinner. Watch the sun set from her porch swing, watch the lights wink on in the house across the way.
    Before she figured out which frozen dinner to heat up in the microwave, the phone rang.
    She knew it was him even before she saw the readout.
    Max said, “I miss you .”
    “I miss you.”
    “I miss you more.”
    Tess said, “God, we’re annoying.”
    “We should live in the same place,” Max said. “Then we wouldn’t be annoying.”
    “You can move in with me. You want me to call the moving van company?”
    “Sure. Can you put up the cast and crew?”
    Tess looked around. The living room to her rented house was small, and the kitchen was smaller. “It’ll be tight. We’d have to stack them like cordwood.”
    “They’re used to it. The orgies.”
    “I forgot.”
    “How can you forget? Hosting orgies—it’s one of my best assets.”
    “I thought your strong chin was your best asset.”
    “Nah, it’s gotta be the orgies. Unless it’s my entourage.”
    “You have an entourage?”
    “Okay. I don’t have an entourage. I’m down to one lonely, dorky guy—all I’ve got is my sidekick.”
    Tess smiled. By now she’d seen most of his movies. Max’s characters always had a sidekick. All of Max’s sidekicks were a little on the homely side, but lovable. She said, “Is he lovable? Does he have soulful eyes?”
    “How would I know? I’m a guy.”
    “But he’s your wingman.”
    “Guess you could call him that.”
    “Is he secretly in love with me?”
    “Oh, yeah. You know the type. Guy’s always moping around, just hoping to get a glimpse of you. I guess he still thinks he has a shot.”
    “He doesn’t. Even though you don’t really appreciate me the way you should, and your sidekick …” Tess fished around and came up with: “Marshal.”
    “Marshal?”
    “Marshal.”
    “You sure?”
    “That’s his name.”
    “I would have named him Ned, but okay. Marshal worships you from afar. He gets to know the real you, because I’m too busy squiring famous actresses to events to notice the love of my life right under my nose.”
    “It’s true—poor Marshal and I spend most of our downtime together.”
    “Meanwhile,” Max said, “I go on my merry way, doing my own thing, not knowing that every day in every way I’m—”
    “Breaking my heart?”
    Silence.
    Tess wished she