He knocked and heard Claudia mutter, “Frig,” from the other side.
He waited impatiently until he saw her hazel eye peer into the peephole. He was relieved…sort of. On one hand, he wanted to give her an explanation of why his ex-girlfriend wouldn’t go away, and on the other hand, he had to walk a fine line between the literal truth and something that wouldn’t expose what he was.
She opened the door slowly and peeked around it.
“She’s not with me,” he said.
When Claudia opened the door wider, he added, “In any sense of the word,” and then he strode inside and closed the door behind him. When he reached for her, she took a step back.
In disappointed surprise, he let his arms drop. “What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m entitled to an explanation, and I don’t want to get distracted by your talented mouth and hands before I hear it.”
He smiled sadly and nodded, acknowledging the backhanded compliment.
Claudia plodded over to the armchair and gestured for him to sit on the couch. He wanted to sit closer so he could soothe her. Stroking her cheek or caressing her back might have helped, but apparently she knew his moves.
“I want to know about a number of things. First, why is she being such a pain in the ass? It can’t be just because she thinks she can break us up. What did she mean by ‘what you have can’t be broken’?”
Anthony let out a long sigh. The truth was about to get twisted. “In a way, we’re related.”
Claudia’s jaw dropped. “You’re what? Wait a minute… Are you married?”
“God, no.”
“Divorced, but she won’t accept it for religious reasons?”
Tempting, but he didn’t even want entertain the thought. “No.”
“Cousins? Isn’t that illegal?”
“It’s more distant than that.” Hey, I turned her in the distant past. That counts as distant.
“So, distant cousins. Can’t she just see you once a year at a family reunion?”
“You’d think, but for whatever reason, she wants it to be more.”
“Okay…that brings up another question. I never see you two during the day. Are you spending your days together?”
“Absolutely not!” He had already formulated an explanation using a rare genetic illness if she ever asked about the daylight thing. Now, perhaps he could use the “relatedness” to back it up. “My, er—‘family’ has a rare condition, and photosensitivity is a major problem for us.”
“Really? What’s the condition called?”
“Xeroderma pigmentosum.” He was proud of the fact that it rolled right off his tongue.
“Sounds made up.”
“It’s very real, I assure you. Cancer is about three hundred times more likely in those who have this condition. The best defense is no sunlight at all.”
Claudia’s hands flew to her cheeks. “Oh, no. How awful. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? Should I know what symptoms to look for?”
“No. I’ll be fine and you’re already helping. Because of you, I was able to flip my sleep schedule to daylight hours.”
She shook her head slowly. “Oh, my God. I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Anthony. No wonder you didn’t want to be bothered during the day—even with emergencies at work.” She rose and moved to sit beside him.
This is working better than I had hoped.
“Does Ruxandra have it too?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Oh, dear. Now I’m sorry I was mean to her.”
“Please, don’t be.”
“But she’s your relative and she has this terrible illness. I should invite her to have dinner with us sometime. Maybe just letting her know someone cares will help. She must think you’re the only one who understands…and she’s probably right.”
Oh, crap. That backfired. “No. I don’t want you anywhere near her. Sometimes, um, people with this condition become very volatile and violent.”
Claudia’s eyes rounded. “Does that mean that you…”
“No. Not at all. I have a mild form of the condition, and as long as I avoid all sun, it won’t get worse.”
“So Ruxandra’s condition is severe?”
“Yes. I’m afraid so.”
Claudia placed a hand over her heart and flopped back against the sofa cushions. “I feel so awful for her. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
He put on his saddest expression. “No. There’s nothing. I mean, I could institutionalize her, and at some point, I might have to…”
Claudia gasped. “Oh, my God. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Me too. Really, the best thing you can do is stay away from her.”
“So, you’re saying she won’t fly into rages if she’s not jealous?”
Uh-oh. Anthony had a feeling he didn’t like where this was going.
Claudia folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “Maybe we should break up. It’s the only way to make sure she stays calm.”
“No! Please don’t do that. I’ve put my life on hold too long as it is.” He pleaded with his eyes. “I want to live before I die.” Good Christ. Could I have laid it on any thicker? With every lie, he dug a deeper hole. He’d need to fix it so it wouldn’t collapse and bury him. “We don’t like to talk about it. I hope you can be discreet and tell no one. Don’t even mention it to Ruxandra if you see her. Having this disease makes her angry. Let’s not remind her of it.”
“I understand the anger. Having alcoholism made me angry at first, but talking about it at meetings really helps. You should consider letting her express her feelings.”
Shit. I should have known Claudia’s compassionate side would complicate things. This bullshit has gone too far. Fortunately he could mesmerize her and take it all out of her head. Then he’d just have to come up with some other explanation for Ruxandra’s behavior…if he could figure it out himself. So far all he could gather was that she was sociopathically obsessed with him. That in itself was concerning, but he’d just have to find another way to deal with it. He was sick of the blond bombshell ruining his life.
He turned to Claudia and held her gaze. Trying to mesmerize her before didn’t work, so I’ll have to really concentrate.
“There! It happened again,” she said.
He quickly glanced behind him while his eyes returned to normal. “What? I don’t see anything.”
“Your eyes. They changed color.”
He chuckled. “It must have been the light reflecting off my clothes or something.”
“Your shirt is white. Your pants are black.”
“Well, they could have been reflecting something else.”
She glanced all around. “The place is beige, but your eyes were brown, then shimmered gold, then turned purple, then blue. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Damn. Why did I paint the place with neutral colors?
Chapter 8
Anthony had talked Claudia into believing she was just very tired and ought to nap until she had to leave for her meeting. He said he’d wake her. He hoped she’d fall sound asleep and stay in for the evening. He could come up with an excuse for not waking her later.
Meanwhile, he had to research why his mesmerism wasn’t working. Maybe Kurt would know. He stepped into the hall and dialed Kurt’s number.
“Anthony. What’s up?”
“Are you busy?”
“Kind of. I’m in Cambridge. Nick and I might be getting close to locating the lab.”
“That’s great! What makes you think so?”
“We keep losing the trail over the Memorial Bridge, but at least we have a consistent direction. I believe it’s a matter of following a fresher scent. We might need your help when we finally find it.”