“About what?” she wanted to know. Aquilla didn’t want to talk. She wanted to read more. She needed to read more. She had to get out of there, somehow, someway, she had to. She was going to lose her mind.
“Life, my little Quill, life.”
Great.
Chapter 11
Aquilla didn’t want to talk to Seri about life. She wanted to find out where Julius was. She wanted to read more about what he was telling her. She waited until she heard the water across the hall before logging back on.
Her eyes glanced to Seri’s ringing phone. She would just peak at the screen and see who it was. Monica. Hmm. Should she?
“Hello,” she answered.
“Uh… Is Sarah there?”
“No, Seri is in the shower. This is her secretary.”
Monica laughed. “Sarah was right. You are quite the card. How are you? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I am great, and I have heard a lot about you too. You know Seri doesn’t really like you, don’t you? She told me so.”
Monica laughed again. “That’s okay. I don’t really like her much either. So I guess we are going to meet in a couple of days. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, me too,” she lied, rolling her eyes. “I can’t freaking wait to sit for an hour at a time, in silence with you.”
“Are you informing me that you are going to refuse to talk to me?”
“No. I’m just notifying you ahead of time that you may get pretty bored.”
“We’ll see. Can you tell Sarah to call me?”
“Only if you stop calling her Sarah, that name really doesn’t fit her.”
“I’ll try to remember that, and I will see you on Tuesday.”
“I can’t wait.”
Aquilla cracked the door when she thought she heard yelling from downstairs.
“You have no room to judge anyone,” Liz relatively yelled.
“Just go, Elizabeth. Forget that our daughter is home after all these years. Forget that she is scared to death and doesn’t know where she fits in. Go! Go Liz. Go fuck your teacher.”
“What would you like for me to do, Manny? The girl won’t even talk to me. Or did you just plan on me staying here and fucking you?”
Seri opened the bathroom door and stared at Aquilla across the hall. Were they really doing this? Maybe Aquilla was the mature one.
“The GIRL… is your daughter. The daughter that disappeared and caused your meltdown, remember that Liz? Do you remember any of those days?”
“Fuck you, Manny. I don’t need you here for your moral support. You’re free to go.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m not here for you. I’m here for my daughter, and furthermore, I haven’t wanted to fuck you in a very long time.”
“Stop it!” Seri demanded from the kitchen door. “She can hear every word you are saying,” she scolded the two teenagers. Really?
Shit, she was wearing a towel. Manny’s wandering eyes didn’t go unnoticed by either of the women. Liz grabbed her keys from the hook by the garage door with a snort and a shake of her head.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” she said, leaving her ex-husband alone with towel lady.
Seri wasn’t about to give him time to say anything. She turned and walked back upstairs, hoping like hell her ass was covered by the towel. It was, but barely. Manny uncannily watched her towel wrapped body walk back up. Yup, there was no doubt a spasm in his jeans. That’s what he wanted, just once. Shit, he needed to stop. Holy mackerel, Batman, he needed to stop.
“Seri, I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s fine. I get it,” Aquilla assured her as she watched her drop the towel and slide on panties. She was perfect. Aquilla couldn’t help but stare at how perfect she was.
“Having a little hint of nostalgia there, Quill,” Seri smirked. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t think of the girl like a 17 year old. She was way past her age, and Seri thought a lot of her. She was a friend. She cared about her wellbeing.
“Fuck you,” Aquilla retorted, turning her eyes away from her breasts.
Seri laughed. “I’m just kidding. I didn’t get mad when you said it.”
“Whatever, either smoke some more of that with me or leave me alone.”
“I’ll leave you alone. I have to go call my boss.”
“Oh, you’re supposed to call Monica too. She called while you were in the shower.”
“You answered my phone?”
“Yeah, I wanted to see whether or not she was going to be bearable.”
“And you’re conclusion?”
“She sounded pretty annoying on the phone, and she laughs too much. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
Seri didn’t ask what she said. She figured she would ask Monica herself. Damn, she needed clothes. She needed Monica to come now.
“I need something to wear,” Seri requested, searching through the three dirty shirts and two pair of slacks in her bag. She really didn’t want to wear the FBI shirt, walking around Aquilla’s parent’s home.
“Not really, you look better naked.”
“Stop it, Quill,” Seri warned with a stern look.
Aquilla laughed. She couldn’t help it. She loved tantalizing her. “I was just being nice.”
“You’re too much like me to be nice. Give me a shirt and some shorts or something.”
Aquilla rummaged through her own bag to find Seri something to put on. “How do you mean, I am like you?” she asked, tossing her a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt.
“You’re a bitch.”
Aquilla laughed. She took it as a compliment.
“I’m going downstairs to make a few calls. Do you want to come down?”
“No. Why would I?” Hell no. She wasn’t going downstairs. She was going to read more. It was driving her crazy and she hoped Seri stayed down there long enough for her to see if Julius gave her any clues as how to get to him.
Seri looked out the front door. Good, the media left, for the day, anyway. She was sure they would return the following morning. She walked out and sat on the porch swing and dialed her boss.
“It’s about time,” he answered. “Any news on the whereabouts of Julius Chavez?”
Seri rolled her eyes. “No, and I told you, she doesn’t know where he is.”
“I beg to differ. Have you gotten anywhere with her yet?”
“There is nothing to get. She doesn’t know anything. It’s stupid for me to stay here and torment her and myself. SHE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING.”
“Maybe Monica will get somewhere with her.”
“Monica is coming to help her with the transition. She’s not coming to interrogate her.”
“If Monica can pull any helpful information from her, I’ll take it.”
“She can’t disclose that. It’s against Quills rights.”
“This isn’t your back yard shrink, Sarah. This is the real life. She’s not transitioning from mommy and daddy getting a divorce. She was involved with a major drug cartel.”
“She wasn’t involved in anything. They never told her about any of that.”
“So she says. I, myself, find it very hard to believe that she lived in the same house and knows nothing. You of all people should get that.”
Seri closed her eyes and shook her head. It was pointless. He was impossible. “Why the hell did you go and let Malone call the media. They’ve been camped out here all day.”
“What did you expect? She’s a recovered kidnapped victim. Of course it was going to get out.”
“It didn’t have to. He did it for his own glory.”
“Are you getting soft on me, Sarah?”
“No. Forget it. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Yeah, sure.”