“He’s as good as anyone. Better than most, actually. He can’t hurt me and he’s a good listener.”
“I really wouldn’t know. I haven’t been on speaking terms with anyone holier than Jack Daniels in a while. But thank you for telling me all that. If anything, I’m even more relieved that you’re here in my truck and staying with me for a while. I do think this is all a bit crazy—”
“A bit?”
He laughs. “Maybe a lot. But I don’t regret it, Maia. I don’t. And I hope you don’t either.” He gives me a quick smile, one that lights up his face a bit, making him look less rugged and a little boyish. The type of smile that makes my insides squirm and my belly fill with butterflies.
It’s the kind of smile you return automatically, even knowing the danger a smile like that holds. Still… it feels impossible to resist. Sort of like him. Though I’m determined to try.
6
Keith
* * *
The moment we pulled past the gate and drove up my long, winding driveway, my heart started to race. Like the last twelve hours with this girl were something out of an alternate reality or a dream and now reality was setting in.
I brought a strange woman to live with me.
A woman who is broke and jobless and admittedly has so much debt she’s basically drowning in it. Add to that a fucking mob boss who threatened to take her and kill her if she didn’t pay with money she doesn’t have.
In what universe does this make any sense for me to do?
She could rob me blind and run.
Still, it’s like I told her. I haven’t found an ounce of regret in me.
I’ve been telling myself I would do this for any woman. That if it had been Viola or Naomi, I wouldn’t have hesitated. That I didn’t do this simply because she looks like… Amy. But deep down, I know there is something special about her. Something that hits me on a different level. Something I already know I need to lock down and ignore.
She’s too young. Too vulnerable. Too… untouchable.
“Have you ever heard the story of Pandora?” she asks as I drive up, her eyes on the trees and the grounds and finally on my house.
“Like Pandora’s box?”
“Yes. She is actually the Greek version of Eve. Did you know that?”
I shake my head no.
“Well, Prometheus gave fire to humans, which seriously pissed Zeus off and he decided to take vengeance. He ordered Hephaestus, another god, to create the first human woman out of soil and water. Then Zeus ordered each god to give the woman a gift. Athena gave her wisdom, Aphrodite beauty, Hermes cunning, and so on. In fact, the name Pandora means all gifts in Greek.”
She glances over at me as I park in the garage beside my two other cars that she eyes with a bit of awe. She doesn’t move to get out, and I can’t stop myself from listening. I shift to face her, and she does the same with me.
“But despite these incredible gifts, Zeus made her human and therefore flawed. This was intentional, mind you. Zeus was no fool. He gave Pandora a jar—”
“Jar?” I interrupt. “I thought it was a box.”
“That’s a common misconception. According to Hesiod, Zeus gave her a large jar. The jar became a box during the Renaissance when the word was mistranslated.”
“Huh. Okay.”
“Zeus commanded Pandora not to open the jar under any circumstances and sent her to Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from Zeus. However, Epimetheus took one look at Pandora and married her without question. You see, much like Pandora, he was unable to resist the temptation. Of course, shortly thereafter, Pandora opened the jar and released all evils upon the world. Hatred, war, death, hunger, sickness, and any disaster you can conjure up. As always, women are blamed as they are in the bible.”
“And why do I get the impression you’re equating me to Epi… whatever the fuck his name is?”
She giggles a little and I smile in return. “Epimetheus. And yes, you catch on quickly.”
“You’re worried I won’t be able to resist your temptation?”
Now she laughs. “No. I’m worried by taking me in, you’re about to unleash all the evils that come with me on your world simply because you’re inherently a good man tempted by an ancient heartache.”
Shit, if she didn’t just get my number on the first try.
“Pandora, there was no way I could leave you in that box you were living in. Let me be your Atlas and hold up your world for a while. Even if your world is filled with evils.”
She blinks at me, a bit stunned, and I toss her a wink, hopping out of my truck and slamming the door behind me.
“Greek mythology is my lady porn,” she calls out, and I laugh, coming around to her side of my truck to help her down.
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” I tell her as I point at the door to the house. I grab her suitcase and follow after her, staring at her ass and trying desperately not to because she might be right about that temptation thing more than she knows.
Especially as I open the door and she cautiously steps in, her gaze wandering and curious.
My house is a little different. It’s why I bought it and restored it actually.
It’s partially built into the side of a hill. The architecture is modern, open, angled with huge floor-to-ceiling windows that allow light and sun in but are tinted on the outside so no one can see in. The front is partially sustained on stilts and the back has a huge open patio and pool that I do laps in every morning when the weather cooperates.
It’s my oasis. My haven. The quiet respite that does not see or entertain the outside world of cameras, fans, or paparazzi.
And now she’s here changing the frequency of the air by adding a new pulse and tempo I can’t quite pinpoint but feel all the same.
“This is stunning,” she compliments softly, almost as if she’s speaking to herself and a smile curls up my lips.
“You must be dying for a shower and a nap. I sure as hell am. And some food. I’m starving. Life rule #27: Always eat and eat well whenever your body is hungry.”
“I don’t know what to focus on with that. The number or the fact that you have life rules to begin with.”
I shrug. “Everyone should, don’t you think?”
Now it’s her turn to shrug. “Number twenty-seven? How many life rules do you have?”
“More than I keep track of.” In truth, the numbers are arbitrary at this point. I came up with my life rules when I was a teenager. They’re what got me through when I didn’t think getting through was possible.
So yeah, I have a lot of life rules. And yeah, they keep me sane.
A lot of them have to do with my past.
With being the things that propels me forward. Food is one of them for reasons I won’t be explaining to her right now.
Besides, it’s practically midday already. She has to be hungry. Everything is fucked up.
I’m supposed to be at Jasper’s in a little more than an hour to work on some tracks, and there is absolutely no way that is going to happen.
“I guess.” She lets out a slightly incredulous laugh as she wanders deeper and deeper along the first floor. “In any event, all you mentioned sounds pretty good.” She spins on me suddenly, her dark eyes clear and assessing. “Do we need rules?” She waggles her finger back and forth between us.