Beware of Boys (18 page)

“Wow, my sister must be real important. What's your boyfriend doing here?” he asked, then turned and walked down the hall.

“Liam? What are you doing here?” Charly finally managed, speaking to herself, and zipping behind M
kel.

Liam stood watching her. With each step she made closer to him, his eyes grew and a look of disbelief became a stare of horror. She hadn't made it all the way to the group before he bounded to meet her. Two feet in front of her, he stopped. His hands were in the air as if he were confused about being under arrest. “Charly love . . . what happened?” he asked, concerned and angry. His palms were still up. “Where were you?”

Charly smiled. “Do I look that bad?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Don't answer. I got us—me and M
kel—stuck in the desert, probably totaled his hundred-thousand-dollar-plus rental car, which I have to pay for, then got us lost after I promised him I knew where I was going.” She cheesed, big and wide. “And when it rains, it pours—literally, no cliché. That's why I'm drenched and dirty,” she explained. “Why are you here? How'd you know where to come?”

Loud noise came from down the hall, stealing Charly and Liam's attention. She snaked her neck around him to get a good look, and was shocked by what she saw. M
kel had lost his cool. He was yelling and pointing at Lex and Faizon, while Coop leaned against a wall behind them wearing a weird look. Eden stood between them, holding M
kel back.

“And you want to know why I'm here?” Liam asked facetiously, indicating the altercation going on down the hall. “Well, that's why. That and you being on drugs is what made me hop the first flight I could get out of New York. Not to mention, I was supposed to be here in two days anyway. That's when the rest of the crew's coming.”

“What?” She reared back her head. “Who's on drugs? What are you talking about, Liam? I've never done drugs in my life, unless you count sugar. That's the biggest drug on the planet.”

“Get off me, Eden,” she heard M
kel's voice belt out. “I'm sorry, E. I didn't mean to raise my voice at you. You know how I feel about violence and females. I'm against it. I'm going to check on Bobsy,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Charly watched as M
kel disappeared into a room she assumed belonged to Bobsy, then looked at Liam. “See what I'm talking about? I wasn't in danger—he's just the opposite of danger,” she began, then changed her tune when Liam shot her a look. “Back to the drugs?”

Liam laughed. “Serious, love? You told me you were high when I called. That someone had given you something, put something illegal in your juice.”

Now it was Charly's turn to laugh. Liam had misunderstood their conversation. He'd mistaken her having an energy rush from drinking too much of Lex's juice for her being slipped some kind of drugs, which definitely was not the case, and that was exactly what she was explaining when they were interrupted by M
kel, who'd walked up minutes later.

“S'up?” He nodded to Liam, then looked into Charly's eyes. “Pardon me, Charly. Earlier, when I told you I chose and fought for you, I just want you to know I did that because you're excellent at what you do and from your other shows, I could tell your heart is in a good place. I listened—I mean, really listened—to you earlier when we were alone, and you giving away your purse to that girl, well, that confirmed it for me. I believe you were doing this for the right reasons. And you were kinda right.” He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed intently as if they were the only two people in the world. “So what I'm doing now is not because of you—I want you to know that. My desires are much bigger than you said, but I avoid trouble.” He put on an obviously false smile, stepped back, and began walking backward, still facing Charly. “You can keep the shirt. It looks better on you than it did on me.” He turned and disappeared down the hall and exited through a door.

“What happened?” Charly almost yelled, walking away from Liam and down the hall toward the group.

“I'll tell you what happened,” Lex growled, then shook his head. He looked at Faizon, then at Coop and locked eyes with him. He put his head down, then ran one hand over his hair, and turned around. He held up one finger. “I'm out! I need to run or something, knock out some of this frustration on a heavy bag, 'cause if I get in the ring, I'll hurt one of my trainers. Really bad. I don't wanna do that. Eden, Charly . . . I'll see you two at the camp.” He turned toward Faizon. “Are you riding, Faizon? Coop?”

Faizon reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring. “I got a rental, Golden Boy. And Coop's hopping on a bus headed to Cali, so I'm dropping him off on my way to the airport. We'll get up later, a'ight?” he said, then gave Lex a brotherly hug.

Lex nodded, then gave Coop a head nod. “Sorry, Coop. I tried. You know I did.” He turned and walked opposite of the way that M
kel had gone. “Let's go, Whip!” Whip scurried behind.

Faizon wore a frown that looked permanent. He grunted in frustration, then looked to Charly. He shrugged. “Pass me your phone so I can put my contact info in . . . just in case.” Charly handed him her phone, and tried to piece together the broken puzzle of her day. She didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was, it was amiss. He handed her the cell, then pecked her on the cheek. “All right, mama. I guess I'll get up with you later. Another time, maybe another project.” He turned away from her. “You ready, Coop?”

“What? What are you talking about? What happened?” Charly quizzed Faizon, then looked at Eden for explanation when he answered with silence.

Eden lost all her professional demeanor and just shrugged. “M
kel isn't doing the project anymore, and Lex said he's quitting too. That's all I can say, Charly. There's a confidentiality clause in my contract. Sorry.” She shrugged. “But I can talk to him—Lex, that is—and maybe change his mind.” Eden teared up and dabbed her eyes. “But I can't leave you again. Look what happened to you when we rushed up here. Sorry, but I had to go . . . Bobsy.”