JP JUMPED FROM the couch at the first sign of their guest. He grabbed his coat off the nearby chair and flung it on over his worn black T-shirt. He pulled two leather gloves from the left pocket and slipped them over his hands. He moved fast, but Jenny could see his hands shaking ever so slightly.
She stayed still, sitting on the couch with perfect posture, watching JP and listening to the car approaching outside.
“Relax,” JP whispered to her as he moved behind the couch. “Everything is going to be OK.” Then he disappeared.
The headlights cut out, and the outside world went silent again. Jenny curled her hands into tight fists at her sides. She stared toward the front door, wishing JP was still sitting beside her. She knew he was close, but she felt alone.
Footsteps hit the front porch and echoed through the house. The wood was old, and each step from outside unleashed a piercing creak.
Jenny’s heart was pounding; each beat made her whole body twitch. She had never felt this way before, even with Linda. It was the suspense, the waiting.
Their guest knocked twice.
Jenny could throw up if she allowed herself to. The line between voluntary and involuntary body movements was blurred. Three more knocks came, same rhythm but with more force. Jenny didn’t budge.
“Answer the door,” JP said from behind the couch with little volume but a lot of pressure. She could hear him, but his words didn’t penetrate her fog.
“Jenny!” He punched his fist against the back of the couch, the force pushing through the cushion and reaching her. It jolted her enough to snap the trance.
The skinny young girl in the white-and-pink nightgown and hair full of barrettes pushed her tight fists against the couch, giving her the leverage to get to her feet. She stood for a moment, her surroundings clouded, all sounds dulled.
She walked toward the door, the floor inside providing its own soundtrack. Jenny wrapped her hand around the knob. Her nail polish had chipped at some point during the night, but this was the first time she noticed. Linda hated chipped nail polish. She said there was nothing trashier. The image of her mother hit Jenny hard. She had already been through so much.
She could see his car in the driveway through the window, but he was hidden behind the door, obstructed, invisible, maybe somehow not actually there. She twisted the knob and pulled open the front door. There he stood, uglier than she remembered. His hair was greasy, but combed backward like every hair was fleeing his face. He wore a yellow button-down shirt that looked two sizes too big for him tucked into straight-leg jeans. He was holding a teddy bear and a carton of six dark pink drinks, straight out of a nightmare.
“This is for you,” Gil said, extending the teddy bear toward her.
“Thank you,” Jenny managed.
“May I come in?” he asked when Jenny failed to offer. She nodded and stepped backward, allowing him space.
Gil looked around the living room. “Is this your house?”
“No.”
“Are we alone?”
“Yes,” she said, watching his movements carefully. She had to keep him in front of the couch.
“Would you like a drink?” He lifted the six-pack of wine coolers in the air.
“No, thank you.”
“They’re really good and will help you relax.” He started moving toward the kitchen, the counter in direct view of JP.
“OK,” Jenny blurted out to stop him. “But bring them over here to the couch.”
Gil seemed pleased with her change of heart and altered his trajectory like she’d hoped he would.
Jenny sat on the couch first. She clenched her legs together and rested her hands on her knees in an attempt to keep herself guarded.
Gil sat down next to her as he placed the drinks on the coffee table. He pulled a bottle from the carton, twisted off the top, and handed it to her. Then he did the same for himself.
“You cut your hair,” he said as he relaxed back into the couch, placing his right arm along the back, his hand resting just behind Jenny’s head.
“Yeah,” Jenny said, lifting the drink to her mouth but using her tongue to prevent any liquid from going into her mouth.
“And your face.” He examined the cuts. “Is someone hurting you?”
“No. Just an accident,” she explained.
He waited a moment to see if she would admit to a different tale, but she was striving to say as little as possible and remained silent.
“The necklace.” He noticed it, taking the heart charm between his two fingers, his knuckles brushing against her chest. “I’m so glad you kept it.”
Jenny tried her best to force a smile.
“I’m happy you reached out to me again,” he said, releasing the necklace and returning his arm to the back of the couch. “I really hated how our first meeting went.” He slid his hand forward just enough to run his fingers along Jenny’s short hair. She cringed, and he frowned.
“Sorry,” she said. “I hate my new haircut.”
“You look beautiful.” His eyes traced from her face to her knees as he said it. He drew his arm back down and moved it toward her legs.
Jenny spread her fingers across her knees, ready to hold them together with all of her strength.
He pinched the pink ruffled edge of her nightgown between his thumb and forefinger, moving them together to feel the fabric. “This is cute,” he said. “I really like it.”
Jenny stared down at his fingers, praying for them not to get any closer.
“I wasn’t sure what to wear,” said Gil. “How did I do?”
Jenny moved her line of sight from his hands to his face. His big brown eyes looked young and innocent, which was so deceiving. His eyebrows were thick and unruly and looked like two mini versions of his mustache. Gil’s acne scars were so pronounced, even with his dark complexion. His adolescence must have been torture.
“You look nice,” she said, almost pitying him.
Gil smiled and released her nightgown. The immediate relief Jenny felt disappeared almost as quickly as it came when his full palm landed on her thigh. He rubbed it back and forth, soft at first, then firmer. Each back-and-forth pushing a little farther.
“Do you have the money?” she blurted out as the base of his palm reached the edge of her underwear.
His hand paused. “Jenny …”
“We had a deal, and I just want to make sure you’re going to hold up your end,” she said in the longest sentence she had strung together since he arrived.
Gil removed his hand and sighed. “You are sounding like a little prostitute.”
“This was your idea. Why are you getting upset?”
“Do you think I am proud of this? I don’t want to think about it. Can’t we just pretend this isn’t a transaction? You will get your money, just don’t make me think about it, OK?”
Jenny didn’t know what to say. He had a sick and pathetic point, and she was nervous to push him further on the issue. But what if there was no money? She had to see the money.
“I’m really sorry, but I need to see the money. Just show it to me and then I won’t say another word. We can enjoy our drinks and our night together.”
“Why are you doing this?” Gil raised his voice. “Just stop.” He put his wine cooler on the table and turned his body toward her. He grabbed her drink and slammed it next to his. Hers was still so full that liquid sloshed out of the top.
He put his hands on her knees and scooted toward her. “It’s up to you how this goes. I want this to be special and gentle. It will be better that way.”
His hands jumped to her hips, and he pulled her close. Jenny didn’t fight back or give in. Her body became an inanimate object. Her chest was near his, but her head hung back. He leaned forward and kissed her.
Jenny stopped breathing. His mustache was rough, and tiny hairs stabbed her upper lip. It was nothing like JP’s soft face. He pushed her down onto her back. His hands slid up her sides, and just as he was about to reach her breasts, she flung her head to the side.
“JP!” she screamed.
Gil froze. He looked to her for an explanation. His eyes grew. His lips closed to form a word, but before he could speak, the weight of him on top of her was gone.
JP was above her for an instant before he ran to the other side of the couch, machete tightly gripped in his hand.
Jenny raised herself up onto her elbows to get a better view of the action below her.
Gil rolled to his side in an attempt to get up, still processing what had happened. JP threw his leg over Gil’s midsection, driving his knee into his rib cage, preventing him from lifting his upper half.
JP shoved the machete toward Gil’s throat, leaving half an inch of wiggle room. Gil’s eyes crossed as he tried to focus on the sharp weapon capable of ending his life.
“Where’s the money?” JP demanded, but Gil didn’t respond.
JP slapped him across the face with his free hand. “The money, you fucking pervert. Where’s the money?”
Tears welled in Gil’s dopey brown eyes. He was scared. Jenny didn’t know what to think. She hadn’t expected him to be so human. Monsters are supposed to be monsters. He was just so pathetic, everything about him. She wanted him to hand over the money and get the hell out of there, having learned a valuable lesson.
JP clenched his hand around Gil’s neck, steadying the man so that he could move the machete closer to his throat. There was fire in JP’s eyes, a mix of rage and fear. Jenny had never seen that in him before. There was a hint of it when he grabbed Mallory, but not like this. He was usually so calm, like he knew the secret to life.
JP touched the machete to Gil’s neck. It was too close for Jenny and, in her opinion, the worst way to get Gil to talk. She eased forward on the couch, closer to them but not enough movement to startle either one. She raised her right hand and stretched it in slow motion toward JP. He twitched slightly to catch her in his periphery, but said nothing.
She guided her hand the rest of the way until it touched JP’s forearm, inches from where he grasped the machete. His gaze remained on Gil, but he didn’t resist her touch. Jenny wrapped her fingers around his arm, pulling it back and allowing breathing room between the blade and Gil’s throat.
JP continued to tremble. Jenny slid from the couch to her knees on the floor next to him. She placed her other hand on JP’s shoulder as if she could transfer a sense of tranquility through her fingertips. With both of her hands on him, she felt his shoulders relax. Jenny sighed. Now they could negotiate and get what they needed from Gil.
Or not.