The Great Escape полностью

The old Lucy would have volunteered to help, but Viper had no intention of being Temple Renshaw’s personal assistant. She pointed out the linen closet with its piles of mismatched sheets and left them to fend for themselves.

Once she got downstairs, she put away the groceries from her backpack and told herself this just might work. As she cleaned up some dirty dishes, she heard Temple’s voice coming from the hallway. “Really, Panda, you don’t have to do that.” The entreaty in her voice aroused Lucy’s curiosity. She peeked out.

They stood by the front door, where Panda was riffling through Temple’s purse, a luxurious black satchel with heavy silver hardware. Temple fingered the neck of her tunic. “Honestly, Panda, there’s no need. I’m clear about what I came here to do.”

“Then you must have overlooked this.” He pulled out a bar of Toblerone chocolate.

Temple tilted her head and gave him a wide smile. “Congratulations. You passed your first test. This is exactly why I’m paying you a ridiculous amount of money to work for me this summer.”

He tore off the wrapper and bit a big chunk from the end. “Don’t bullshit me, Temple.”

Temple glued her eyes to the candy bar, her smile disappearing. Even from a distance, Lucy could feel her craving. He took another bite and slowly chewed, savoring every morsel, an act of such monumental cruelty he’d surely be damned forever. “Anything I find,” he said, “you’re going to watch me eat.”

Temple was furious. “I don’t have to put up with this!”

“Save your breath.” The last of the chocolate disappeared into his mouth. He wadded up the wrapper and shoved it in his pocket. “Open your suitcases.”

“There’s nothing inside that shouldn’t be there,” she declared.

“Let’s hope that’s true.”

It wasn’t. Panda found another large chocolate bar. Even for a big man, it was a lot of chocolate, but he consumed every bite. Temple was furious. “You don’t have to be such a prick.”

“You didn’t hire me for my warm personality. You knew this wasn’t going to be a picnic.”

“Fine.”

She started to whip past him, but he caught her arm. “Do I need to search you, too?”

She reached into the pocket of her slacks and sneered, “Tic Tacs. They’re perfectly harmless, and I’ve had enough of this.”

“It’ll only hurt for a minute.”

She gave a hiss of outrage as he began running his hands down her body. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Give it a rest.” He whipped a pack of Skittles from her other pocket, then grabbed the Tic Tacs for good measure. “Compassion’s for losers. Isn’t that what you always say on TV?”

“I’m not paying you seventy-five thousand dollars to lecture me!”

Seventy-five thousand dollars? Lucy couldn’t believe it. She wondered what her parents had paid, then thought of her thousand-dollar bribe and what a laugh-fest that must have given him.

“Not a lecture,” he said. “An observation.” Apparently his stomach had reached its limit because he shoved the Skittles in his own pocket along with the chocolate wrappers, then closed her suitcases. “I’ll carry these upstairs for you.”

“Don’t bother!” She grabbed them away and hauled them up the stairs.

“Seen enough?” Panda said, his back still turned to the door where Lucy lurked.

“Still trying to absorb it all,” she replied. “The two of you are a real riot.”

He briefly inspected the spot once occupied by the baker’s rack. “You can leave anytime you want. As a matter of fact, why haven’t you?”

Because this was her house. “Because I’m still punishing myself for my bad judgment in people.” She disappeared back into the kitchen.

It was only four o’clock, but she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so she heated up a skillet, added some oil, and tossed in one of the pork chops she’d picked up in town. It would have tasted better on the grill, but she’d thrown that rusty mess out last week.

The pork chop had just begun to sizzle nicely when Panda, still dressed in his businessman’s attire, shot into the kitchen. He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around the handle of the skillet, and stalked out the back door.

“Hey!” She raced after him as he strode across the yard. “Bring back my pork chop!”

He flipped open the lid of the garbage can next to the garage, flicked his wrist, and sent her pork chop tumbling to its death. “No cooking unless it’s something Temple can eat, too.”

“No cooking? What do you mean, no cooking!”

“The smell was going through the house. She’s supposedly doing a cleanse, and you’re not going to torture her.”

“Me! You gulped down a thousand calories in front of her!”

“Natural consequences. What you’re doing is different.”

She threw up her hands. “I don’t believe you!”

His mouth twisted. “Maybe you’d better call Mommy and have her send in the SEALs to protect you.”

Had she really kissed this man? Let him—let him—do that? Viper was beyond pissed, and she pointed a chipped charcoal fingernail right in his face. “You,” she said, “are going to pay.” And off she went.