Thirty days before the Great Scorch

Chapter Seven

The second Daniel disappeared down the hallway toward the restroom, the masks came off. Gavin grabbed Vivian's wrist under the table and pulled her close, his voice dropping to a hiss that barely carried past the edge of their plates.

"We're losing him. You saw his face. He didn't even react when you touched his hand. A month ago, that would have had him stuttering like a lovesick puppy. Something changed."

Vivian yanked her wrist free and rubbed it, her lips pressed thin. "I know something changed. I'm not blind, Gavin. He barely looked at me the whole dinner. He used to stare at me like I was the only woman on the planet."

"Then you need to give him more. A lot more." Gavin's eyes were hard and calculating, the kind of look a man gets when he is watching money walk out the door. "You need to make him think he has a real chance with you. Not someday. Not maybe. Now."

Vivian stared at him, her jaw tightening. "You want me to lead him on? Like actually pretend to be a loving wife?"

"I want you to do whatever it takes to keep twenty million dollars from getting on an RV and driving to California." Gavin's voice was low and sharp. "Think about it. He's been obsessed with you for years. All you have to do is throw him a bone. Tell him you're starting to have feelings. Tell him you were slow to warm up. He'll eat it out of your hand like a starving dog."

Vivian was quiet for a few seconds. Her fingers traced the rim of her water glass while something shifted behind her eyes. She was not just thinking about the plan. She was thinking about Gavin. About his tiny apartment. About his secondhand car. About how after two years together, the most expensive thing he had ever bought her was a pair of earrings from the clearance rack at the mall.

Twenty million dollars. That was a lot of earrings.

"Fine." Her voice was flat but her eyes were steady. "I'll do it. But you better not get jealous. Because if I'm doing this, I'm doing it right."

Gavin's jaw flexed. Something ugly moved across his face for half a second before he buried it under a stiff smile.

"I won't get jealous. This is business."

But his fingers were curled into fists under the table, and his nails were digging into his palms hard enough to leave marks.

In the restroom, Daniel leaned against the wall next to the paper towel dispenser and lit a cigarette. He was not in a rush. Every minute he made those two wait was a minute their anxiety multiplied. He could picture them out there right now, heads together, whispering, scheming, sweating. The thought made him smile around the filter.

He smoked the whole cigarette down to the butt, crushed it out, washed his hands slowly, and walked back to the table at the pace of a man who had nowhere to be and nothing to lose.

When he sat down, Vivian's entire energy had shifted. Her back was straighter. Her eyes were softer. She had leaned slightly toward his side of the table, her body angled away from Gavin like he was a stranger she happened to be sitting next to.

"Daniel, while you were gone, I was thinking about what you said. About not wanting to stay married."

Her voice was warm and a little shaky, like someone confessing something they had been holding back for a long time. "And I realized that maybe part of the reason you feel that way is because of me."

Daniel raised one eyebrow but said nothing.

"I know I've been cold to you, even since the wedding. I know I never really gave you my heart when you told me how you felt." She lowered her eyes, her lashes casting soft shadows on her cheeks. "The truth is, I was scared. I didn't know how to deal with someone who cared about me that much. But lately, I've been realizing that maybe I do have feelings for you. I was just too slow to see it."

The performance was flawless. If Daniel had not already died once at this woman's hands, he might have believed every single word.

"Is that right?" Daniel's tone was casual, almost bored. He picked up the menu and flipped it open. "Hey, Gavin, since you're treating tonight, let's order big. Eight pounds of the premium firewood chicken. The one with the truffle glaze. And two bottles of the imported beer."

Gavin's smile froze on his face. Eight pounds of premium chicken at this place was over twelve hundred dollars. Combined with the beer, the bill was going to rip a hole through his wallet that would take two paychecks to fill.

"Sure, bro. Whatever you want." Gavin's voice was cheerful but his left eye was twitching like it had its own heartbeat.

Daniel turned back to Vivian, his expression shifting to something more serious.

"Vivian, if you really have feelings for me, then I need you to be honest about something."

"Anything." She reached for his hand again, her fingers warm and deliberate.

"What about Gavin?"

"What about him?" Vivian blinked, her face a perfect picture of confusion.

"You two are close. Really close. If I'm going to believe you have feelings for me, I need to know where he stands. Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you two are more than just coworkers."

The table went very still.

Gavin's back stiffened like someone had shoved an iron rod down his shirt. Vivian's fingers tightened around Daniel's hand for just a fraction of a second.

"Gavin?" Vivian let out a small laugh, the kind women use when they want to make something sound ridiculous. "Daniel, come on. Gavin is like a brother to me. Nothing more."

"Then prove it." Daniel's eyes locked onto hers. "If he's just a brother, tell me honestly. If you had to choose between him and me, right now, who would you pick?"

Vivian's mouth opened and then closed. She glanced at Gavin for a split second, then turned back to Daniel with the full weight of her actress smile.

"You. Obviously." Her voice didn't waver. "Daniel, Gavin is a good friend, but let's be real. He's not exactly the kind of man a woman dreams about. He's five foot seven on a good day. His face looks like someone drew it in a hurry and forgot to add the chin. And he dresses like he's still shopping from his college wardrobe."

Every word landed on Gavin like a hammer blow to the chest.

His face went white. Then red. Then a color that did not have a name, something between purple and gray, like meat that had been left out too long.

"Compared to you?" Vivian continued, her voice getting sweeter with every sentence, completely oblivious or completely uncaring about the man sitting three feet to her left. "You're tall. You're good-looking. You have a future. Gavin is a nice guy, but he's the kind of man you settle for when you've given up. You're the kind of man a woman actually wants."

Gavin's fists were clenched so tight under the table that his arms were shaking. His teeth ground together with enough force to crack a walnut. Every cell in his body screamed at him to stand up, flip the table, and tell Vivian exactly what he thought of her right now.

But twenty million dollars kept him glued to his chair.

Twenty million dollars made him swallow every word, every insult, every ounce of humiliation like a dog choking down a bone it could not digest.

Daniel watched the whole thing with the calm, quiet satisfaction of a man watching two rats fight over cheese that was already poisoned.

"That's sweet, Vivian." Daniel picked up his beer and took a long sip. "I appreciate the honesty."

Vivian smiled at him, warm and confident, already convinced that she had him back on the hook. In her mind, Daniel was still the same lovesick fool he had always been. A little harder to reel in, maybe, but still stupid enough to fall for a pretty face and a soft voice.

She had no idea that every word she just said had been pulled out of her by design. That Daniel had baited the trap, set the hook, and reeled her in without her feeling a single tug on the line.

Gavin sat in silence, his jaw locked, his eyes burning holes into the tablecloth. He could not look at Vivian. He could not look at Daniel. He could only stare straight ahead and remind himself over and over that this was temporary. That the money would make it all worth it. That one day, he would be the one laughing.

Daniel stood up from the table and stretched, his body loose and relaxed, looking very satisfied with his meal. "I'm going to step outside for some air. You two figure out the bill."

He walked toward the door, and behind him, Gavin finally looked up. His eyes followed Daniel's back with the kind of hatred that festers in silence and grows teeth in the dark.

Vivian leaned over and whispered, her voice so casual it could have been discussing the weather. "Stop pouting. It worked. He's staying. That's all that matters."

Gavin turned to her slowly, his face still that strange bruised color, and his voice came out in a whisper so quiet it barely moved the air between them. "If you ever say anything like that about me again, in front of anyone, I will make you regret it more than he ever could."

Vivian's smile did not flicker. She picked up her glass and sipped her water, unbothered, already thinking three moves ahead. "Relax, baby. He's just a clueless little puppy. He doesn't suspect a thing."

Outside the restaurant, Daniel leaned against the brick wall with his hands in his pockets and looked up at the Denver sky. A slow, cold smile spread across his face.

Two rats. One trap. And the cheese was already starting to rot.