Focus Lost by Doug Cooper

Author:Doug Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2019-04-15T23:50:53+00:00

Chapter 15

Levi completes the hour and a quarter drive with Mara to his house in Malibu in forty minutes. Pulling up to the gate flooded with paparazzi, Mara says, “Do you want me to duck down or cover my face or anything?”

“Not unless you’re embarrassed to be seen with me,” Levi says, activating the code to open the gate. He navigates through the hyped-up horde, periodically slipping the car into neutral and revving the engine to keep them at bay. But that still doesn’t deter the questions.

“How old is this one?”

“Did you check her ID?”

“Do you make her call you daddy?”

Levi clears the gate and watches in his mirror to make sure no one sneaks through. He reaches over and cups her thigh again. Her skin dimples with excitement. He shakes his head, eyes still fixed on the reflection of the closing gate. “Sorry about that. Welcome to my world.”

She puts her hand on his. “I don’t mind. I’m the one next to you.”

Levi opens the garage and parks in the open space next to the Jeep. A BMW 3 series, and an older model Pontiac GTO fill the other two spots. He lifts his hand from her leg and turns his palm up. “I want to keep it that way so I’m going to need your phone from this point on. I’ll give it back to you on the way out. I hope you understand.”

She picks up the phone from between her legs. “Just let me send a message to the friends I was supposed to meet, so they know where I am.” She fires off a short message with the selfie from the gallery and deposits the phone in his hand. “There you go. All yours.”

Levi’s eyes flip between her and the phone. “Are you talking about you or the phone?”

“Considering the circumstances, I’d say both,” Mara says, suddenly calmer and more confident after surrendering all the power to Levi. She no longer has to think about what might transpire, only react to what is happening. Before, he could’ve ended things at any time. Now he is stuck with her. She accepts whatever consequences come with that because she is on the inside, and the rest of the world is on the outside.

Levi leads her through the garage into the foyer area that immediately opens up into an expansive great room, offering a view of the ocean through the back glass wall across the lawn and over the trees. Levi plucks a remote from a holder on the wall. The glass wall disappears. Sammy Davis Jr. singing “Mr. Bojangles” flows from all directions. A panel slides in the wall revealing a stocked bar. Mara stops in the middle of the room mesmerized by the view. Levi proceeds to the bar. “You want to stay with champagne or switch to something else?”

“I’m going to need something stronger,” Mara says. “You got any bourbon?”

“I’m more of a Tennessee-whiskey guy, but let’s see what they stock back here.” He goes behind the bar.

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