The morning after the pool house affair, Belle was preparing a big breakfast, dressed in dark green yoga pants, which was doing extra wonders for her shapely rear.
"Morning bud, hope your date went well!" Adam greeted me from his seat on the dining counter, right next to Vi.
Belle turned my way, plating foods onto dishes. "Morning Ken. This is Vi, my best friend who lives in Paris. She's the one I mentioned that's staying over."
"So good to finally meet you, Ken. I'm Violette!" She extended her hand for me to shake.
So weird that this was officially the first time I was meeting Vi. Felt like I knew so much about her already.
Uncle Artie soon joined us in the kitchen, looking groggy and jet lagged.
"Morning sleepyhead." Belle started fixing him a plate.
"Morning. Hey Vi, Adam. Nice to see you two." My uncle sat next to me, looking desperate for caffeine.
"Welcome home, Artie. How was your business trip?" Vi asked.
"Not my best week. Deal broke down. My business partner's pissed I flubbed it." My uncle tried to laugh off his work-related debacle, not wanting to saddle others with his stress. "Anyway, what are you two up to today?"
"Thinking about bringing Vi to that Murakami exhibit later," Adam said. "Have you seen it yet?"
"Yeah, Belle and I went last month. You two will enjoy it. You can take my red Benz."
"Appreciate that brother!" Adam bowed his head with namaste hands.
I observed Uncle Artie and Adam's friendly interaction. My uncle might've preferred to drive his red Mercedes into Adam's knees, if he only knew what the latter and Belle had gotten up to last night.
Belle, looking not the least bit guilty, arrived at my uncle's side to deliver him a full breakfast and an espresso.
Uncle Artie kissed her bare shoulder. He noticed her attire, eyes lingering on her ass. "Yoga today?"
"Yep," she replied. "Meeting up with Rita first. I'm planning a dinner next Wednesday. It'll be a nice thank you to the crew, after my shoot that day. Gonna host it at her house."
"My fiancé, so generous." My uncle doted on her.
"What about you, babe?" Belle asked. "I know you're disappointed your deal collapsed. But don't worry about Viktor, he'll get over it. You shouldn't sulk at home all day."
"You're right. I'll call Ox and Frank, see if they're free later to lift weights or something." Uncle Artie turned his attention to me. "And how about you, Ken, whatcha got going on?"
I was distracted. In my periphery, I could see Uncle Artie slyly groping Belle's ass over her yoga pants.
"Um," I said, "I was thinking of going to a coffee shop after breakfast to work on my resume. I haven't been getting a lot of responses from companies."
"Babe, massage higher." Belle moved my uncle's wandering hand onto her lower back.
"Sore?" Uncle Artie said.
"Hoping yoga today will help. I think I tweaked my back a little last night."
Gee Belle, I wonder how
. Images of Belle vigorously riding Adam flashed through my head.
Uncle Artie faced me. "Ken, I'm still kinda beat from my flight. Maybe Belle can drive you to a coffee shop."
"Love to!" Belle smiled my way. "Ken, let's leave in half an hour."
"Make it a full 60!" Uncle Artie said. "After breakfast, I'm giving you the best back massage you've ever had!"
Belle's face warmly lit up, appreciative of her fiancé's loving gesture. She cutely pecked his lips.
***
Later that morning, Belle drove me and her to a hip commercial neighborhood, lined with cafes and boutique retail shops. She parked her white Audi on the street. When we exited the car, we spotted Rita sitting at an outdoor dining table, waving to us.
Belle turned to me. "So there are a bunch of coffee spots here you'll love. I really like Griddle," she pointed to the next block over. "They do a good pistachio latte."
"Belle, I think Rita saw me. I should probably say hi really quick."
She notably hesitated, but then acquiesced with a subtle nod of her head.
As we walked over, I slightly trailed Belle, sneaking glances at the sculpting magic of her yoga pants. How I wished I could peep in on her yoga class later, see her taut ass on display in downward-facing dog.
"Ken, what a delight! Didn't know you were coming too." Rita offered me an empty chair beside her. "Please, join us."
"Ken's just being a gentleman, saying hi," Belle said on my behalf. She sat down across from her friend, leaving me standing.
"Um, Belle's right. I'm gonna find some cafe nearby to work at. Just wanted to show my face, and say that it was really nice meeting you at Ox's barbecue."
"Aw, what a courteous young man," Rita said.
The detective in me wanted to join them at their table, see if I could stealthily interrogate the night of the barbecue. Belle had lied to me, telling me she'd been with Rita, when really, she was having an x-rated slumber party with my uncle's best friend.
"Ken, I'll text you when we're wrapping up," Belle said.
Sensing I wasn't welcome, I wondered if Belle was thinking the same thing I was. That I could possibly expose her sleepover lie in front of Rita.
In any case, I chose not to push the matter. I said goodbye to the two women and walked over to that Griddle spot, ordering myself a pistachio latte and a green tea glazed croissant, reluctantly paying $14 for it all.
I was busy tweaking my resume when I felt my phone vibrate. A text had come in from Devin.
***
Devin sipped on a pistachio latte I had ordered for him when he arrived at Griddle.
"Mmm, better than I thought. Thanks Ken."
"I'm surprised you texted me, Dev. Thought you'd be busy with whatever you had to wake up early for."
"Dude, my lazy parents had me drive them early this morning to the mall. They wanted to buy some last-minute travel stuff."
"Oh, where are they going?"
"Greece. I'm going with them too actually. We've got an extended family reunion over there."
"Nice. When are you flying out?"
"In a couple of days. Gonna be gone for a week." Devin leaned forward in his seat. "Which is a perfect transition—we should talk about Operation E-N-Z-O when I'm away."
"Right. So did the drug guy ever show up on last night's footage?"
"Nah Ken, I scrubbed through it. I think you probably misheard."
"Yeah, probably. My bad." I feigned remorse, knowing that the 'drug guy' had been my invention, an excuse to spy on Belle and Enzo, which itself was in vain.
"It's all good. I was thinking though, since I'll be gone for a bit, I should give you access to the Enzo feed. The live feed is also linked to an encrypted cloud site, where recordings are saved up to 24 hours."
"You want to give me access?" I asked, noticing Devin typing something on his phone.
"You're still interested in taking Enzo down, right?"
"I mean, yeah, okay," I replied, probably not sounding all that convincing.
"Cool, I just texted you the login info. I'm gonna be in some remote village without internet, so I won't be able to monitor anything. If you see any shady drug deals go down on the feed or the recordings, maybe you can download and clip the footage. Is that cool?"
"Um, yeah man, of course. I can handle that." I was face-palming myself inside but I did my best not to show it.
"Cool, I'm gonna head out, pick up my parents. Thanks again, Ken."
After Devin left, I finished polishing my resume, deciding then to use Griddle's fast wifi to give the Enzo feed a quick spin. On my laptop, I was greeted to live images of his penthouse, but neither the singer nor his girlfriend Lana were present.
Spying on the singer must've sounded like a dream job for any of his demented superfans. As for me, I liked the guy's music, but I could've listed better ways to spend my time. And unless Belle magically decided to make a cameo, I wasn't looking forward to the week-long chore of monitoring this guy's life in high-definition.
The memory of watching the Enzo feed with Devin suddenly reminded me of how much of an idiot I was, when I had ditched Eva after our concert date.
I grabbed my phone and shot Eva a text: "Hey!"
A few minutes later, she responded: "Hi stranger. Not sure I expected to ever hear from you again."
"That's disappointing. =("
"I wasn't necessarily holding my breath."
"Good. I'm definitely not worth suffocating over!"
"Lol... Happy you reached out though."
"Are you free next week to hang out? Monday, maybe?"
Minutes passed. More than I would've liked. Finally, Eva replied: "Okay! Let's hang out!"
I immediately texted back: "What's a fun thing to do? Beach? I could use some sun."
Her response was quicker this time: "Love it! My dad's working though, so he can't drive us that day. But I asked Nina. She has a car."
"Who's that?"
"My best friend! She wants to join us, if you don't mind."
"Sure! More the merrier."
***
Still at Griddle, I checked the time. About an hour had passed since I'd left Belle and Rita. I debated ordering another beverage while I waited for them to wrap up. But damn, I had already spent more than $20 here!
On a whim, I decided to start walking back toward the restaurant where Rita and Belle were at earlier. As I got closer, I was surprised to only see Belle there, alone, slumping in her seat. She looked annoyed, agitated.
I was about to call out to her, but I caught a tall man briskly walking her way, eventually sitting down across from her. I immediately recognized him as Rita's husband, Seb.
Impulsively, I slipped behind a sidewalk tree, staying within hearing range, eyes curling around the wide trunk to observe their interaction.
"Hey Belle, my meeting with a vendor ran super long." Seb sounded winded, like he had rushed over from wherever he'd parked.
Belle gave him a stern look. "I can't make my yoga class anymore."
"Ah, fuck..."
"Rita's not even here anymore to coordinate. She just left to do prep for my shoot."
"I know, she texted me. Angrily I might add."
"Look Seb, just be honest with me. Can I rely on you to deliver on my dinner? Otherwise, I can hire another chef, find another venue."
