The Siren KATHERINE JOHN (100 best novels of all time .TXT) 📖

“Come in,” I replied.

She entered holding Mary Elizabeth. “I’m going to take her to do her business. Want to come?”

After the bath and the rum, I was feeling better than I had all day, but I still didn’t quite have it in me to put on makeup. “I’d love to, but I don’t think I can pull myself together,” I said, running a brush through my wet hair.

“Come on,” she protested. “You look beautiful. And anyway, it’s about to storm, so no one’s out there.”

I knew she was only being kind, but she was right that no one would be around, so I poured myself another splash in the darkening living room and we set out, barefoot. Stepping onto the pier without a stitch of makeup on, I felt more naked than if I’d walked out the door without any clothes. It was surprisingly freeing. The wind whipped our hair and dresses. I looked up to see clouds obscuring the stars. “Tut-tut, looks like rain,” I quipped.

But Felicity apparently had not been exposed to Winnie-the-Pooh as a child.

When we reached the windswept beach, I set Mary Elizabeth down, and she immediately ran yapping toward the only occupied lounger on the beach. I chased after her, calling out an apology to the occupant of the lounger, who was curled up beneath one of the resort’s oversize green and white beach towels with his face obscured by a raised hoodie.

The person turned, and I saw I’d been wrong. It wasn’t a he. It was Taylor, and she looked an awful mess, her face puffy and streaked with tears. “Taylor,” I exclaimed, kneeling next to her in the sand. “Are you okay?”

Embarrassed, she wiped at the tears with the towel. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She took a ragged breath. “Sorry. Just personal shit.”

Felicity sat on the other side of her. “Anything you want to talk about? We’re good listeners.”

I nodded agreement.

“Really, I’m fine.” Taylor forced a smile.

“We have rum,” I offered.

Felicity shot me a look, and I remembered that especially after last night I really shouldn’t be drinking in front of Taylor, but she was too distraught to notice my slipup, or care. “I would, but…” She started crying again.

“Do you want us to leave you alone?” Felicity asked.

Taylor nodded. “Please don’t tell anyone you saw me like this,” she begged.

I patted her back. “Of course,” I said.

“Invitation’s open if you change your mind,” Felicity added.

Fat raindrops started to fall as we walked away, back in the direction of our bungalow. We hadn’t gotten halfway up the walkway above the surging sea when Taylor came running to catch up with us. “I changed my mind,” she said.

The dark clouds ripped open, and sheets of rain cascaded down as the three of us hastened toward the bungalow. Inside, Felicity picked up the phone next to the purple orchid as we dried ourselves off. “I’m ordering dinner. What do you guys want?” she asked.

“A salmon burger,” Taylor said. “And fries, and a ginger ale.”

Felicity repeated the order into the phone, adding a cheeseburger for herself and a salad for me, then came to sit with us in the living room. Mary Elizabeth ran in circles, barking as lightning flashed and thunder shook the windows. “We never get thunderstorms in LA,” I commented. Mary Elizabeth jumped into my lap, shaking. I stroked her little head as I gazed out at the rain. It was kind of frightening, being out here over the water, though surely we were safe. Cole certainly had bragged enough about the security of this place. “Exhilarating.”

“Good thing Jackson canceled tonight’s shoot,” Taylor said.

“Has Madison been fired yet?” I asked hopefully.

Taylor shook her head. “Jackson’s talking to Cole about it. I promise I’ll let you know when I hear anything.” She took out her phone and checked her weather app. “Shit.” She groaned. “This morning it said it was going to be clear tomorrow, and now it looks like thunderstorms the rest of the week. I guess we’re just gonna have to go with it.”

“Why don’t we shoot the end then?” I suggested. “The part where I use the storm as cover to kill Peyton and the nanny. I’m especially looking forward to that part.”

Taylor groaned. “Can we turn on the news? I want to see what the meteorologists have to say.”

Felicity flicked on the flat-screen and selected the Weather Channel, but they were busy talking about the heat wave sweeping Western Europe. She muted the volume. “The food will be here in thirty. Does anybody need anything while we wait?”

I wanted rum, but I still wasn’t totally sure whether I could quit pretending in front of Taylor. Instead I grabbed my pack of smokes and headed for the sliding glass door.

“I’m pregnant,” Taylor blurted.

Felicity and I turned to her in sync, not even trying to hide our shock. No one said anything for a minute. I dropped my cigarettes on the end table and perched on the couch next to her.

“I’m guessing this was a surprise?” Felicity asked tenderly.

Taylor nodded. “I just found out today. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“We won’t,” Felicity and I promised in unison.

“Jinx,” I said, and she threw a fuchsia pillow at me, which elicited a small smile from Taylor. “Who’s the dad?” I ventured.

She furrowed her brow and looked down at her hands, blinking quickly. Damn, that had been the wrong question. It was the logical one, though, wasn’t it? I’d been asked such invasive questions about private issues at every step of my life, I wasn’t terribly good at knowing what was and wasn’t socially acceptable anymore. “I’m sorry,” I said.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “We’re not together. It was a mistake—I don’t even remember…” She choked back a sob.

Poor girl.

Felicity rubbed her back. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not though.” Taylor took a ragged breath. “I blacked out, and I’d only had two drinks that I know of. I think…I may have been drugged.”

Felicity and I exchanged a glance, and I could see she