The Wives of Beverly Row 5: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks Page B

and some terrible monster.
    “Zola,” she heard, coming from the other side of the door. It was Ariel’s voice.
    Zola almost ran to the door. “Oh my God, you scared me,” she cried as she opened the door.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know,” Zola said. She felt silly, like she’d been overreacting. “I was just being silly. Come on in.”
    “I wanted to make sure you were doing alright this morning,” Ariel said.
    “Oh,” Zola said. She didn’t know what to say. She’d been feeling good about the discussion she’d had with Ariel, she felt a lot better about her decision to stand up to Jake in some way, but she was still terrified at the prospect of actually doing it. “I’m okay,” she said to her friend.
    “I brought over some bagels,” Ariel said. “They’re from the Montreal bakery down on Sunset. They make the best bagels.”
    “Thank you,” Zola said as she took the paper bag. She knew Ariel was trying extra hard to be nice to her.
    “Maybe we could get together for a coffee or something,” Ariel said.
    “Sure,” Zola said. “What about later this morning? I’m still getting ready right now but I’m pretty much free all day.”
    “Sounds great,” Ariel said. “Why don’t you give me a call when you’re ready. We can drive in my car.”
    Zola smiled as she closed the door. She knew that Ariel was trying to be protective of her now, she knew she felt guilty for having slept with Jake, but the truth was, Zola was grateful for it. She needed a friend. She needed support. If she was going to ever get out of this situation she’d allowed to develop with Jake, she would need all the help she could get.
    She went back upstairs to finish getting ready but just as she got to the top of the stairs she heard another knock on the door. Ariel must have forgotten something.
    “Come on in,” she called down from the bedroom. She was just putting on some makeup so she called down to Ariel, “I’m upstairs.”
    She heard Ariel’s footsteps on the stairs and pulled the towel back up over her chest. She went to the door to meet Ariel but when she saw who was standing in front of her she froze in mid-stride.
    It wasn’t Ariel. It was a man. Standing there, just ten feet from her in the hallway, was a man! Peter! The man Jake had made her have sex with at the hotel.
    How could he be just standing there? Zola was so in shock that she couldn’t even move. She just stood there and looked at him like a deer caught in headlights.
    “Hello,” Peter said.
    Zola couldn’t say a word. She was too surprised.
    “I just thought I’d swing by and pay you a little visit,” he said.
    The words didn’t even register with her. She stood there, motionless, her eyes wide with terror, her mind blank in complete shock.
    He looked her over. As his eyes wondered up over her toweled body she struggled to breath. Her chest was so tight with fear that she could hardly catch her breath. She didn’t move a muscle. He was wearing the same crude outfit he’d been wearing last time she’d seen him, a stained t-shirt, ill-fitting jeans, dirty white sneakers. The hair on his arms was black and ugly. A mess of stubble covered the bottom half of his face like brush on a hillside.
    “Surprised to see me?” Peter said taking a step in Zola’s direction.
    She didn’t answer. She wanted to run but there was nowhere she could run to. The bathroom was behind her but she wasn’t sure the lock on the door would hold him out.
    “You know Jake said I could come by whenever I wanted, right?” he said.
    She looked at him. He had to know that she didn’t want this. The fear on her face must have been obvious to him. What could she say to get him to leave?
    “Yes,” she said. “Of course.”
    “Good,” he said. “I’d hate to have to tell him that you weren’t hospitable to me.”
    “No, please don’t,” Zola said. “He’d be so mad.”
    She was still standing there with nothing on, holding the towel up