Intimate Relations, Rebecca Forster [best ereader for manga .txt] 📗

Finn could see the pink of her tongue as she put it against her small, white teeth. Then her body shook as she tried to subdue a laugh. Her lashes lowered. Her voice twinkled when she said:

"Pinocchio."

Bev laughed in earnest and Finn joined her. Their moment didn't last long.

"Stop it," Bev said. "It's not what you think? It has nothing to do with his physical appearance."

"Is it only his nose that grows with a lie then?" Finn teased.

"It's about what he does. The man is an icon in a sensitive industry."

"And is he here?" Finn asked.

"He wasn't invited," Bev said. "And I didn't know Cami would be here either, or I wouldn't have come. Rumor had it that Asylum was going to kick her out. She was messing around threatening people's outside lives. It was like a game with her. I thought she was all talk, but this man —Pinocchio—he took her seriously."

"'Tis difficult to take down a regular person much less someone with money," Finn said. "What was she peddling?"

"I don't know." Her eyes widened when Finn seemed skeptical. "I honestly don't know, Finn. She was a bitch to me. She called me grandma, and she was going to ruin someone who didn't deserve it. Thank God somebody else got to her and saved me the trouble."

"I'd be advising you to keep that thought to yourself." Finn took a deep breath. He muttered her name once. "And all this for a man whose name you don't even know."

"At least I know who's worth fighting for. Not like you, putting everything on the line for some homeless guy."

"If I could arrest you for that, I would," Finn said. Bev laughed and the sound was cruel.

"I'm amazed your bleeding heart hasn't killed you." She slapped her knees. "Are we done?"

Finn looked down at her for a moment, and then stepped back to give her room.

"We are finished, Beverly," Finn said, and meant it. Never again would he long for this woman or what they once had. She got up. She raised her chin.

"FYI, Finn. I didn't say I didn't know his name, but he isn't here. Plus I would be breaking the rules if I told you."

Before Finn could pressure his ex for the information he wanted, Cori found them. She took a look at them both, and raised an eyebrow at Finn.

"Beverly and I are done." Finn lifted a shoulder as if to say all was as well as could be expected. He turned to his ex-wife. "Get your things. You'll be taken to the station so you can make a formal statement. "

Beverly smoothed her corset and tossed the long sweep of hair out of her eyes. She smiled at Cori.

"Nice to see you two are still partners."

"He's worth sticking with," Cori said.

"You always were a bitch," Bev said, and walked away.

Cori called out before the woman went into the building. She was smiling when she walked up to Finn's ex and lowered her voice.

"You know. Just between us girls, you may need to tighten up that corset."

Bev's pretty brow furrowed. She put her hands over her stomach as she turned and tilted her head to check out her behind.

"It's fine," Bev snapped.

"I don't think so, honey," Cori said. "You can still talk."

7

His name was Enver and hers was Emi. Their surname was Cuca. Five years earlier they won a lottery in their home country of Albania. The prize was America. Enver and Emi believed with a fervor that was close to religious that anything was possible in the United States. They were not religious people, just hopeful, hardworking, and determined to succeed. Enver was an artist and Emi was an engineer. They shared a passion for their respective work, and an admiration for each other's.

Soon after they arrived in Los Angeles — Enver speaking little English —they found The Brewery and leased a small space in the corner building near the park.  Enver painted pictures, but sold few; Emi looked for work as an engineer but found none. To pass the time, to entertain herself, Emi built things. One day she found metal pieces in a pile of discarded things outside their neighbor's door and fashioned a woman's head and shoulders. Enver thought the bust was beautiful and believed her sculptures would sell well. She made another and this time — after one too many raki — Emi and Enver went scrounging to see what else they could find to make her work more interesting. They came home with a piece of silicone that had been discarded by the person who created prosthetics for the movies. This material was as soft as a baby's bottom, and when Emi made a second bust, they covered it with 'skin'.

This time they didn't just think Emi's sculpture was exceptional, they knew it. During one of the open loft events, a man came to Enver and Emi Cuca's place. He could not stop touching the 'skin' on the second bust. Eventually he wandered around looking at the paintings in the studio. He asked if Enver could paint the bust to look like a real woman and offered more money than the Cucas had ever seen. America was a wonderful place, indeed.

Enver painted the bust and the man asked them to make him a statue of a woman - crafted just so.  Emi built the statue's structure, working with soft materials because the man wanted his statue to bend. Enver painted her, and she was beautiful. The man paid for the silicone woman. When he came back again, the man asked for something very different. He wanted a statue with soft skin. He wanted Enver to paint her so that she seemed real, and he wanted to be able to make love to her. A doll. This man was not embarrassed to tell Enver and Emi of his desire.

The artist and his wife were shocked.

They were angry.

At first Enver refused.

The man offered a sum for this doll.

Enver wavered.

The man offered