Chapter 30: Phones

Erin picked up the phone and answered in the bedroom. While she took care of the call, I turned to the other three. "Alright, we've got a bit of time. Do any of you have any errands to run?" Nadia and Chloe did, but not Renée. "Go ahead and take care of what you need to." I said to both. "Did you pack anything for a night out, an evening gown or dress?" I asked Nadia. She just shook her head. "Go back by your place and pick something up. If you need your makeup kit or anything else, bring it too." I turned to Chloe, "You do the same. Something elegant and all the tools you need to go with it." I gave each of them a kiss and saw them out. About then, Erin came storming out of the bedroom.

"That bastard!"

I could only guess on one person deserving the feeling she put into that statement. "Is Mike still trying to get you away from me?"

"He was trying to find out where I was so he could pick me up while a repo-truck takes my car back to the dealers."

I nodded my head, "You're right. He's a bastard." I didn't have to ask if she told him where we were. I didn't want him knowing where I lived and Erin needed some place he didn't know to escape his constant harassment. I looked at the phone she clutched in her hand. "Can you look up who called previously on your phone?"

She looked at me, the heat of arguing with Mike dissipating. "Yeah, why?"

"Someone called and gave me a message. I think it was Whisper."

Renée stepped up next to me. "Whisper?"

Glancing her way, I nodded. Erin started looking up previous calls. I explained, "Whoever it was told me that I wouldn't find what I was looking for in time. When I asked if it was Whisper, they hung up."

"Whoever it was, it didn't even register as unknown name, unknown number. I don't show any calls since last night and Mike just now." Erin flipped the phone closed and looked up, "You think he means the program or our other missing member?"

I liked the way she put that, like we were a club or something. "I don't know. He could have meant either, but at the time I was working on trying to find some form of immunity for us against the program. I wasn't even thinking about the dream or the distinct feeling that someone was missing." I turned to Renée, "It was like yesterday on the food court. He commented on what had me worried at the moment. I didn't say anything to him. It was like he was reading my mind. I think he meant the program." Renée had said that he would offer advice by leaving messages and sending e-mails anonymously. I was very sure it was him.

Erin's phone rang again. She looked at it to see the caller ID. "It's him again." She looked like she could have strangled him merely by crushing the phone.

I held out my hand. She looked at me and I winked. Before I could say anything, I heard him talking to someone. I didn't hear a name, but it was defiantly female. Finally, he realized the phone wasn't ringing.

"Hello? Erin?"

"No. Not Erin."

"Put Erin on please. I need to speak with her."

"No. You don't."

I let him start to say something else just to interrupt him. With all my frustrations, I was looking for a fight. "Mike, you have nothing to offer her. You do not own her and you will stop calling her. The car will be returned to the dealer so that she can get something worthwhile and as of tomorrow morning, this phone will no longer be in service. If I find out that you are still trying to get in contact with her, or so much as hear your voice, you will deeply regret having ever known what I look like, because I will make sure it is the last thing you ever see. Got me?" My tone had risen gradually through the brief tirade. I had stepped away from Erin and Renée so they could not touch me, could not calm me.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He asked. He had the guts to continue pushing the issue. So could I.

"I am hers. I am that which you could never be. I am also someone to not upset. I will find out from Erin if there is anything else with your name attached. If there is, it will be either going back to the service from which it came or in a dumpster. I don't care which. Find yourself someone else to harass and leave off."

I wanted him to say something more, but the line disconnected.

I closed the phone gently and handed it back to Erin. "Call the phone service. See to it that this phone is disconnected. We'll get you another with a different phone number and a different company. I don't want him having any way to find you."

Erin took the phone, but also grabbed for my hand. She held on and I let her. She was worried. I could feel it.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm just frustrated and ... and..." Her touch was calming me, taking away the anger and replacing it with the softer concern of a friend. "I'm sorry."

She stepped up to me. She didn't try groping or any of the girls' usual tactics. She just hugged me. "You're worried and scared." She looked into my eyes, "And you're trying to find a way to let it out."

"There has to be a better way." It was all I could think to say. I could feel the thought coming from Renée. The tension did need letting loose, but I didn't want to hear it. I held up my hand to ask for silence.

I let Erin hold me for another moment when another phone rang. This time, it was Renée's. She went to my bedroom to answer it. She didn't bother looking at the caller ID; she just left with it in hand. I couldn't blame her.

I pulled Erin to me and hugged her back. She molded against me and I didn't complain, become embarrassed, or get excited. I think it was a first. All that volatile energy had drained me of all other emotions too. I should have guessed that I would have to be angry to keep from having the other problems. Slowly, gently, we started moving. At first it was just a sway, and then our feet actually stepped to the side. I didn't hear music, but I was moving to something. Maybe it was the moment and flow of emotions. Maybe it was just the near silence. Whatever it was, it was nice.

I don't know how long Erin and I held each other and danced to the silent music, but looking up to see Renée smiling brought it to an end. It may have started slow and gradual, but it stopped suddenly.

"What?" I asked her.

She shook her head. It was a gentle movement that meant "never mind."

Erin turned to see Renée. They exchanged a look that had nothing to do with the connections. I was glad for it. We could still have something that was just us and still share in ways only certain others could understand. It was something normal in the bizarre play that had become my life. No, our lives.

She wouldn't tell me what she was smiling about, that was okay. "Who called?"

"It was Jeri. She was curious if you and I wanted to get together tonight." Her smile shifted from whatever had made her actually happy a moment ago to the mischievousness that she wore more often. Jeri wanted us, or maybe me, but she had included Renée in the idea. Maybe she had been like Nadia? I might find out, but it wasn't the right time for long discussions of her sexual preferences and why.

"Let her know she's welcome to come over any time, and that you and I and several friends are going out together." I told her in response.

Renée nodded and passed on the message. If Jeri was interested in Renée, then she may be surprised at the other choices she would be presented with while hanging around me. It seemed as if all my girls were like that, interested in each other and I was almost completely sure that my charm had everything to do with it.

Erin looked up at me, "So all of us are going?" She was worried, I could feel it.

"Well, there are two choices. I go and leave all of you behind so they cannot get to any of you, or all of us go and stay together no matter what." I answered.

She nodded, "Then all of us go. Like we said this morning, you're not going alone."

I had accepted that earlier, but I still wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. Maybe there was a different plan. I couldn't think of it at the moment, but I was sure something else could be worked out.

"Since we're all going, shouldn't you call Linda and Li?" She asked.

I nodded. "I also need to call Yvonne."

She tilted her head slightly, "Who's Yvonne?"

I gave a brief explanation of what had happened at the mall and how Yvonne was my only real test to find out how far my charm would get me. Like with all the others, I could feel her and had a good sense of where she was. She was currently at home and seemed somewhat depressed.

Renée came from the bedroom, "She'll be over in a couple of hours. She's currently at work."

I nodded and went back to the couch. Erin moved with me and Renée joined us. When we were seated and each of them were nestled up to me I said, "I need to call the others, to have everyone meet here before we go to this meeting."