The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding Read Free Book Online

standing lamps, a couple of plastic, white stacking tables, and an oversize beige leather chair, all decidedly more functional than fashionable.
    A surprisingly large eat-in kitchen stood at a right angle to the living room, while a small hallway led from the living area to the bedroom at the back of the apartment. There was one bathroom.
    “The Star-Spangled Banner” began playing as soon as Kristin closed the door, as if heralding their arrival. Kristin watched Jeff’s shoulders straighten instinctively. “Don’t answer that,” she said as he began fumbling for the phone in his pocket.
    A second later, Lainey’s voice was running along the dark blue, sixties-style shag carpeting and climbing up the walls, like toxic fumes. “Where is he?” Kristin heard her demand as Jeff held the phone an arm’s length away from his ear.
    “Told you not to answer it,” Kristin couldn’t help but whisper.
    “Don’t lie to me, Jeff,” Lainey continued. “If Tom’s with you, you better tell me.”
    “Who is this?” Jeff asked, smiling playfully at Kristin and letting the phone slide from his hands.
    Kristin caught it before it hit the floor. “Tom’s not here,” she told Lainey.
    “I’ve had as much crap as I’m going to take from that man,” Lainey cried. “I mean it, Kristin. I’ve had it.”
    “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”
    Her response was the phone going dead in her ear.
    “Always a pleasure talking to you.” Kristin tossed the phone onto the sofa.
    “Hey!” came a startled cry. “What the hell . . . ?”
    Kristin gasped as a figure bolted upright on the couch, rubbing the side of his head and looking thoroughly confused.
    “Will?” Kristin asked, flipping on the overhead light.
    “Shit,” Jeff said. “What are you doing home?”
    “Trying to sleep?” Will asked, shielding his eyes from the sudden intrusion of light.
    “Anybody else under those covers?” Jeff lunged toward him, pulled the blanket off the makeshift bed, threw it to the floor.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Where is she?”
    The veil of sleep slid abruptly from Will’s pale face. He took a deep breath, released it slowly. “If you’re referring to Suzy, obviously she’s not here.”
    “Where is she?” Jeff repeated.
    “I assume she went home.”
    “You assume? You didn’t go with her?”
    “No,” Will said. “She had her car. I grabbed a cab. . . .”
    “What are you saying?”
    “What are you asking?”
    “Did you fuck her or didn’t you?” Jeff demanded, suddenly very sober and alert.
    Will looked to Kristin, hoping she’d intervene. She didn’t. In fact, her eyes told Will she was as interested as Jeff in the answer. “No,” he said finally.
    “What did you do?”
    “Walked on the beach, went to a movie.”
    “You’re shitting me,” Jeff said incredulously.
    Will shook his head, releasing another deep breath as he fell back against the sofa’s soft cushions. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
    “You walked the beach, went to a movie, she went home, you didn’t fuck her,” Jeff reiterated, as if trying to force the words to make sense. “What the hell happened?”
    “Nothing happened.”
    “Yeah, I get that. What I don’t get is why. It was a done deal, little brother. How could you blow it?”
    “I didn’t blow it.”
    “You didn’t fuck her.”
    “You think you could stop saying that?”
    “Did you or didn’t you fuck her?”
    Again Will’s eyes traveled toward Kristin. “I didn’t.”
    “Okay, Jeff,” Kristin said, responding to Will’s silent plea. “Why don’t you go to bed? You can find out all the gory details in the morning.”
    Jeff shook his head and laughed. “Doesn’t sound like there were any.” He turned around and walked toward the bedroom down the hall, still shaking his head and chuckling. “You coming?” he called to Kristin.
    “Be right there.” Kristin waited until Jeff turned the corner to their bedroom before sitting down next to Will