Addie Combo Read Online Free Page B

trying to trick you,
but I did want to see if we got along well together.”
I look at him, almost tempted to feign anger just to see how he’ll react, but I have much more
pressing things to worry about; staying out of the gutter, for one. And getting closer to
Randolph, for another.
I simply ask, “ Do we get along?”
He offers up a little chuckle. “I’d say so; enough to offer thirty grand a year to start. It’s not
much, but it’ll get you going. And we’ll see how things go from there.”
“Wow, um, thirty grand ... ”
“Plus little ... bonuses along the way.” He looks around, holding his hands up to the
glistening store around us; and at the clothes he’s already buying me, as yet unseen.
“And what would this job entail, exactly ... roughly?”
Randolph seems to give it a little thought. “Seeing to my daily agenda, business errands,
acting as my secretary on out-oftown trips and so on.”
I nod slowly, to show him I’m still not convinced. “Personal assistant. But ... more assistant than personal , I trust?”
“Addie, do you think I’d go through all this just to -?”
“No no, Mr. MacLeish -“
“Call me Randolph, please.”
“Um, okay, Mr. Mac -Randolph, I’m not implying anything at all, just ... just making sure.
Y’know, with the clothes and all ... ”
Randolph takes a step toward me and sets his large hands gently on my upper arms. He
looks me straight in the eyes. “I can teach you a lot, Addie, things I guarantee you never learned
in school. This is a whole new world opening up to you. All you have to do is be open to it.”
His voice gets very sultry and gravelly at the end of his sentence, but I’m not sure if it’s a
matter of his intention or my imagination. Either way, it certainly makes an impression.
I say, “Randolph, it’s a very flattering offer ... ”
“Oh, okay, I understand,” Randolph says with a kind of sympathetic disappointment. “Well,
you can keep the clothes, I’ll give you a ride home and we’ll always be -”
“No no, that’s not what I ... I mean, I was going to say that it’s a flattering offer ... and I
accept, definitely.”
He smiles, seeming a bit surprised.
I wonder why that is. Did he really think I’d walk away from an offer like this? Is there
some reason I should?
I put that all aside and smile with genuine excitement.
Randolph seems to read my expression and matches it with one of his own, a debonaire smile
that twinkles with an elevated charm.
After paying for the clothes and arranging to have them delivered to my apartment, Randolph
drives me back and walks me to the front door, where the intercom system stands not-so-silent
guard.
I say, “I’d invite you up, but I’ve only just arrived here myself a few days ago, and -”
“Nonsense,” he says with a warm smile. “You relax, wait for the clothes to arrive, take it
easy. We’ll start bright and early tomorrow morning.”
When I get upstairs and tell Emily and Quinton about my new job, there’s only one thing to
do (in Emily’s own words):
“Par rrrrrr-taaaaaaaaeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! ”
    We go to a place called Narcissus , which turns out to be a perfect name. Everybody seems to
have put tremendous care and effort into what they look like, insistent upon being seen even
more than on seeing something or somebody else, no matter how spectacular. I’m used to
roadhouses and country/western bars, with denim and leather and beers. This is a world of
flashing lights, girls in half-dresses which cling to their glistening bodies, glow sticks floating
everywhere. The music is ear-splittingly loud, a synthetic drum pulsing in a never-ending beat
that seems to match that of my own heart and extends from one song to another.
    Well, not songs exactly. Back home I’d hear tunes with lyrics and bands with drums and
guitars. Here it’s all synthesizers and digital sound processors, a single melody repeated over
and over. The place smells of stale beer, perfume and