Free Stage Dive 02 Play by Kylie Scott Page B

and guts happening on the TV screen. The novelty of walking in to find famous people hanging in my apartment would probably never fade. I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t. Disappointingly, Mal was nowhere in sight. I’d been rushing through tasks, eager to see him all afternoon. Lizzy had called me and it’d almost killed me not telling her about him. But I honestly didn’t know how to plausibly explain his sudden appearance in my life. She’d been furious about the shit with Skye. I hadn’t been able to muster much anger about it, funnily enough. Good things were happening. That was all in the past.
    Now I was finally home, my heart banging around inside my chest, and I felt inexcusably shy. Hesitant almost. Forget it, this was my apartment. My home. And he had chosen to live here, with me, for whatever reason. Back straight and boobs out, what little there was of them.
    “Hey, Anne,” he said.
    “Hi, Ben. Is Mal around?” My ability to play it cool was improving. I hardly stuttered at all.
    “In the kitchen.”
    “Thanks.” I dashed past him, trying not to mess with his on-screen killing spree.
    Mal was staring out the small kitchen window, his cell to his ear. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    A pause.
    “Yeah, okay. What’d he say?”
    Another pause.
    “No. Just lay it out for me. C’mon.”
    The break was longer this time. After a while, he grabbed hold of the edge of the counter, gripping it so hard his knuckles turned white. Obviously, this was a private moment, but I couldn’t walk away. The pain in his voice and the lines of his body were acute. He was hurting.
    “That can’t be right. What about if we–”
    He listened in silence. Back out in the living room, the boom of explosions and the rattle of gunfire continued on.
    “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” He pressed end on the call and threw his cell aside. Both hands now gripped the edge of the counter, squeezing so hard it creaked.
    “Mal?”
    The whites of his eyes were huge, rimmed with red. What the hell was going on?
    “Anne. Hey. Didn’t hear you come in.”
    “Are you okay?”
    He breathed in hard, shook his head. “Yeah! Slept like shit. Then the run with Jimmy wore me out. But all good. Aren’t you cute, worrying about me? That’s very girlfriendish.”
    “Ha.” I smiled. He didn’t smile back.
    “Let’s, ah … You say hi to Ben already?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    His hands grasped my shoulders, turning me and marching me back out into the living room. “You really need to greet your guests properly, pumpkin. You don’t want him thinking you’re rude.”
    “Mal, I—- ”
    “Ben. Look, my awesome girlfriend came home.”
    “Hi, Mal’s awesome girlfriend.” Ben didn’t take his eyes off the screen. “This place is a bit smaller than your LA pad, dude. You gonna stay here or buy bigger?”
    “Anne’s been talking about getting a dog, so I’m thinking we’ll trade up eventually.”
    Ben nodded.
    I didn’t bother to correct Mal. Really the best way to handle him was to simply roll with it. Plus, this current mood of his concerned me.
    “Time to beat drums,” Mal announced, rubbing his hands together, then shaking his arms. He still wasn’t smiling. The manic energy was clearly back despite his claim of being tired.
    This time, Ben did take his eyes off the screen. “Thought we were getting dinner and hanging out with Miss Awesome here.”
    “Need to burn off some energy. Anne understands, don’t you, pumpkin?”
    I pushed my disappointment aside and nodded. A man had to do what a man had to do. I just wish I knew what was going on. Whatever the phone call had been about, it wasn’t good news. It also wasn’t my business, I know.
    “She’s very supportive of my career. Always has been. In many ways, she is my inspiration.”
    “You only met her two days ago.” Ben turned off the game, throwing the control aside.
    “And I’ve done some of my best work in that time.”
    “Whatever. So that’s what