He smiled wryly. “Kind of.”
“What happens if the directors don’t agree?” I couldn’t imagine that the vote would be put
to the stockholders.
“Majority rules usually,” he told me. “Otherwise, there’s one person who runs the board and
who has the right to make the final call.”
I was amazed by how it all seemed abnormally normal. “Kind of like a CEO?”
“CEO? That’s a good way of putting it.” His eyes lit up a bit. “You seem to know a lot about
this stuff.”
“Looks like I was born to do this. Maybe I could start working for you too,” I jested, though
part of me was serious.
Cameron’s face became severe. “Don’t ever joke about that, Emmy. That will never happen.”
My heart was pouting. I decided to move away from the job hunt and continue the inquisition.
“What happens if someone doesn’t follow the rules? What if they don’t follow the board’s
decision or just do what they want without going through the board?”
“You mean, what happens when someone goes rogue?” he clarified with intensity. “Then you have
a big problem. The board has to decide what they want to do about it.”
“Can they decide to kill that person?” My voice was barely audible.
Cameron had started fidgeting again.
“Yes. They can,” he answered, also whispering.
“Have you ever had to make that kind of decision when you were on the board?”
Cameron eyed me and pressed his lips together. “I don’t want to lie to you.”
“So don’t. Just tell me the truth,” I pleaded.
“I can’t. There are some things that I can’t talk to you about.”
“I need to know,” I admitted. And I admitted more, “I need to understand you, Cameron.”
“That’s the problem, Emmy. You’re trying to understand me, but what I do isn’t who I am.”
The full power of his eyes were on me now. “The thought of you seeing me in this way, of
knowing this other side of my life that is so … it makes me feel sick.” Cameron took both my
hands in his. “I trust you, and you can ask me anything you want. But please don’t ask me
that.”
A moment of wordlessness passed between us. I looked at him, and I realized that I already knew
the answer, and that I wished I didn’t.
“The night I got here, Rocco said to Carly that she wasn’t supposed to use real names.”
“Carly’s temper gets her in trouble a lot.” Cameron breathed a short sigh. “Nicknames are
insurance. We come into contact with a lot of people every day. Anyone of them could snitch on
us, sell us out. It’s a lot harder for cops to narrow their investigation down on some guy
called Bubba or Tiny or Kid.”
I thought about this. “What’s your nickname?”
He shrugged. “I never really got the chance to get one … but your brother used to call me Kid.
”
This touched one of the strings of my heart that were attached to my tear ducts. I glanced away.
The sun had set behind the black clouds. Other than the eerie blue screen glow of the TV, the
room was quite dark.
Cameron started the movie and, in another unexpected move, put his arm around me. In the almost
darkness, it wasn’t as awkward, I wasn’t as nervous anymore. But I wasn’t paying attention to
the movie either.
He had killed someone before—I had witnessed it with my own eyes. It had never really occurred
to me that the man in the cemetery hadn’t been Cameron’s first … kill. I started wondering
about those people—who they were, what they might have looked like … then I stopped myself. It
was too disturbing to think of Cameron in that way.
I closed my eyes and nestled my head, inhaling my favored fragrance. I could hear his heart
pound, quick beats at first; after a while, the booming in his chest steadied and sounded more
like a lullaby.
The next time I opened my eyes, everything was dark. I couldn’t see a thing, yet I felt
surrounded. Slowly, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the half-moon shapes of tombstones
appeared around me. I was in a graveyard, and Cameron was standing in front of me with his back
turned. He was looking at something on the ground. I approached, putting my hands on his
shoulders and standing on the tip of my toes. I peeked over him to see what he was looking at.
There was nothing there.
Cameron swiveled and faced me. He smiled. When I smiled back and reached out, his face started
to change. It became deformed, monstrous. A gun materialized in the monster’s hand. I could
hear someone screaming behind me. Run, Emily! I couldn’t move. My feet were stuck in the mud. I
heard gunshots—and nearly fell off the couch.
I woke up, gasping for air. Cameron was holding me by the shoulders, trying to prevent me from
falling face first into the coffee table. Burning tears were streaming down my cheeks.