Chapter 41 - Nadia

Ryan and Andy were up in the catwalks checking all the screws and bolts on every single light. “Nadia!” Andy called out. “I was expecting Braden.”
“You’re a lot better looking than Braden,” Ryan said happily. “I call this a win.”
I waved up to them. “I wouldn’t go that far. Braden is an awfully pretty man.”
“You’re not wrong.” Ryan sniffed the air. “Is that hummus?”
“I figured you boys would be hungry.”
The sandbags had already been cleaned and the stage sweeped, leaving no evidence of the triggered trap. We arranged the food on stage, using three of the prop chairs and table. We had to be careful not to lean on the table too much; since it was a prop, it was designed to be lighter for easier moving on and off stage between scenes, so it wasn’t very sturdy. I unpacked the food and arranged it: two types of flavored hummus, black bean chips for dipping, and slices of pita bread.
Ryan dug in and said, “Braden hates Turkish food. We never get to order it.”
“You guys know you can buy your own dinners, right? You don’t always have to get the same thing.”
Andy shrugged his shoulders. “We’re kind of like a little family. It’d be weird to get different food.”
Ryan leaned into me and said, “I get my own food all the time, and it pisses the others off.”
“It upsets Dorian, not me,” Andy said. “He’s always trying to emulate the close family unit he had with his sister.”
“Whatever the psychological reason,” Ryan nudged me, “I’m glad to have another free spirit.”
“Ooo, careful now,” I said in a spooky tone. “You don’t want to mention spirits around here.”
Ryan waved a hand. “Sunset isn’t for another half hour. We’re safe from spirits until then.”
“Oh, good,” I said with a straight face.
Andy slathered hummus all over a piece of pita bread. “Who do you guys think set the trap?”
“I was watching Atkins awfully hard,” Ryan said, pausing to swallow a bite of food. “I couldn’t get anything from his expression, but did you notice how he tried to touch the sandbags?”
“What does that imply?” I asked.
The redhead turned toward me. “If he’s the saboteur, then his fingerprints might be on the sandbags. But if he touched them in front of us, it wouldn’t be suspicious when the detective comes back with a match.”
“I don’t think the detective got any prints,” Andy said. “And even if he did, it’s awfully optimistic of you to believe he would put any effort into finding a match.”
“That’s not the point,” Ryan replied. “If Atkins did it, from his perspective he would want to create doubt, just in case.”
“He insisted on calling the detective,” I pointed out. “Not a smart move if he’s the saboteur.”
Ryan jabbed a finger at me. “I think it’s very smart. The trap was already ruined, so he took advantage of the failed plan to make himself look more innocent by calling the detective. He wouldn’t have done that for a trap we didn’t find.”
“I think he’s innocent,” Andy announced. “He seemed exhausted by the discovery of the trap. As if he had hoped it was all over.”
“I don’t disagree,” Ryan grumbled, “but he’s still suspicious. And he has one of the best reasons for wanting Tatiana gone.”
“Other than the lovely Nadia here,” Andy said with a smile. “But we know she has a rock-solid alibi.”
“Damn right,” I said.
Andy swung his spectacled gaze back to Ryan. “But Nadia and Atkins aren’t the only ones with motive. They are just the most obvious. Everyone with a stake in the show would want her gone.”
“We’ve been over this,” Ryan whined. “Yeah, everyone has a reason for her to be gone. That doesn’t help us narrow it down.”
“It might even be unrelated to the show,” I said. “Someone with a personal vendetta. Someone we haven’t met.”
“But then why go to the trouble of setting up an accident here?” Andy said.
Ryan nodded. “They could wait outside her apartment with a baseball bat and fucking Tanya Harding her ass.”
“Good point,” I admitted.
Andy dipped a chip in hummus and pointed it at me. “Do you know any of the other dancers?”
“Not enough to pick out anyone suspicious. They’re all just work acquaintances.”
“Normally, I would say whoever is funding the show would have an interest in ensuring it does well, by any means necessary.” Andy swallowed his chip. “But since the producer is Tatiana’s grandfather…”
“He’s blown millions on all of this shit just to give Tatiana a lead role,” Ryan said, looking around. “The show doing poorly would hardly matter at that point, even if he somehow miraculously decided his granddaughter had to go.”
“Not to mention the fact that a grandfather who cares enough to do all of this for her wouldn’t want to see her injured,” I said blandly.
“Right. That too.”
“So we’re back to square one,” I said. “Hopefully we’ll catch them in the act. How long are you guys going to camp out in here?”
“All night. That’s why we had you bring sleeping bags,” Ryan said.
“No, I mean—how long? Just tonight? Every night until you find something?”
The two men looked at each other. “Haven’t thought that far ahead,” Ryan said. “We’ll take it one night at a time and play it by ear.”
“Does Atkins know you’re doing this?”
Ryan shook his head. “If he’s the saboteur, we want to catch him by surprise.”
“Like a leprechaun,” I said, pointedly not glancing at Andy. “Sneaky, and with low cunning.”
Ryan focused on the food. “Leprechauns don’t migrate this far south until spring.”
“Oh, that’s good to know,” I said. In my peripheral vision, Andy was struggling to keep a straight face.
When the food was gone, we spread out the sleeping bags on the stage and stretched out. “You sticking around?” Ryan asked, giving me a sideways look while he pulled out a deck of cards.
“For a little while. I want to see if we can catch our phantom.” I looked around. “I should’ve brought some beer.”
“Oh!” Andy leaped to his feet and jogged backstage. He returned with an unopened bottle of scotch. “From Atkins’ office.”
“It’s bad luck to steal a man’s liquor,” Ryan said.
Andy’s mouth hung open.
“I’m joking!” Ryan said, grabbing the bottle from him and pulling out the cork. “Let’s play something.”
We ended up playing Go Fish. I hadn’t played it since I was a little girl back in Iowa, but it was a lot of fun while passing around a bottle of mediocre scotch. And the company was good.
“So,” Ryan said casually after a little while. “Have you two banged yet?”
“Dude,” Andy whispered.
“What? It’s a simple question. We’re buds. And today was the significant third date.” He glanced at me. “You’re not uncomfortable, are you? Because if so, you probably shouldn’t have picked this kind of multi-person relationship to be a part of.”
“Not uncomfortable at all,” I said. In fact, his bluntness was refreshing.
Ryan swung his eyes back to Andy.
“We had a picnic in the park,” Andy said. “And then came straight to the theater when we got your call.”
Ryan stared at him. “That was a carefully crafted non-answer.”
“We had sex in the park!” I blurted out. A giggle escaped my lips at saying it out loud. “Underneath a blanket.”
Ryan nodded along approvingly. “Damn, Andy. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Andy cleared his throat. “I can have fun sometimes.”
I put a hand on his leg. “And it was a lot of fun.” He smiled back at me.
“Anyone nearby?” Ryan asked.
“Some guys throwing a frisbee.” I took another swig of scotch. The fiery liquid burning down my throat imbued me with more courage to talk about it. “Them being nearby made me come super quick.”
Ryan looked between us with a not bad expression on his face. “Fuck yeah. Public sex is awesome. Good for you.”
“Dorian said the same thing about public sex,” I mused. “It was my first time. And I don’t think it’ll be the last.”
Ryan raised the bottle. “Cheers to that.”
Andy was studying me quietly. “Did you tell Ryan about… You know.”
“Oh. No, I haven’t.”
“Do I want to know?” Ryan asked.
I sighed and leaned back on my palms. “Dorian kissed me today. Well, I might’ve kissed him. We kissed. Mutual.”
“Oh shit. I thought he wasn’t over Heather yet.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It happened really fast, and then we were awkward after…”
Ryan stared off. “You know, I did see Dorian at the house before coming to the theater. He’d just gotten back from Brooklyn, and he seemed off. He said you rushed to Central Park without getting your pay.”
“No, he collected it for me.”
Ryan squinted at me. “He specifically said they wouldn’t let him collect your pay.”
I started to argue, then groaned. Dorian must have given me his pay, while pretending that he’d collected mine. He took the hit so that I wouldn’t miss out.
“In any case,” I said, “he and I kissed. And now it’s super weird between us. I’ve fucked it up.”
Ryan and Andy shared a look. Then Ryan slowly took out his phone. “Let’s pull up the spreadsheet and see who won, shall we?”
“You know who the winner is,” Andy said curtly.
“I want to see for myself,” Ryan replied. He held out the phone dramatically. “Today’s date… Well would you look at that? I happen to have this week in the pool.”
“You’re a terrible winner, you know that?”
I looked between them. “What are you two talking about?”
Ryan punched Andy in the arm playfully, then explained, “None of us believed Dorian could have a platonic relationship with a hot woman for long. So Andy, Braden, and I created a pool to guess how long it would last.” He held out the phone. “I picked week 4 and 5, so I’m the winner.”
I looked at the spreadsheet on his phone and started laughing. “You’re not joking.”
“I’m dead fucking serious because that means Andy and Braden each owe me $100.” Ryan reached out and shook my hand. “Thanks for picking today to finally seduce Dorian.”
“I didn’t seduce anyone!” I sputtered. “It just happened!”
“Sure,” Ryan said with an exaggerated wink that made the freckles on his cheeks pinch inward.
I sighed and leaned back. “I’m glad someone is making money off of this, because I feel like shit about it.”
“Why?” Ryan asked.
“What do you mean why?”
“Just talk to him about it. Then it won’t be awkward.” Ryan took a swig of the scotch and gestured with the bottle, sloshing brown liquid within the glass. “If you don’t remember who kissed who, then it was definitely mutual. That’s a good thing.”
“But…” I trailed off, thinking. “The proposition you guys gave me was specific. There were ground rules. He and I were supposed to just be platonic friends.”
“Who gives a fuck what the rules said?” Ryan said philosophically. “We can all do whatever we want, as long as everything is out in the open and everyone is cool with it. We’re five adults. What do you think, pal?”
Andy was deep in thought. “Honestly? I know I should feel some sort of jealousy, but I don’t.”
“Really?” I asked.
He shrugged one tall shoulder. “I never expected to have you to myself. I never expected to have you at all, since we were taking things slowly and naturally. Ryan and you have been… umm, together longer than I have been dating you. It does not feel weird.”
“Not even with Dorian and me?”
“Let’s be clear first,” Ryan interrupted. “Is there a Dorian-and-you?”
“Good question.” I paused. “I’ve become pretty good friends with him. And there’s more there, growing underneath the surface. The kiss made that clear. Brought it all up to the forefront.”
“Excellent,” Ryan said as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll just call Dorian and ask him how he feels and we can—”
“NO!”
I slapped the phone out of his hand, sending it sliding across the stage. Both of them watched the phone come to a stop by the curtain, then twisted back to look at me.
“I was mostly joking,” Ryan said defensively. “Mostly.”
“I’ll talk to Dorian when I’m ready,” I said, turning back to Andy. “But how do you feel about Dorian and me kissing?”
“I think… I’m okay with that too,” Andy replied. He seemed to be looking inward. “I’m probing my emotions and there’s nothing jealous there.” He slapped a hand at Ryan’s knee. “Not when I think about you and Nadia, or Dorian and Nadia.”
“That’s fantastic news,” Ryan announced happily. “Because I think we should have a threesome.”