Exposed (9 page)

“Don't you think it's odd that every time she drops out of sight, it turns out she was with him?” she prodded. After all, it had to bother Jake.

What was she thinking? She knew for a
fact
that it
bothered Jake—he had practically threatened her the other day, coming by their house and demanding to know where Skyler lived so that he could go get Gaia away from there. Clearly Jake also thought this whole business was a bit strange, which emboldened Liz to stick to her theory.

“What I think is weird is that you're so obsessed with what's going on with them,” Chris grumbled. “I mean, jeez, so what if she
is
playing around behind Jake's back? What's it to you?”

Liz shrugged. She couldn't articulate it well enough. Chris was right—her reaction was strangely visceral. She really
didn't
care who Skyler dated. But the fact was, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something about Skyler and Gaia's dynamic wasn't completely kosher. Not to mention, Gaia hadn't been herself lately. Could it all be related? “I … don't know,” she said finally. “I guess maybe you're right. Maybe it's nothing.”

“I didn't say it was nothing,” Chris interjected testily. “I said, it's nothing that interests
me
. And that I'm not really sure why you should care. I know she's your friend, but it's not like he's talked her into bank robbing or something like that. For all we know, they've been hanging out at his apartment lately—so freaking what? If there's something up, ask her. If you're such close friends as you seem to think you are, she'll tell you, right?” Chris paused, looking self-righteous. “I don't
know what it is about that guy, but he makes the strangest choices,” he muttered, almost to himself. “Yet he always manages to come out smelling like a rose.”

There
it was—the competitive edge that she'd come to expect. “Um, having a momentary attack of sibling rivalry, are we?” Liz asked. She had no idea why Chris always got like this. It was true: Skyler
was
something of a golden boy—off at Columbia, ready to work at their father's business. He was good-looking, poised, and charming. But then, so was Chris. It was as though Chris had some sort of bug up his butt about their brother—like he almost
wanted
to create a competition that wasn't there. In fact, just about the only thing that Skyler had “over” Chris was that he was the oldest. But that was just a technicality, right?

“You said it yourself—you think he's messing with your friend,” Chris continued. “Doesn't that piss you off even the slightest? He's gotten under her skin and may or may not be undermining her relationship with her boyfriend. And you don't even have any control over the situation.” Angry red blotches stood out on his cheeks. Liz realized that he was getting pretty riled up.
Abort mission, abort mission
, she thought. Chris had way too many issues with their brother to be a helpful ally in this situation. If she
was
worried about Gaia, then she was going to have to intervene on her own.

“It
does
piss me off—that's what I was trying to tell you,” she reminded him gently. “But you're right—I'm
probably overreacting. I'm sure I'll feel better once I've had a chance to talk to Gaia. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry I bothered you.”

“Whatever,” Chris snapped.

Liz pushed her chair back from the table, acutely aware of the dull scrape that her chair made against the floor. Now that she'd calmed down a little, she felt more worried than ever—that her fears were founded. But there was a more grounded, rational bent to her anxiety. Ironically, she preferred the blind, misguided panic. It was a more insistent emotion, but one that was easier to dismiss as mere dramatics.

As she slung her bag over her shoulder, she noticed again that she and her brother had gathered quite an audience. The FOHs, now slack jawed, still regarded her. Tammie caught Liz staring and smirked at her knowingly. Liz didn't dignify the behavior with a reaction. She had bigger concerns. For now, she had to find Gaia.

What's
the deal with sibling rivalry? Is it something that's genetically hard-wired? Biologically programmed? A Darwinian imperative?

No, really. Inquiring mind wants to know. 'Cause for my part, I just don't get it.

Of course, it's different for me. Not only am I the baby of the family, but I'm the only girl. So basically I was alternately taunted and coddled by both of my brothers and-let's be real now—pretty much spoiled by my parents, God bless 'em. I've got no cause to complain, to be sure.

LIZ
But if you're going to play that game, then, well, neither does Chris. Yet…

Maybe it's unavoidable, something we're all prone to. After all, the first documented case of sibling rivalry goes way back to the first volume of the good book, suggesting that it's inherent to the human condition. I mean, look at Cain and Abel:

Competition for their father's affection (even if it was only
perceived
competition) was so acute that one killed the other. (Cain. Cain killed Abel. I think. I never went in much for religion. Always very distracted by the cute boys in Sunday school class. But anyway, one of them was killed by the other. Which is all kinds of messed up, if you ask me.) And then of course there were Jacob and Esau and later on Joseph, who was sold into
slavery
by his brothers.

Yeah, I guess sibling rivalry is a pretty whacked-out, powerful emotion.

Other than the mere, very basic fact of being brothers, Chris and Skyler have no reason to compete. They couldn't be more different from each other. Skyler is suave and charming where Chris is energetic, sharp, and cynical in a very funny way. For that reason, both are great to have at parties. Both are very smart, though Skyler is more of a diligent
worker whereas Chris has the “mad genius” thing going—he either excels or flunks, depending on his level of interaction with the material. Not that it matters. He's doing well enough at Village School, and he'll go to a good college. I hate to admit it, but some lower grades in some lame lit classes just don't matter that much when your father's been listed in
Fortune
as many times as ours has. Sick, but true.

Both are great looking, Skyler with his soap-opera eyes and Chris with the all-American-boy appeal. Neither has ever lacked for his share of suitors. And that, too, was never a point of contention for them, of course, since Chris came out so early on.

For that matter, Chris's sexual orientation was never a big thing for any of us. Thankfully, he was self-aware enough to recognize that he was gay, so there wasn't a lot of tortured confusion (well, no more than the usual adolescent angst, anyway).
And my parents really took it in stride. They may have been surprised at first, but they're open-minded and very loving. I don't want to speak for him, but I think what could have been a difficult time for Chris was actually pretty painless.

And the future? Well, again: hate us if you need to, but the future is pretty damn bright for all three Rodkes. My father is a keen businessman, that much is clear. And he chose to go into a business that, as I see it, won't ever go out of style. Women aren't ever going to stop needing cosmetics. Are you kidding me? Once upon a time, little girls wore Barbie lip gloss. Here in New York City they're going for weekly manicures and getting their faces done at Barney's before birthday parties, no joke. Again, sick but true. We've got role models like Madonna and Susan Sarandon—women who are way more gorgeous in their forties and fifties than I might hope to
be in my twenties. And suddenly the bar is that much higher. And Rodke and Simon? Well, it's like the holy grail: one of the most powerful international pharmaceutical companies, leading the way in drug research and development in addition to all of those amazing skin-care products and makeup and stuff. My father's company has the edge on some impressive medical advances. For obvious reasons. And we're all set.

My parents don't play favorites. I think I'm pretty objective, and that's the truth as I see it. I've been told since I was old enough to understand that there's room for all of us in the company business. So there's no reason to feel like any one of us is going to be edged out.

But maybe that's where the sibling rivalry, alpha male thing comes in. Maybe there has to be
one
true leader. I don't like to think about it, but eventually my father won't be around to head the business. Myself, I'd be perfectly
content to be an active partner. Or who even knows? Maybe I'll do something else entirely. But that's just it. That might be the missing piece.
Someone's
going to have to have to step up to take the mantle. To be president. And while it could be worked out equitably—a partnership? I'm not a corporate shark—maybe this is where survival of the fittest comes in. Maybe when it comes to brothers, there is no equity. Maybe it's like a biological, physiological, psychological thing. Maybe it's something my brothers can't avoid, even if they wanted to. And maybe—I think
probably—
it's dangerous.

Maybe, at the end of the day, someone's going to have to come out on top.

GAIA SAT NERVOUSLY, HER FEET propped up on Skyler's coffee table in what she hoped was a casual manner. He would be home any minute now, she assumed, and she had to pull herself together before he was. She grabbed at a magazine and flipped through it idly, realizing a beat too late that she had it upside down.
Get it together, Gaia
, she chided herself. She couldn't allow any indication that she had followed him before, that she had been out with Jake … or that she had come back to his apartment to ransack it in his absence.

Not Afraid
So here she was, just a few hours later, sitting nervously on his couch with her feet propped up in a relaxed pose. The pose was a sham. Gaia was anything but relaxed. She almost couldn't believe that all of her suspicions about Skyler had proven to be true. Although come to think of it, nearly everyone in her life had disappointed her at one point or another, so she didn't know why she should be so terribly surprised.

Okay, Skyler
, she thought with grim determination,
two can play at that game. You like surprises? Well, I've got one for you. However I may have behaved before, I'm back
.

I'm back, and I'm not afraid of you
.

Gaia heard the lock click in Skyler's front door and
steadied herself for his return. Her blood was literally boiling from all she'd uncovered, but she couldn't let Skyler see any difference in her demeanor. At
last
, she thought. She was glad that true to his word (though not, of course, his word to her), Skyler had been out all day. She assumed he'd been in Queens. But who knew? All of her assumptions about him had clearly been false. Anyway, the time alone had given her a chance to do some more rifling through the files she'd found and to copy down key phrases. Words like
gene splicing
and
adrenal suppressor
. Words that suggested someone was playing Frankenstein, planning to create a cadre of government-issued Gaia monsters.

She glanced down at the magazine in her lap.
Maxim—
three months out of date. She had it right-side up, but what was the likelihood Skyler would actually think she was reading that for pleasure?
Unlikely
, she decided. She'd left her schoolbooks at home, so she couldn't turn to those. She was hopelessly behind in English anyway. She grabbed at the television remote control and flicked it on. Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino were involved in complicated verbal banter in
The Devil's Advocate
. Gaia only recognized it because it had been on TNT just about once a night for the past month—also a testament to exactly how much time she had been spending zonked out on Skyler's couch.

“Hey,” Skyler said, walking into the apartment and tossing his keys onto the kitchen counter. “Whatcha watching?”

“Three guesses,” Gaia said, struggling to keep her voice light. As the signs continued to indicate that Skyler was working against her, Gaia found herself increasingly angry at this most recent violation of trust.
Normal Gaia
, she reminded herself.
Be normal
.

“Hmmm…,” Skyler said, pretending to think it over. He glanced at the screen. “Okay, Al Pacino in a suit. Keanu Reeves in a suit. Panoramic skylines of New York City.” He smiled with familiarity. “Could it possibly be
The Devil's Advocate?”

“Thank God for TNT's new classics,” Gaia said dryly. “I think
The Shawshank Redemption
is next.” She actually liked
Shawshank
.

“Ooh, love the new classics,” Skyler agreed. “But sometimes you've gotta stick to the diehards.”

“Die Hard?”
Gaia asked, confused.

Skyler laughed and crossed over to where she sat on the couch. “No, silly,” he teased, ruffling her hair. “Diehards. As in honest-to-God classics. As in, we must be schooled.”

“Let me guess. You brought me
Annie Hall,”
Gaia said.

“Close. Sorry I'm so late. I was stocking up on provisions for our afternoon together.” He grinned,
mock-sheepish. “Well, more like evening now. Sorry it took me so long to get home. Hope you weren't bored.”

Gaia shrugged, hoping that she looked noncommittal, but inwardly she flinched. It was slowly occurring to her that she and Skyler spent an awful lot of time on his couch. Sure, he took her out, but the unspoken rule was that she wasn't “allowed” out on her own. It was almost like she was being held hostage. As if he needed to have constant tabs on her and didn't trust her to be out and about on her own.

Creepy.

Get it together
, she reminded herself again. She forced a bright smile and tried to adopt a neutral gaze. “Awesome! What'd you bring?” she said, wincing again at the sound of the word
awesome
. Who was she, some Prada-toting Friend of Heather's? Ugh.