“The client loved the rebrand design.” She rearranged the colors for the third time.
“They wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for you.” I reached out to caress her forearm, but she stood up. Her eyes were wide, bearing my touch was too much to ask of her.Fine.I wouldn’t ask it of her, but we were plowing through this Infinity Weddings situation.
“That’s not how the company would say it went down,” she argued.
I stood, and she wrapped her flannel around her waist.
“Why didn’t I say anything about the work you did, Nina?”
Her eyes met mine with defiance but also surrender. Then I saw it clear as day. Nina was beyond exhausted. Yes, she had bags under her eyes, but her fatigue went beyond that. Burnout was carving into her soul.
Even if she hadn’t had enough, I had, so I’d make her tell me, and then I’d carry some of her burdens for her.
A knock. We turned our heads toward the front door. Another knock. I made a move to the entry way, but she was faster, eager for a chance to build those walls again.
After she opened the door, I heard a woman’s voice—a hushed thrum of drawn-out vowels, low but tense. Someone was agitated, steamrolling over Nina before she could get a word in. By the time I made it to my feet, there was a thump, and the door smacked the wall. Next thing I knew, a woman I didn’t know was in my apartment.
She was slender with salon-perfect red curls and heels so high wearing them looked like torture. It wasn’t her size, but her need for attention that took up the space. She was in professional clothes, though her skirt rode high enough to toethe line of inappropriate. Her grin was sultry and deliberate, all lacquered lips and white enamel, meant to land, not greet.
I hadn’t heard Nina invite her in, and when my girl came into view, spine stiff, resignation hid behind her mask of neutrality. Nina’s eyes flicked to her belongings still lined by the entry wall, and she gave the most measured nod, eyes closed. So small I’d have missed it if I wasn’t starving for any clues ofus. I drew in a breath, readying myself. Whatever this was, no one was going to make Nina feel fucking small. Not in her home. Not anywhere.
“Hey, Linc,” the redhead said with a sweet tone, “HR announced you’re on medical leave. I tried to reach out, but when I didn’t hear back, I got worried…. And here I am!”
Not for long, bitch.I needed time to figure Nina and myself out. No outsiders meddling.
“Natasha, it is always lovely to see you.” Nina’s voice carried that edge she added when she called me babe.
Natasha.This was someone I worked with, someone on my team. She’d been texting me way more than a coworker should. I hadn’t had the brain power to check those texts; my head swirled every time I looked at letters on the screen. As Natasha sashayed farther into the apartment, pushing past me like she owned the place, reading those texts jumped to my priority list. She eyed Nina’s belongings, directing a malicious smile her way. Then she slipped off her shoes, slow and deliberate, making eye contact with me, as if she was daring me to keep my hands to myself. Straight up off-putting.
“Besides,” she added, “I brought your favorite raspberry danishes from that bakery by work.”
Raspberry danishes. Nina hadn’t known what I’d want at the cupcake shop and brought me a few to try. Nerves stirred in my gut, not butterflies, butmothseating at my insides.
She made a beeline toward the kitchen,barefoot, and flipped every single light switch she ran into, muttering somethingabout it being so dark. With every light that turned on, I squinted my eyes more, then ultimately had to hold my hand over them. Nina had gone above and beyond figuring out how to keep everything as dark as possibleandwork on her computer while keeping an eye on me.
Nina tensed; she wasn’t fond of this Natasha person. I stood next to her, lights overhead glaring into my slitted eyes, but I needed her to know who I’d back.
Giving Nina a half smile, I put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” I said, redirecting my eyes to Natasha who was fumbling around in the kitchen. “I’m not really up for visitors.”
Natasha turned, already halfway through opening the fridge, giving me a sly, flirty smile with her bright-red lips. “I’m not a visitor, silly.”
With ease, she pulled two mugs from the first cabinet she opened, and within a minute, she was working on my espresso machine, her movements certain and unapologetic. Nina couldn’t figure out how to work it until I’d shown her. The stirring of my stomach turned into a gurgle, the moths trying to chew their way out of me.
Nina folded her arms, causing my hand to drop from her shoulder. A restless sour weight settled below my navel. Half dread, half realization. I’d been begging for clues, and the way this woman knew my kitchen better than Nina wasn’t just a clue. It was a billboard. My pulse kicked up, thumping low in my neck and behind my temples, the woosh of it making me dizzy.
“I know how much you like company.” Natasha tilted her head toward me while she arranged the mugs on a tray. “You’re unfortunately saddled with this”—her eyes flicked to Nina—“caretaker. I thought I’d at least offer better entertainment.”
Nina just shrugged, not bothered by what this viper had to say about her. But I did. I opened my mouth to respond, but Natasha bulldozed over me. “HR said as much. You needconstant supervision, and well, Nina has nothing better to do. I wish you’d called when you were admitted. Anything would be better than getting stuck with Nina, regardless that she’s related to your buddy.” She smirked.
I widened my eyes while meeting Nina’s. “Bitches would be bitches,” she muttered low enough that Natasha couldn’t hear. Nina steeled herself, tensing against the inevitable. She wasusedto this shit. Well, I wasn’t.
Natasha arranged the pastries on little dessert plates as if getting ready for a tea party. I hadn’t even known I had dessert plates, but here this piece of work was staking some sort of bullshit domestic claim. Her ease in my kitchen transformed the flapping of those moths into savage scratching. Nina wouldn’t have found those plates. Yet this woman knew exactly where they were.
No.Justno.
I walked into the kitchen, and Natasha fixed her gaze on Nina and sneered. My breathing heaved, gathering in my lungs and bubbling until it got jammed in my throat. Fury seeped into my body, a hard knot I couldn’t swallow down. It just radiated from my chest, climbing up until my vocal cords burned with the need to light something on fire. And I would have. The anger settling inside me and the urge to speak harshly were familiar, intimate. So much I had a cruel response ready, at the tip of my tongue, but Nina lunged toward me.
My ire didn’t disappear, though, it just simmered, Nina’s hand on my elbow helping me keep it in check.
