Ice slid behind her gaze at that, and she turned toward the elevator doors just as they opened. “Yes, well, I don’t miss anything about Boston.”
My next swallow felt like I had a throat full of razor blades.
Ariana shot out of the elevator, and then waited without looking at me until I joined her and gestured to the left. “Let’s try the video review room.”
She nodded and followed my lead. After we’d walked a few steps, I noticed her wringing her hands together, her lip between her teeth like she was a woman about to walk death row.
“You okay?” I asked.
Ariana glanced at me from the corner of her eyes before plastering on her best smile and forcing a breath. “Fine. I just… he’s going to kill me for being so stupid.”
I frowned, wondering what the hellthatmeant, but before I could ask, the man we were looking for found us, instead.
“Well, what a pleasant surprise this is,” he sang, even as his eyes sliced between me and his wife like he’d caught us in bed together rather than walking with two feet between us. “Ariana, sweetheart, what are you doing here?”
Too quickly, Ariana was gone from my side and pulled into his. I heard them kiss even as I looked away with the excuse of saying a polite hello to Jeremy, Nathan’s senior advisor. He’d been senior advisor to Dick, and because Nathan had rolled in so close to the season, he remained in his position, at least for now.
“We’ll continue this conversation later,” Nathan said to Jeremy then, and the way he leveled a gaze at the man had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I’d never seen Jeremy look so ashen as he did in that moment, and his eyes skirted to mine only briefly before he nodded and excused himself.
What the…
“I’m so sorry to bother you at work,” Ariana said. “I… I somehow misplaced my key and found myself locked out of the house.”
I smiled at the innocence of that confession, at how many times Ariana had been forgetful when we were younger. I’d often teased her that her head was in the clouds, daydreaming about how to save the world when she’d leave her purse or phone at a restaurant we’d eaten at. She was always so apologetic, which I’d laughed at.
Why the hell are you apologizing for something everyone does?
Truthfully, I’d always loved when she forgot something. It meant I had more time with her. I remembered one night we got caught in the snow when we had to trace our steps back to a bar we’d been at near campus because she’d left her scarf. I loved theway the flecks stuck to her hair and eyelashes as we laughed and did our best not to slip and break our damned necks on the way home.
“You lost your key,” Nathan repeated, and he was smiling, but it was as if that smile was a thin veil for his true feelings about this fact. “The one I specifically told you to keep on a keychain or hooked to your purse or whatever you needed to do because we have yet to have any spares made?”
He laughed as he said it, pulling Ariana into his side as he rubbed her arm.
I didn’t miss the way she flinched, tucking her chin to her chest.
And I saw fucking red.
“I just misplaced it,” she murmured in argument, but Nathan guffawed louder to drown her out, even as his grip on her intensified.
“Ah, women, am I right, Shane?” Nathan said to me, still laughing, like I was his fucking buddy, and Ariana was the butt of all our jokes. “It’s a good thing you’re beautiful, my love. And that I am a responsible man who doesn’t misplace anything.”
I watched Ariana at that — how her shoulders drew in a fraction, how she tucked herself closer to him instead of away, like she’d learned that smaller was safer. Her smile stayed in place, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Nathan’s own smile fell instantly with that word, and he released her, digging into the pocket of his slacks. He pulled out a simple silver key ring and pressed it sharply into her palm.
“Huh,” I said loudly, unable to help myself as I slid my hands into my pockets and grinned at Nathan. “So interesting to me that you have a key to your house instead of a keypad. What is this, 1980?”
Nathan blinked at me, clearly unsure if I was fucking with him. Ariana didn’t laugh. Her fingers closed around the keyinstead, knuckles whitening before she seemed to catch herself and loosen her grip.
I stood my ground, shrugging. “Just saying, I don’t know anyone these days who uses a key. I know you two just moved in. Do you need some help? I can stop by and replace the door mechanism in a jiffy. It’s easy. Takes ten minutes tops. And then you can join us all in the twenty-first century.”
Nathan blinked slowly, assessing. Meanwhile, Ariana’s gaze flicked to him — quick and cautious, like she was gauging how he’d take it.
Like she was bracing.
“The lock isn’t the problem,” he said finally, forcing his smile back into place. “It’s my dear sweet wife here who would lose her own head if it weren’t attached.”
He hooked his arm around her again and kissed the top of her hair, but she stiffened beneath him.
