“Nadine!” Deena called out, waving a hand. She was wearing another one of those pantsuits but had removed the jacket in concession to the heat, stripping down to her sleeveless eyelet blouse. “Over here! I got you an old-fashioned. Seemed like your kind of drink.”
She tossed back the rest of her porter and set the glass at the edge of the table as she swung into the indicated seat. “Hey,” she said. “Thanks. How was work?”
“Oh, you know. The usual. Setting budgets. Meeting with the mayor. Pretending I don’t want to take a flamethrower to my desk and just burn the whole lot. What about you?”
Nadine took a sip of her drink. She didn’t actually care much for the taste of whiskey but it gave her something to do with her hands. “It’s been slow. Hey, if I started a hashtag for Noelle, do you think Gideon Crocker would arrest me for obstruction of justice?”
Deena laughed, even though Nadine hadn’t been joking. “Probably not.” She took a sip of her own drink. “But knowing him, he’d take it personally, and you might end up in handcuffs anyway.”
That was exactly what she’d been afraid of. She took a bigger sip of her drink and felt a throb at her temples. The old adage about not mixing alcohols was there for a reason, she thought. This drink was going to her head in a way that the first had not, blurring her up like paint colors swirling through water, making her feel runny and muted.
When Rael inexplicably pulled up a chair to join them, Nadine only felt a small flicker of unease. Deena seemed to like him—maybe Deena just liked everyone.She likes me, after all.
Through the buzz, she heard Deena ask her what she did, so she swirled her drink in her hands and explained to Deena and Rael why she had majored in psychology. “I thought maybe if I took a class in the study of brains, I could figure out my own, you know?” she slurred. “I thought I could figure out why I have so many problems. But now I can’t find a job.”
“I think the current problem is in your hand,” Deena said dryly.
“Yeah, maybe ease back on the sauce if you don’t want to end up in the drunk tank.” Rael took hold of her wrist in one hand so he could pry her fingers from the glass. And then he paused, her hand still in his, glancing over her shoulder at something intently. “Or the shark tank.”
Nadine twisted around to follow his gaze. Cal was crossing the room, still dressed in his fancy lawyer clothes. But he had stopped at the bar to look at them.
Or, more specifically, at their interlocked hands.
“Interesting,” said Deena. “The Prince of Darkness doesn’t usually come down from his castle to mix with us peasants.”
“It’s his father’s castle,” Nadine mumbled, folding her arms on the table. Deena glanced at her oddly.
Cal was ordering a drink that came in a tumbler, like her old-fashioned, but his was clear.Rum, she thought. That was what he’d had in his nightstand.
(Sometimes I can’t sleep)
Her heart skipped and for a moment she felt prickly all over, thinking he was going to join them. But he didn’t. He walked past them, moving in the direction of a vaguely familiar blonde woman who was gesturing him over eagerly. And when he sat down to join her, Nadine hated that woman—so, so much. So much that she felt alarmed by herself.
“Are you all right?” Deena asked.
“I’m fine.” She pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, as if trying to physically force her thoughts back. “I just . . . I think I know that woman.”
“What? Who?”
“The blonde white lady. She poisoned me.”
Yes, that’s why I hate her. That’s the only reason.
“What?” Rael, who had been glancing idly around the bar, looked at her sharply. “Poisoned?”
“At Yunnan Rooster. She fed me corn. I asked her if the prawns were safe and she said yes. But they’re never safe. They’re always battered with corn.” Her face darkened at the memory of the intense cramps that had racked her body. “I’m allergic. It makes me throw up.”
“Well, her name is Nora Adams,” said Rael. “And her father owns the restaurant.”
“Huh. More like Nora I’m-too-lazy-to-look-your-food-up-dams,” Nadine said, oblivious to the bemusement of her small captive audience. She shifted her hair over to one shoulder because her neck felt like it was getting hot, and in her periphery she saw Cal move in his seat, like he had turned to watch her. “Rail,” she said deliberately. “What kind of name is that, anyway? Did your dad name you after a train?” Thinking this particularly clever, she grinned at herself.
Rael’s eyes flicked over her shoulder again and curled in dark amusement. “Rael,” he corrected, before she could turn around and see what was so funny. “It’s the name of an angel.”
“It means lord of light.” Deena took another sip of her drink. “Goddamn, that’s strong. Carol’s going all in today.”
Lord of Light and Prince of Darkness.Nadine giggled to herself, forgetting for a moment that nobody else could hear her thoughts and that she looked incredibly silly.Best friends forever.
“Can I ask you something else?” she asked, leaning forward in a way that made Rael glance away with a strange, almost nervous look on his face. “What did my sister see in Ben? I’ve been thinking about it and I just don’t get it. He seems so wrong for her.”
