“There you are.” Sheila’s waspish tone cut through the air.
River’s eyebrow twitched as Sheila almost stomped up next to Marina and draped her arm around Marina’s shoulders.
“You said you’d come right back. Of course, I should have known you’d be cornered by any lesbian in a hundred-foot radius. Even one without a chance.” Sheila tilted her head. “Unless this is a friend of yours, Marina?” The way she looked at River made it clear that Marina should have no such thing.
“Actually, this is River Rigel. She’s one of the business owners in South Shore. River, this is Sheila Black, of Black Pinnacle.” Marina didn’t know why she said it. Sheila wouldn’t give a rat’s nipple who River was, only that she was taking up time Sheila felt was hers. But she wanted…needed…River to know she wasn’t on a date with this woman who looked at River like she was something to be scraped off the sidewalk.
“Oh.” Sheila looked away, her expression one of boredom. “Well, tonight isn’t about business. If you want to talk to my attorney about the offer, you can do so on Monday. Marina, shall we?” She lightly tugged on Marina’s arm, her fingernails digging in just a touch.
“Of course. River, it was good to see you again.” Marina met River’s gaze and winced. She didn’t look angry. If anything, she seemed disappointed. Why did that feel so much worse?
“Take care of yourself, Marina. Remember what I said at the restaurant that first time.” She gave Sheila a nod that was beautifully close to one of dismissal and then headed inside.
“Restaurant?” Sheila hissed as they headed up the stairs toward the box. “You’ve gone out with that…her?”
Marina stopped and looked at her. “It was before you and I met. And although I appreciate you have a certain belief about social standing, please don’t demean anyone I know based onanything you don’t.” When Sheila’s eyes widened, and then narrowed, Marina held up her hand. “You didn’t decide you like me because I’m a doormat.”
Sheila’s head tilted, and then she laughed. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter who you were with before me. So long as I’m your focus when we’re together.”
Marina sighed and was unable to pay attention to the rest of the show. Sheila’s assertion made it sound like she considered Marina more than just an attorney, despite the line she’d drawn in the sand. And no one on earth had the right to think of her as property or judge who she was outside the office. Was the price of doing business with Sheila Black worth the dent it was going to put in her self-esteem?
CHAPTER 16
After droppingCherry off at her place and forgoing the invitation for some rough and ready playtime, though that would have released more than a bit of tension, River stopped at her front door and looked at the shadow dancing between the trees at the edge of her property. Snow dusted the grass like fine sugar and continued to fall in light swirls tinted yellow by the streetlamps. The vague figure moved forward.
“You can come closer. Can I help?” River asked softly. Why was this spirit hanging around her house?
The ghost moved closer, and the frizzing, frantic energy it had exhibited before had dimmed somewhat. Now it just seemed…irked. It came closer, and River got a sense of long hair. The person had been short, and maybe young. Normally spirits who’d crossed over recently kept their form, but this one was indistinct.Weird. River held out her hand. “I may be able to get a better sense of what you want if you touch me.”
The figure’s hand came up slowly. A car drove past, backfired, and the ghost shimmered into mist and darted back into the shadows.
River sighed and headed into the house. Another time then. She was too tired to go chasing anything non-physical tonight.Hell, she’d even turned down Cherry, and their sexy time was a great way to work off tension. There was never anything gentle or slow between them. Cherry liked a bit of kink, and River was happy to comply.
But tonight…the whole situation with Marina had turned her mood sour. The head of Black Pinnacle was a ball of sludgy black energy, a narcissistic void of decency and kindness. And that wasn’t just because River knew what she did for a living. Her aura had been swallowed by the darkness, and it slid over the people around her like an invasive vine looking for a foothold in other people’s souls.
She shuddered. When she’d seen Marina standing outside, looking utterly stunning in that blue dress, she’d put her hand to her chest to keep her heart from making a break for it and leaping for Marina. But then she’d seen the strange energy around her and could tell she felt out of place and…what was it? Not fear. Discomfort maybe? Yeah. That was it. And when Black had come out and put her arm around her like that, Marina’s whole being had shrunk away from her to the point that River had wanted to gently pull Marina away, out of range.
But it wasn’t her place, and Marina had followed the woman back into the theatre without so much as a backward glance. Because that was her life. That was who she was working for.
River climbed upstairs and hung up the suit she hardly ever wore. She’d liked the way Marina had looked at her in it. Not that it mattered, of course. She’d never wear it to go anywhere with Marina. Still, it was nice to be appreciated by a beautiful woman.
The phone rang, and she frowned. It was nearly eleven at night. “Audrey? What’s wrong?”
“Can you come to my place? Tony has been taken to the hospital. They think it’s a heart attack. I couldn’t go with him, and I need to get all his medications?—”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” River hung up and threw on jeans. Audrey’s husband was a marathon runner. He ate far better than anyone she knew, took care of himself, drank protein shakes. They worked out together at the gym once in a while. How did someone so healthy have a heart attack?
She was at Audrey’s in nine minutes, and the house was a tornado of clothing and papers as Audrey rushed from room to room, but it didn’t look like she was doing anything but creating more mess. “Hey. Stop.” River grabbed Audrey’s shoulders. “Breathe.”
Audrey’s face was blotchy from crying and her eyes were red. “I can’t lose him.”
“I know. Let’s focus and get to the hospital, okay? First, where’s the bag we’re bringing with us?”
The simple question helped Audrey focus and together they gathered some clothes, his few medications, and some toiletries. As they headed to the hospital, she asked Audrey what had happened.
“We were eating dinner, and suddenly he went really pale. Like buttercream frosting. And then he said he felt strange, and his left arm hurt, and his chest…” She wiped at her nose. “I called 911, and they were there in minutes. They put electrodes on his chest and took him so fast.”
River shuddered. Losing people close to her was a shitshow. Not only did she need to deal with her own grief and whatever she needed to say to them, but she had to see the desperation and loss in their eyes as they watched the people they’d left behind grieving. And the people left behind turned to her to tell them everything they hadn’t been able to say.Please let him pull through this. “He’s tough and healthy. And there’s no way he’d leave you to do the cooking at home.”
