“You shouldn’t be standing around when there’s a slow song, Peanut,” Grant said. He undoubtedly wore his most charming smile.
“I’m here with Jared, Grant,” I sneered.
“Oh, c’mon,” Grant grinned. “Just one dance?”
“No.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You look,” he gave me a once-over, “incredible. Red is…wow.”
“Thank you,” I said, looking in every direction but his.
“Are you sure you—,” he said, trailing off. “Jared! Nice to see you.”
The pleasant expression on Jared’s face as he handed me the smal , plastic cup faded abruptly when he turned to Grant. “I wish I could concur,”
Jared said, noticeably restrained. “You might have better luck with the interns,” he nodded to a dark corner of the room, “who are spiking their punch, and might be more susceptible to your persistence.”
Grant’s smile didn’t budge. “Happy Holidays to you both.”
“Merry Christmas,” Jared said.
The people around us were beginning to stare, so I looked to the floor, attempting to downplay the spectacle Jared had made.
“What is with you?” I said, trying to keep my head down.
“I didn’t want him to be under the impression that I liked him.”
“You made your point. Now, can you please be the reserved, control ed Jared I know and love? I need to earn the respect of the people here.”
“I’m sorry,” Jared said, kissing my hair.
“Nina?” a voice call ed from across the room. I winced at the horrid sound, and then turned to see Sasha barreling toward me with someone in tow.
“Practice what you preach,” Jared said with a contrived smile.
Sasha's annoying smirk twisted her face in a way that made her already sharp features seem cartoon-like. She gestured to the brawny, dark- headed man behind her.
“I’d like for you to meet my date, Ryan Scott. Ryan, this is a fel ow intern of mine, Nina Grey.”
I couldn’t hide the instant shock and dismay that came over me.
Ryan held out his hand. “Intern? Doesn’t she run the company?” he winked.
Sasha laughed once, caught. “Er…not yet.”
I took Ryan’s hand. “I believe we’ve met.”
“Oh?” Sasha said, genuinely intrigued.
Ryan glanced at Jared, and then back at me. “Could I…steal you for a minute?”
“No,” Jared said without pause.
I chuckled nervously, and then peered up at Jared from under my lashes. “Sweetheart, I’ll just be a minute.”
Jared frowned, but he didn’t argue.
“Wel ,” Sasha said to Jared in her high-pitched, irritating voice, “I guess it’s just you and me, then.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said, staring directly at Sasha.
Ryan held me by the arm, quickly stopping in a quiet corner. “I thought we had a deal.”
“A deal?” I hissed. “I agreed that I owed you for helping me fool Jared. I didn’t say I would help you talk to Claire. Ambushing her is not a good idea.”
He sighed. “Wel , I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. My partner was murdered, and I think it has something to do with the other police deaths over the last year. I think they’re al connected. I need to talk to her before I can get my head on straight enough to investigate this. It’s big, Nina.
Real y big, and I can’t focus on it if my mind is always on Claire.”
“You’re investigating the police murders?”
Ryan’s features were so stern I was suddenly nervous. “Not official y. Anderson and I were both on the case before he was kil ed. I wasn’t sure before that they were connected, but now that Kit’s dead…I know. Even the one’s that appeared to be accidents.”
“Listen—,” I began, but Ryan cut me off.
“No, you listen. I’m in a lot of trouble. No one else at the station knows what we were up to, and if they did, they’re not going to let a rookie take the case. They kil ed my partner, Nina. It’s personal. But, if I don’t figure this out soon, you can kiss my ass goodbye. This is serious, and I need to be focused, and Claire’s eyes above me in that hel hole is al I can think about.”
“Are you finished?” I said, irritated.
“No,” he said, frowning. “And, just so you know: I’m real y, real y sorry.”
“For what?” I said, returning his expression.
Ryan grabbed each side of my face, and kissed me. Not just any kiss; his tongue was inside my mouth, and he kissed me so passionately, it was beyond obscene in front of everyone I worked with, not to mention my fiancé.
Before the embarrassment soaked in, Ryan was thrown across the room, and slid on his side along the dance floor, stopping just before he crashed into the DJ station.
The music abruptly cut off, clearing the air for the screams and audible panic.
“Jared, stop!” I shouted, watching him charge.
I ran across the wooden floor, hoping to stop any bloodshed, but before I reached Ryan, Claire appeared in front of him, in a protective stance, facing her brother.
Jared stood motionless, breathing heavily from the angry adrenaline running through his veins. “He did it…on purpose,” Jared huffed.
“And you played right into his plan,” Claire said, livid. She turned to Ryan. “Kissing my sister? That’s how you planned to get my attention?” she said, pul ing him up by his tie.
Ryan choked a bit before loosening up the knot around his neck, and then smiled. “I did what I had to,” he said to Claire, and then looked to Jared, “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care what you’re reasons are, don’t ever touch Nina like that again. I can’t kil you, but I’ll make you wish you were dead.” Jared grabbed my hand, and then led me from the party, down two flights of stairs, and out to the parking lot.
When we reached the Escalade, I covered my mouth with one hand. Jared was stil angry, but when he looked at me, I couldn’t help but smile.
“He so got you,” I said, trying not to laugh out loud.
Jared smiled. “He did, didn’t he?”
We both laughed aloud, uncontrol ably, more than we had ever done before. By the time we were finished, I was breathless, and the muscles in my stomach were sore and tight.
We drove home, hand in hand, smiling at one another at each stoplight. Ryan final y getting face time with Claire should have been a disaster, but a sense of relief surrounded us, as if our group was final y complete. I had no idea what Claire would tel Ryan—how much truth she would real y share—but Ryan being Claire’s Taleh, and the fact that he was now in love with her, was proof that we were supposed to be in each others lives.
Jared’s prediction was wide of the mark, but he had never looked so happy to be wrong since we’d met.
The next day, I awoke to large flakes of snow fal ing graceful y from the sky. Each fluffy white piece drifted downward as if it were orchestrating its own symphony. Looking out the window, the ground was already covered in at least two feet of snow, and the gray clouds above didn’t foretel anything but more of the same.
“It’s been like that since four A.M.,” Bex said from the hal way.
I tightened my robe around me, and opened the door.
Bex stood before me, bored and holding a half-eaten apple. He took another bite, crunching loudly. “He’s bringing coffee.”
“Good,” I said, leaving him to head for the bathroom.
Steam from the shower quickly surrounded me, but before I rinsed the shampoo from my hair, I heard the door open.
“Jared?”
“It’s me,” Claire said, shutting the door behind her.
I peered through the fuzzy glass, barely able to make out her tiny frame. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been up al night with Ryan. We talked a lot. We fought more.”
“Oh? About what?”
“About what he saw in the desert, and if I was there or not. He knows the men that stabbed him last year were cops. He knows a lot more than we thought. Final y…,” she sighed, “final y I just told him.”
“Everything? You confessed about the other cops, and the commissioner? About Anderson, and…and about what you are?”
“Not yet.”
“How did you explain without tel ing him everything?”
“I promised I would explain later.” She frowned. “It doesn’t feel right to tel him, Nina. We were raised on the belief that this secret kept our family safe.”
“Then don’t tel him until it feels right.”
“What if it never feels right?”
“I don’t know,” I said, turning off the water. A towel flew up and over the shower door, landing on my head. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Claire said, shutting the door behind her.
By the time I was dressed and ready, Claire, Jared and Bex were downstairs in the kitchen, discussing Ryan. Just by entering the room, it was obvious it was not a constructive conversation.
“You’re such a hypocrite!” Claire growled.
Jared slammed the side of his fist on the table. “Are you in love with him?”
“No!”
“Then it’s a different scenario!” Jared glanced in my direction, and then took a breath, attempting a calmer tone. “You said it yourself. It doesn’t feel right to tel him.”
I sat down, scanning the siblings with my eyes before speaking. Outwardly, Claire was angry. But her eyes were begging for understanding.
Tel ing Ryan anything was a huge step for her, and just as Jared struggled with it two years before, Claire was now fighting with her conflicting feelings. She needed her brothers to support her I took a seat across from Jared, and next to Claire. The choice was meaningful, and I hoped that they would notice. “Maybe Claire is looking for your blessing, Jared,” I said.
“Or just some understanding,” she grumbled.
Bex stood up, and walked across the kitchen, picking up a plate, and then setting in front of me. It was an omelet, loaded with ham, green onion, mushrooms, and cheese.
“Thanks,” I smiled.
Bex nodded, and then touched his sister's shoulder. “Claire, I love you. But if you’d take a step back and think about this. Ryan is a cop. He’s investigating murders you committed. What do you think he’s going to do when you tel him you murdered his partner? You think he's going to forgive you because he saw your eyes in the desert?”
“The partner that orchestrated his kidnapping and ultimate demise,” Claire said. “Listen,” she sighed, “I know how it looks on paper. I may not be in love with Ryan, but he says he’s in love with me. If he listens to what I have to say, and I approach it careful y, I think he could be an asset.”
“We can’t take that chance,” Jared said, finality in his voice.
Claire stood, her palms flat on the table. “You took the same chance when you told Nina, and she wasn’t even an asset! Her life has spun out of control since the second you revealed yourself to her, Jared. At least let me make my own decision, like you did!”
Jared's nose wrinkled in disgust. “You were on me for months about Nina, Claire! How quickly you forget the hours I spent listening to your lectures on doing the right thing. Keep the secret. Keep the secret! That's been your mantra for years!”
Tears fil ed Claire’s eyes as her face turned red. “Coming from you!” she screamed. “You know what it’s like to have no one, and you know what it’s like to final y be free of the burden of what we are; to have someone else besides your mother, or your brothers to confide in! I have no one, Jared! You’ve lived it, and you stil deny me the liberation you insisted on?”
Jared shifted in his seat, but I could see in his eyes he would not yield. Claire saw it, too.
“Go to hel !” she shrieked before storming out of the house. She slammed the door with such force that the surrounding painting and pictures on the wal fel from their nails, and crashed to the floor.
“You’re making a mistake,” I said, meeting Jared’s obstinate stare. “Claire, wait!” I yel ed, hoping she would hear it before she sped away. I ran outside, stopping at the Lotus.
Claire wiped her eyes. “Sorry. I cry when I’m mad.”
“I do, too,” I said, offering an apologetic smile.
“He asked me to go to Anderson’s funeral.” Claire focused her eyes straight forward, too emotional to make eye contact.
“Are you going?”
“I couldn’t think of a good enough reason when he asked, but I shouldn’t. It’s wrong.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Claire’s ice blue eyes darted up in surprise. “You wil ?”
“Yeah,” I said. “When?”
“In an hour,” she said, attempting to mask her hopeful expression.
I looked at my watch. “Okay. Give me a minute to get dressed.”
Jared frowned as I slipped on a demure black dress. I sat down on the bed to pul up my black stockings, and he sat beside me.
“This is inappropriate on so many levels,” he said.
“Kind of like you sitting next to the reason your father lost his life on the night he died?” I said, slipping on my heels. Jared helped me with my coat, and then I poked a pearl earring into each of my ears. I turned, cupping his jaw with my hands. “Your point is justifiable, but it is her choice, Jared, just like it was yours. Trust Claire to make her own decision. She’s never let you down before.”
“She’s never wanted to tel before.”
“Then that’s your answer,” I said, kissing his soft, warm lips. His mouth lingered on mine, and then I pul ed away, knowing Claire was anxiously waiting.