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“You do not need to make a vow,” he reminded me. “This is not a bargain.”
“I want to. I want you to know that I feel the same, that I want to preserve our friendship,” I explained. “Eli of Stonecroft, I will not stop being your friend. No being alive, again-alive, or dead will cause me to abandon you.”
The smile he gave me would melt ice on a frigid day. Quietly, he said, “I accept.”
We stood there beside his car a few moments. A part of me wanted to shove him against his car and kiss him again. Another part of me wanted to say “I can’t” and run.
I leaned back and said, “So, I guess this means we agree that sex is an option . . .”
He grinned. “It appears that way.”
I stared at him, waiting. “Well, we had a bargain: One kiss at your choosing. We could start there. I did kiss you earlier.”
“Oh, cupcake, you know me better than that.” His voice was back to the familiar teasing one that I treasured. “I will not ruin this moment by claimingthatkiss. . Unless you are finally inviting me into your bed tonight, I will bid you goodnight.”
I felt nervous. Being with him made me feel as awkward as a virgin at an orgy. This was real, not one of the fantasies of him I indulged in during quality time with a vibrator.
I chickened out. “Not tonight.”
He continued to be silent. When he extended a hand to me, I accepted, and in an instant, I was in his embrace. No kisses. No wandering hands. He simplyhuggedme again. If he’d kissed me, I would have dragged him to my bed. Instead, Eli was making the decision all mine.
“Soon,” I said. “But I need a minute. We . . . I . . . I’m nervous.”
“I’m nervous, too,” he whispered. He released me and walked back to his side of the car. He paused and gave me a smile, and I recalled briefly how many things he’d done to ease my worries. He was good at this.
I walked to my door and jabbed the code into the door. When I stepped into the lobby, I looked back at Eli through the closed heavy glass door and waved. Then I stood and watched him drive away, feeling like a much younger, much less experienced woman. I wasn’t sure I knew how to start this after so long avoiding it. Our kiss had been powerful, and . . . now what?
I sighed and turned toward the firedoor to enter my floor of the building. The light above it must have burned out, so I made a mental note to bitch at the manager in the morning. My vision made the lack of light an improvement, but if my friends visited at night, they’d be stumbling into the umbrella stand or the bench. Having done that in a few drunken moments over the years, I wasn’t going to wish it on anyone else.
I needed to text Tres and cancel lunch. Whatever was going on there with his vaguely Renfield-like behavior, I wasn’t going to be seeing him alone.
I was pulling my phone out of my pocket when a noise drew my attention.
Alice Chaddock stepped out from behind the stairwell. She stood there in an elegant coat and thin heels and stared at me. She took a halting step forward, and I struggled to remain calm.
“Mrs. Chaddock?” I had no idea why—or how—she was in my lobby, but I’d already had at least three more crises than should happen in any month . . . and I was over it. I just needed a long fucking nap. “Whatever this is, can we do this tomorrow?”
She sobbed and threw herself into my arms. I definitely don’t cuddle clients as a rule—and I didn’t evenlikethe widow Chaddock. She was clinging to me, though, arms around me like a determined koala.
“Okay, what happened?” I started, not quite able to detangle her clutching arms. Whatever the damsel-in-distress class was, she took it and aced it. Firmer now, I asked, “Why are you here, Alice?”
I heard footsteps, the unmistakable clack of heels. I looked over Alice’s shoulder and saw another woman about my age standing there. “Who are you?”
Before I could say anything more, something jabbed my upper arm. Sharp. Burning. It felt as if my very bone had cracked, and I swayed under the pain. Everything was wrong. I felt my muscles going loose, and icy agony spiraling down from whatever pricked my arm.
“What . . . have you done?” I slurred as I fell to the floor.
The two women looked down at me. The second one, a stranger, said, “Why is she still talking? Alvin and Jimmy were dead by this point. The maid, too.”
Alice shrugged. “Maybe it’s like a witch thing? She’s freaky strong.”
I was felled by a hug. If I could stand, I’d kick my own ass.
“Here.” The stranger pulled something out of her bag. I couldn’t see what she was holding out, but I hoped to hell it wasn’t a gun.
I managed to say, “Why?”
“Hold on.” Alice crouched beside me and tugged my shirt up.
