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Mitch placed a reassuring hand on her partner’s back. Without a single word uttered, Vanessa understood their position.
“We’ll do what we can to help,” she reluctantly said. “We only ask that you understand these relationships are delicate and might take time to establish.”
“And I askyouto understand that time is of the essence.” Agent James stood up. “I’m about to send those idiots back in here. Don’t tell them any details of what we discussed. It will go to their heads – and become a giant ache in mine. Remember, you are participating under thebureau’sgaze, not the SFPD’s.”
She exited the room. Voices traded jabs in the hallway. Vanessa swallowed the lump in her throat while Mitch folded her arms on the table and put down her head, hood up over her short hair.
What the hell have I done to us?Vanessa couldn’t even bring herself to touch the woman she loved more than herself. It would be like admitting she didn’t know how to fix this, and Mitch had to believe that Vanessa wasinfallible.
So, Vanessa would be infallible. It was the only way out of this.
Chapter 7
TheonlythingMitchcouldn’t decide was if she should wear a thin face of makeup that day. Normally, she only wore cosmetics for a night out as Michelle, to help her keep the wall up between her two compartmentalized identities. Rarely did she have to forego normal sunscreen because her makeup had enough SPF to protect her face from the heat death of the universe.
Today was not a normal day, though. She had to straddle the line between Mitch and Michelle unlike ever before – and she had to do it alone.
Mitch was not above keeping some secrets from Vanessa. For one thing, Vanessa had no idea that Mitch and Luke spent an inordinate amount of their free time playing a tactical mobile game together, and not once had either of them paid for the privilege of upgrades or extra raids on their assigned enemies. Nor did Vanessa know Mitch’s favorite coffee shop to escape to when she needed some time to herself away from home.She definitely doesn’t know what I order there.Matcha latte with whatever scone was in season. It was her treat to herself that made everyday Mitch feel decadent and pampered in ways the spa, clubs, and date nights could not.
She didn’t know that Mitch occasionally vaped behind the Safeway near their house. She would never guess that Mitch had once driven to her brother’s university in SoCal after hearing he was detained by campus police for drinking and fighting.Sometimes, you don’t need to know when I’ve gone down to scream the fear of God into family.She didn’t know that Mitch secretly craved a puppy that she never brought up because she knew they were in no position to properly take care of a dog. There was a neighborhood cat that sometimes strolled onto the property, and Mitch amused herself enough with that.
Today, she donned her usual semi-formal apparel that doubled as her bodyguard uniform. After shrugging into her jacket and spraying her hair into place, she picked up two hues of concealer she kept in her personal makeup drawer and proceeded to lightly contour her face until she highlighted the more feminine features and dialed back what helped her blend into a crowd.
It was strange, looking at herself in this outfit with a face like that, but it achieved what she desired, even if she couldn’t get used to the feeling of “gunk” on her face during the day.
I’m doing it for Vanessa.
She didn’t stop by her partner’s office to say goodbye. Instead, Mitch sent a simple text on her way to her car.“Picking up something in town. Be back in a couple of hours.”
She knew Vanessa peered at her from one of the upstairs windows. All Vanessa could see, however, was the back of Mitch’s head.
It shouldn’t have been so easy to slip away as if she had nothing to hide.
Yet that was how Mitch navigated life, even after falling in love with and swearing her passionate, undying loyalty to Vanessa Richards. She was a specter, a ghost, a shadow simmering beneath the feet of society and watching every move of the world as it slowly spun around the sun. There was little that got by Mitch once she set her sights on something. Her partner may keep some of her own secrets, but Mitch garnered that there were things Vanessa thought were private but were secretly known by the woman who loved her most.I know she listens to way more Taylor Swift than she’ll ever admit.Guilty pleasures were nothing, though.She has been searching for her mother over the past year.That wasn’t something Vanessa would openly talk about until she had more information, and Mitch respectfully stayed out of it. Yet the biggest secret Mitch knew was that her partner, the woman who put the title of lesbian pleasure Domme to shame, had slept with more of her friends and acquaintances than Mitch was permitted to know. For some reason.She’s probably embarrassed.Mitch could have slept with a new person every week before meeting Vanessa, and the woman wouldn’t have batted an eye. Yet for some reason, when it came to herself, she could be quite a prude. Mitch took this to heart when they embraced their biggest fantasies through the power of a scene. It wasn’t only aboutherdesires. Vanessa was as much a part of it and getting off as Mitch.
But Vanessa couldn’t know about this. Not yet.
Mitch drove in silence until she reached the Financial District and parked in the secured underground garage earmarked for those carrying a membership card. Her practical sedan was surrounded by sports cars, armored SUVs, and vintage rides, some of them idling while bodyguards and hired drivers scrolled through social media behind the wheel. Nobody made eye contact with one another as Mitch passed them and entered the elevator taking her to the street.
Unfiltered confidence and the sheer act of “belonging” would get her into Candace Lister’s brunch spot. Mitch knew it, even if the man standing inside the entrance looked at her as if she were lost.
“Excuse me.” Her fingertips danced atop the man’s podium as he inspected her clothing from lapel to hem. “Ms. Lister is expecting me. She requested I meet her here at eleven.”
The man folded his wrinkled hands atop the podium. He wasn’t that much taller than Mitch, but he looked down at her as if she were an insignificant ant in his magnanimous world.
“That’s very odd,” he sarcastically said. “I don’trecallMs. Lister informing me of any guests. Besides,” he sniffed, “she’s not here. Run along, please.”
“I know for a fact she’s here,” Mitch said. “Ask her yourself. Tell her Michelle Cruise has arrived for our brunch date.”
“I will do no such thing. Ms. Lister is quite adamant about being left alone when she’s dining.”
“As I said, I knew she was here.”
Flustered, the man cleared his throat as if no one could catch him in a lie. “Do not make me call security. It makes everything much harder for you and me.”
“All I’m asking is that you check in with Ms. Lister. I think she’d be quite upset if she knew I dropped by and you didn’t let me see her.”
She thought she might have to fight a bit longer to get her way, but the man with too much of a bully complex eventually slammed his book shut and stepped away from the podium with an exasperated grunt. Mitch imagined him approaching Candace with a professional propensity that betrayed the sweat about to bead on his brow. After all, he wasbotheringMs. Lister during her private brunch in her favorite spot.
