A Risky Proposition (38 page)

I chuckled at her contagious enthusiasm.  “I suppose it is, Hannah.  What can I do for you?”

“I am so sorry to bother you,” she said, her tone sincere, “but it is time for the annual business renewal, and I have forgotten to give it to you in your papers on Monday.  I would save it for next week, but the deadline is Tuesday, you understand?  Could you possibly come by this afternoon and pick it up?  You know how hopeless I am with paperwork!”

I let out a breath of relief that she hadn’t asked me about the growing balance D.J.D. owed her.  It wasn’t as if I could do anything about it, but I knew she could use the money.  Her meager sales figures revealed how painfully slow summer business had been. 

“Of course, Hannah—no problem.  I’ll be by before you close.”

“
Merci beaucoup
, Sydney—you are the best!  Also—I wanted to let you know I received a call from your Jeremy yesterday.  He said he wanted to drop off some of your things but could not remember your apartment number and could not get hold of you.  I told him you were in the tenth floor penthouse at the hotel, which seemed to confuse him.  I hope I did not make a problem for you.”

I had a flashback to sixth grade and the time I told my mom I was going to my friend’s house, when I was really riding my bike to go meet a boy.  I neglected to warn my friend and she showed up at my house looking for me.

Never
use someone as an alibi without telling them so they can cover for you.

“No.  It wasn’t a problem, Hannah,” I lied.

“Very good—I am glad to hear it.  So I will see you later then!”  She hung up.

I managed a self-deprecating smile and shook my head.  “Looks like we’ll be stopping by Hannah’s on our way to sashimi and sake tonight.”

“I’ll stay by the car and watch for suspicious activity,” Sunny returned with a distracted grin.

I snorted as I went back to my stack of sales figures.  Unlike Hannah, D.J.D. seemed to be doing relatively well for off season, which made me feel even worse that they were getting so far behind on her balance again.

A timid knock at the door interrupted my attempt at concentration.  I rose to open it and found Angelica hovering there with a look of distress twisting her features.  Her blue eyes were dull and glassy in her pale face, and her perfect skin was blotchy, as if she’d been crying. 

I reached for her slim shoulders and pulled her inside, putting my arm around her as I closed the door and led her toward the couch.

“Angelica, what happened?” I asked as tears began silently coursing down her cheeks.

Sunny looked up, her questioning gaze transforming into a worried frown.  “Hey, what’s the matter?”  She sat up straighter.  “Did that guy you’ve been seeing do something to upset you?  I told you if he couldn’t accept you for what you are he doesn’t deserve you!” she insisted with staunch sympathy.

“No!  He…I…”  She looked at me in desperation and her tears began to flow faster.  “I’m afraid I have done something unforgivable, Sydney,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“I doubt that, Angelica,” I denied gently.  “What is it?  It can’t be
that
bad,” I said with a teasing smile.

She blinked at me, tears clinging to her lush eyelashes in tiny droplets.  “You must believe me.  I did not realize until last night.  I would never have knowingly betrayed you.”

A sinking trepidation settled low in the pit of my stomach as I waited for her to continue.

Angelica seemed unable to hold my gaze and looked down at her hands, her graceful fingers wringing anxiously in her lap.  “The man I have been seeing, the one I have been telling you about…”

My dread grew heavier as my mind whirled through unpleasant scenarios involving her lover having a connection to the death djinns, and her unwittingly revealing something they could use to compel me or sabotage Sparrow’s investigation.

“It’s your Jeremy,” she finished on a quiet exhalation of anguish.

I blinked at her in confusion, wondering what Jeremy could possibly have to do with anything.  Then her meaning hit me and the breath left my body in a rush.  Sunny and I both stared at her in shock.  My hand flew to my mouth, muffling the disbelieving word that spilled from it, “How?”

Her eyes flew to mine, their hollow blue depths imploring my forgiveness.  “I am so sorry, Sydney.  From the beginning I felt that there was something familiar about him, but I had no idea he was yours.  I have grown so close to you over these past weeks, and I have felt your sexual frustration and desire for your Agent Sparrow so strongly—I must have unconsciously followed your connection with Jeremy.”  Her head dropped.

“I ..” I began faintly, struggling to break through the stunned vacancy that fogged my brain. 

“It’s not your fault Angelica,” I said finally.  “You didn’t know.  I mean, it’s not as if he hasn’t cheated on me before.”

She cringed at the note of bitterness in my voice.  “But that’s just it, Sydney,” she rushed on.  “You mustn’t blame Jeremy for this—he did not know until last night that I was anything but a dream.  He was terrified when he saw me here!”

I remembered the haunted look on Jeremy’s face and his sudden departure began to make more sense.  I’d thought it was because of Sparrow, but Jeremy couldn’t have known that he was my date.  He could just as easily have been there for Sunny or Angelica.

“When I appeared to him afterward, it took me long hours to calm him and explain.  When he finally accepted the truth, he was greatly distressed that he had shared sexual pleasure with someone other than you—especially someone who you considered a friend! 

“Jeremy is consumed by a terrible guilt.  This is the reason he resisted me, even in his dreams.  He fears that you will never forgive him, Sydney…and I fear that he will never forgive
me
,” she added softly, her eyes drifting away from mine. 

“But there is more that you should know,” she insisted, taking a deep breath as her expression settled into a pained resolve.  “Jeremy and I spoke long into the night, and much of our discussion revolved around you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, envisioning mortifying discussions about the intimate details of our former sex life, and wondering just how much she had told him about my current situation.

“Do not misunderstand me, Sydney,” Angelica interjected.  “I told Jeremy nothing about your death djinn involvement, nor did I mention anything about Agent Sparrow.  He very much wanted to know what had been going on during your separation, but I told him that as a friend I could not abuse your confidence in such a manner.”

I beamed a grateful look in her direction.

“It was his feelings for you and the events leading up to his betrayal of your monogamy which he described to me.  He told me about the woman from his office with whom he shared sexual pleasures—the one you called ‘tramp’? 

“He described his confusion and guilt afterward, and referred to the entire experience as having been dream-like and unreal, saying that he couldn’t believe he had done such a thing.”

I felt my lips pucker in an expression of disgust and Sunny rolled her eyes at me in commiseration.  I wasn’t impressed by Jeremy’s sob story.  Confusion and guilt were the least of what he deserved. 

“Angelica, I know you don’t really believe in monogamy, but Jeremy and I were married—and that’s supposed to mean something,” I told her, my tone sharper than I intended.

“Please Sydney, hear me out,” she entreated.  “There was something that didn’t seem right to me about Jeremy’s story.  So I went to his office today, to satisfy my own curiosity and see this woman for myself. 

“Her name is Edie.  She is a succubus, Sydney—and not a very nice one.  She chooses to live and work in the mortal world, as I do, but for her own twisted purposes.  She takes pleasure in seducing married men outside the dream state.  The more they resist her, the harder she tries to break their will.”

I gaped at her.  “Are you telling me that she
forced
Jeremy to have sex with her?”

Angelica’s fingertips skimmed lightly across her forehead as she sighed.  “No.  I wouldn’t put it that strongly.  What I’m saying is that I know her, and she would not have stopped trying to seduce him until he gave in.  She could not force him, but as he continued to resist her advances, she would have increased the intensity of her seduction. 

“It is true that at least a part of him had to want her and be willing to experience the pleasures she offered—but you must realize how difficult it is to resist a succubus intent upon seduction.  It is our specialty and we have refined the art over millennia.  Even more so than the death djinns.”  She gave me an apologetic but pointed look.

I dropped my head into my hands as the implication of her words sank in, a humorless little laugh escaping my lips.  This changed everything.  Or at least it made everything more complicated. 

“What a mess,” I mumbled hoarsely.

“I did not tell Jeremy about Edie,” Angelica stated.

I gave her a quizzical look.

“I have interfered enough,” she said in a resigned voice.  “But despite what you may feel toward me, you should talk to Jeremy.  He suffers greatly, Sydney, and truly did not mean to hurt you.  It is up to you whether to tell him this thing or not.”

I sank back into the couch cushions and closed my eyes, allowing silence to fall between us.

“What are you gonna do, Syd?” Sunny ventured after a long moment.

I scoffed limply.  “I have no idea what to do.  Everything’s so confused.  On the one hand, knowing that Jeremy was unwittingly seduced by a damn-near-impossible-to-resist succubus makes me feel a whole lot better.  But on the other hand, things would have been much simpler if he had remained the cheating asshole I thought he was.” 

I opened my eyes and tilted my head toward Angelica.  “I don’t blame you for any of this, you know.”

She blinked at me uncertainly as a wordless sob shuddered through her slender frame.  Then she broke into a teary smile and leaned over to hug me tight.  “I was so worried that you would hate me,” she whispered with a delicate sniff.

I squeezed her back and hummed a rueful murmur of denial.  “I could never hate you, Angelica.  You know you’ll always be my favorite succubus.”

She exhaled a fractured laugh.  “You are sweet, Sydney.  But I think I am also the only succubus you know.”

Sunny snorted mirthfully under her breath.

I wondered whether Angelica intended to continue her relationship with Jeremy, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to ask.  My emotions were too mixed up to deal with intimate images of my friend and my not quite ex-husband. 

Nor was I particularly eager to initiate the Edie discussion—although Jeremy did deserve to know he’d been magically seduced.

I comforted myself with the morbidly amusing thought that, if things went wrong with the Hell Ride tonight, I wouldn’t have to deal with any of it.  I felt guilty for not telling Sunny or Lorien what I was planning, but I’d made up my mind, and I didn’t want to be talked out of it.  Knowing Jeremy hadn’t been completely at fault for cheating only strengthened my resolve. 

I was through being a helpless pawn of the magical forces around me.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“I’ll be right back.”  I left Sunny in the running car and jumped out to dash into Hannah’s shop.  It was almost five, and not only was Hannah about to close, but we had twenty minutes to make our reservation at the hot new sushi place Sunny wanted to try.

I reflected on my luck in finding a parking space in front of Hannah’s, but decided with a grimace that Lorien was probably still too pissed at me to be assisting with such menial comforts.  It had to be the time of day and the fact that it was off season.

I nearly ran right into a tall, well-dressed woman who was exiting the cool interior of Haute Hannah’s.  My face erupted into a chagrinned smile as I looked up at her.  “Sorry about that!”

“Not to worry, dear,” she answered, winking at me as she passed.  I stopped dead, staring after her as unease blossomed through me.  She had striking hazel eyes, but there were unmistakable green flames burning within their depths.

“Hannah?” I called as I stepped into the sparkling ambiance of the deserted shop.  There was no answer and my heart skipped a beat.  I rushed toward the back office in panic.

The door swung open to produce Hannah, humming to herself as she counted an impressive stack of hundred dollar bills.  I was so relieved to see her that I gasped, and was inundated by an overwhelming cloud of French perfume.  I made a choking noise as I attempted to exhale the cloying scent.  She looked up at me in surprise and quickly stuffed the cash in a drawer.

“Oh Sydney!  Good, I was just about to close up for the day!  I have the forms right here.  They are Greek to me, but I am sure you will figure them out in no time.  I thank you again for coming by on such short notice.”  She smiled as she handed me the papers, seeming even more chipper than usual.

“It’s no problem, Hannah,” I murmured, studying her with concern.  “So did the woman who just left buy something?”

Her smile faltered.

“I thought I recognized her from somewhere,” I added, watching Hannah for any sign that she was in trouble.  “Has she been here before?”