Wuthering Frights (6 page)

Knight closed the door behind him as I seated myself in one of the two visitor's chairs across from his large oak desk. He took his chair and reclined backwards in it, studying me curiously.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," I started as I gulped down the sudden sense of foreboding that flooded me. I'd rehearsed this scene over and over in my head until it was as regular as clockwork. But now that I was actually here, I wasn't sure I could go through with it. ‘Course there was no abandoning ship now.

"You aren't interrupting," he answered quickly, furtively. "What can I do for you?"

"I, uh, I'm here to ask for my job back," I said shamefully, suddenly wanting to cut right to the chase. But I was nervous, which was
evidenced
by the bouncing of my leg.

Knight studied me for a few seconds, rocking back and forth in his recliner chair, and then stopped rocking. He leaned forward with his elbows on his desk and I wondered if maybe it was going to be harder to get my job back than I'd expected.

"It's yours. It's never been anyone else’s."

I heaved a sigh of relief and only then realized I'd been holding my breath. "Thank you," I began but he interrupted me as he resumed his
idle
rocking.

"What brings you back? I thought you liked your retirement?" He propped his large feet up on his desk, crossing them at the ankles as he smiled at me and my stomach flip-flopped.

"Um, I need the money
.
" I said the first thing that came to mind
and was
thrilled with my answer. Knight was well aware that I was typically barely scraping by in the finance department, so this
response
had the ring of truth. Yes, my career as a lying sack of shit was off to a good start. Yay me.

He nodded and removed his feet from the table, facing me squarely. "I'm glad to have you back, Dulce, very glad."

"I'm glad to be back."

He nodded again, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere
, his attention
riveted on his fingers as he pressed them against
one ano
ther. It seemed we were both fidgeting. "I've been thinking more about my release," he started and his words turned my stomach over, the acid rising up my esophagus. "I still don't know what to make of it." I just nodded and tried to appear ill-informed. "I actually talked to Caressa about it this morning," he continued.

I gulped down the frog that was climbing up my throat as well as the suffocating urge to scream out “FUCK!” at the top of my lungs. "Oh," I said feebly, going from sounding merely ill-informed to just plain stupid.

“
I asked her about your release and how it came about." He shrugged as if whatever he was discussing was commonplace and uninteresting; but I knew there was method to his madness. He was testing me.

The frog came back up my throat and I nearly choked on it. I thought I was going to vomit. "Oh," I said again, that apparently being the only word that existed in my vocabulary at the moment.

Knight glanced at his steepled fingers again. "And, funny thing, but she said she never actually escorted you to the portal at all." I gulped so hard I was afraid I'd swallowed my tongue. "She said
she had nothing to do with your release whatsoever
."

I felt the breath catch in my throat and worried I might wet myself as I watched him raise his eyebrows, awaiting my response. I should have known better. While I was in the Netherworld, Caressa arrived to escort me from High Prison to the portal which would take me back to Splendor. I, however, talked her into letting me escape,
promising to do my best to obtain Knight’s release. Caressa latched onto the idea immediately, not wanting to see her friend suffer for something he hadn't done. But when it came down to it, Caressa said it would've looked too suspicious if she released me. Instead, she thought of the alibi that I overpowered her and got away. We even added some actual facial blows to solidify the story.

Apparently Caressa had realized it wouldn’t behoove either of us if she told Knight the truth so obviously she hadn’t. Add to that the
faux pas
I’d just made
when I told
Knight that Caressa had taken me to the portal
and I was well on my way to weaving a web of deceit and apparently not doing a very good job of it
.
But d
amn me for not touching base with Caressa before Knight got the chance.

"Hmm," I started (thank Hades I didn't say "oh"). Racking my brain for something non-incriminating to say, I came up with a big, blank slate. Double damn me!

"Strange?" Knight queried, arching a brow in my direction. "I could have sworn you said she escorted you to the portal ... personally?"

I felt my heart drop to the floor and shatter into a million pieces before forcing myself to pick up the pieces and face the music. I had to come up with a plausible excuse and, harder still, I had to
own
it—for Knight's sake. "Um, yeah, well I sort of forgot to mention that I got away first," I said, sounding ashamed and embarrassed.

"And what happened then?"

Yeah, what happened then, Dulcie?
I asked myself, wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole. I pushed my thoughts aside, and focused on a believable explanation. I took a deep breath. "I went after the judge who presided over your case," I began. My voice pleasantly surprised me by sounding even and calm, although I had no idea where this story was going.

"Judge Thorne," Knight corrected and raised his brows as if he hadn’t expected me to go after the judge; it seemed to amuse him at the same time.

I nodded as I took another deep breath and continued lying through my teeth. "Yeah, and I pleaded with him to reconsider your conviction and punishment. I told him it was all my fault."

"But he wouldn't listen," Knight finished for me.

"No, he wouldn't," I said, feeling slightly relieved when it appeared that maybe, just maybe Knight was buying this. "So after arguing with him for a few hours, he ordered an ANC escort to accompany me to the portal. End of story." Phew, that actually wasn't half bad. 'Course it also hadn't been half good.

"So why did you say Caressa took you to the portal?" Knight asked, his tone hinting that he was annoyed I'd lied to him. Well, if that little white lie annoyed him, I hoped to Hades he never found out about the whopper I was
fabricating
now.

"I just knew you'd be upset," I said quickly and shrugged. For a second, I wished I'd paid more attention in my high school drama class. Triple damn me! "I couldn't give up on you, Knight," I added with a flutter of my lashes, hoping that might convince him. When all else failed, it was best to rely on feminine ingenuity. The only problem with that was that my feminine ingenuity usually eluded me.

He shrugged. "I see." But
somehow I thought I’d
persuaded him.

There was a moment of distinctly uncomfortable silence and I realized I needed to change the subject—I felt like I might throw up in front of Knight or pee on myself if I didn’t. "Yeah, so anyway, I, uh, wanted to ask you about something else."

Knight nodded, signifying that this conversation was over … for now at least. Thank freaking Hades for that. "What?"

"Bram," I said, starting a conversation that actually interested me. It wasn't just a ploy to throw Knight off the scent of my lies.

"Bram?" Knight repeated and I spotted an expression of aggravation in his eyes. Knight was less than fond of Bram and Bram certainly wasn't fond of Knight. But c'est la vie.

"Bram seemed to know his way around the Netherworld pretty well. He even had his own portal," I started as I eyed Knight to see his reaction.

Knight nodded but didn't seem especially interested. "Interesting."

"Did you ... know him in the past, before you came here?" I asked as I wondered what Bram's involvement with the Netherworld was, especially how high up the chain he was. Based on my observations in the Netherworld, it seemed Bram had some pull of his own.

Knight shook his head. "I never set eyes on him before moving to Splendor." Then he pushed his chair back, stood up and approached me. I stood up as well, not appreciating the stare down he directed toward me. I glanced up at him in question.

"I missed you last night," he said, moving to kiss me. I stepped back, my unease arising not only because we were in his office, although the door was closed, but
also
owing to my new line of work. Whatever we shared before couldn't continue.

"Knight," I started with a hesitant smile. "You can't just kiss me here."

He narrowed his eyes on me. "Why not? No one has a clue what's going on in here. The door is closed."

I rubbed my hand down the nape of my neck and sighed. "It's just ... I just don't like it. It’s not professional. You know how I am."

He chuckled and nodded. "Yes, I know how you are." He took a few steps back and made a big show of it, laughing all the while. "Dinner tonight? My place?"

I swallowed the bile in my throat and shook my head. "Um, I was hoping to write tonight." Knight knew I was in the process of writing a book—a book I'd started a few months ago.

"Oh," he said and my heart felt like a noose was squeezing the life out of it. I dropped my eyes to my fidgeting fingers, but was unable to resist watching his response and looked up at him again.

"I, um, I ... I still need a little time," I said, hedging because I really needed to say
it was over between us. But s
omehow I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

He nodded and smiled at me consolingly. "I understand, Dulce, take as much time as you need. I'll be here."

I was reticent, but nodded and returned his smile with a sheepish one. Then I started for the door before the tears that were flooding my eyes began to stream out uncontrollably.

###

Later that evening, I actually did attempt to write. I'd always wanted to start a career as a novelist and I'd even managed to attract a very well-known agent to represent me along the way. Said agent was currently soliciting my first book, a story about Bram titled
A Vampire and a Gentleman
.

I sat down at my computer and opened the word document
I
'd
started
two months ago, but I couldn't will my fingers to start typing. It seemed like whatever inspiration I once possessed which allowed me to begin the follow-up to my first novel had abandoned me, high and dry.

I sighed deeply and c
lenched my eyes together
, hoping to focus on something other than the look in Knight's eyes upon seeing me retreat when he'd tried to kiss me. I just felt so empty, so guilty about knowing what I had to do and not being able to do it. But the longer I waited, the long
er I put off the inevitable,
the worse the
ultimate blow
. I had to break up with Knight and it had to be the next time I saw him. I absolutely refused to do it over the phone, but I couldn’t prolong it any longer than I already had.

Guilt suddenly overwhelmed me, guilt over the fact that we'd had sex. It was the worst thing I could have done, knowing I had to end things with him. It hadn't been fair to either of us, and yet I hadn't been able to control myself. I was so overcome with love for him, so happy to see him, so relieved that he was safe, and that he'd made it back to Splendor. But those were all excuses and from now on, excuses weren't going to be worth a damn to me. I was going to live by the rules of black and white, yes and no.

I eyed the blinking cursor again and just sighed, my inspiration drained and parched. Before I had the chance to turn off the computer, the cell phone from Quillan began ringing. I felt my stomach drop and it was almost like an out of body experience as I watched myself reach for it.