Page 24 of Sinful Seduction
The lights flicker above my head, drawing everyone in Lori’s to silence. The lights buzz and dim, brighten and dim again. Music I didn’t even notice was playing skips and restarts. But then the power settles again, the lights go back to normal, and the music continues on. “The electricity is struggling. How is it where you are?”
“We’re at the station, and we have generators, so all is good here. It’s still hot as fuck, though, because the cooling can’t keep up.”
“Have you heard from Cato?” I bring my hand up and nibble on my pinky fingernail. “Has he checked on Steve? And probably Mrs. Mayweather, too. Since she’s as old as Noah.”
“He texted about an hour ago, but I’ll call him after we hang up if it makes you feel better.”
“I mean…” I drop my hand and stand again. Sitting is significantly less comfortable when you have a steel frame crushing your organs. “It’s fine. I’ll call him. I need a reason not to partake in the weird dress festivities, anyway. Being on the phone makes me look busy and less unkind.”
“Wouldn’t want to make them think you’re something you’re not.” He snickers. “Go back to the dress stuff. Try to pretend you’re enjoying yourself.”
“Why? That would be lying.”
“Try,” he presses. “Fletch and I are about to head into the war room so we can get a better picture of where we’re at with this. Then we’ll swing by the hospital on the way home and see if Molly is awake yet.”
“So… an hour?” I guess. “Two at the most.”
“An hour,” he agrees. “Two at the most. Eat something, or I won’t be pleased. It’s infusion night, so get that done, too. And if I get home and find my baby brother dead and stuffed in the oven because you couldn’t hold your temper, you’re gonna have to explain yourself to Christabelle. She isn’t playing now that she’s on the other side of nine months pregnant and tired.”
“If he learned to leave me the hell alone, he’d be fine.” The power surges and dims again, so the electricity becomes a literal buzzing in the air. Even with the cooling on, heat from outside pulses against the wall at my back, leeching into the bricks and neutralizing the effects of the air conditioner. “I’m hanging up and calling him. Those apartments must be boiling by now.”
“Alright. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I pull the phone away from my ear and end our call, then I jump to my list of contacts and select Cato’s name instead. Mia throws herself from a low coffee table, slamming against Fifi’s chest, while Eli and Aubree chatter, and Ms. Penny sits on a long couch, her head tilted back and her eyes gently laid shut.Jesus. Did anyone check her pulse lately?
“Yeah?” Cato answers with a grunt, his breath racing in and out. “What’s up, Minnnnka?”
“You’re already on the stairs? Good.” I run my free hand through my hair, dragging the locks off my skin if only to give myself a reprieve from the heat. “I was calling to make sure you’d checked in on Steve recently. He’s getting old, and his heart is fragile.”
“Yeah.” He skips down the stairs, rounding one landing and moving onto the next flight. “I’ll check on him. What are you doing?”
“Dress shopping.” I look up at the ceiling and watch the lights fight for their life, dimming and strengthening. Blinking and stabilizing. “Aubree’s discussing the merits of an updo or keeping her hair down, and I…” I drop my hand, letting it fall—splat—into my lap. “Do not give a single shit what she does with it. You with Steve, yet?”
“Not yet.” His breath comes faster.Faster. “In a sec.”
“Oh God!” A woman cries out, the sound of her pleasure-filled groan like a single fucking shot to my spine. She whimpers and moans. “Yes, Cato! Like that.”
“Are you serious!” My back snaps straight, and my words come out in a shout, booming loud enough to draw Aubree and Eli to a standstill. Mia’s laughter stops. Fifi’s eyes swing to me. Even Penny wakes from the dead and looks this way. “Are you fucking serious right now, Cato!? In my apartment?”
“You ruined it.” And just like that, the racing breath Ithoughtwas from running down the fucking stairs slows, because he’s nowhere near the stairs. “You couldn’t wait just another second, Mayet?”
“IN MY APARTMENT? I’m going to kill you, dickface! I’ll rip your tongue out and feed it to the pigs.”
“I’m going. Jesus.” He slams the door in his wake, his feet stomping against the floor. “You called me, psycho. I told you I’d go to him in a second.”
“You were having s—” I lock eyes with Mia and choke the word down. It’s just three letters, but she’s already seen and heard too much in her short five years. “Dammit, Cato! Why even answer the phone?! Why not finish what you were doing,thencall me back?”
“Uh, because I knew you were calling about your geriatric boyfriend, since Archer’s been on me about the old dude for hours. Since I knew not answering would make you worry.”Nowhe’s moving down the stairs. His breath races again, but it’s different. “I was being thoughtful, and you couldn’t give me, like, thirty more seconds.”
“I hate you.” The power drops out completely, startling my eyes up and my heart to stutter. Sunlight beats against the windows, providing more than enough light not to notice the lack of electricity, but the music stops. The constant hum of the cooling system silences. The world turns quiet except for thethud-thud-thudof Cato’s footsteps in my ear and the single, droninghonnnnnnkof a car outside.
Then the power kicks back in and the music restarts.
“Well…” Nervous, the shop assistant exhales a breathy sigh. “I was worried that time.”
“Steve! You home?” Cato arrives on the bottom floor and pounds his fist against the door. “You gotta open up and show me your face so the spicy and highly strung Chief Mayet can get off my case.”
“Shut the hell up,” I snarl. “You’re unemployed and school is out. If I wanted you to sit on the stairs all damn day so you could watch him, then I’d expect you to do it. Banging women in my apartment was never a part of the deal when we let you move in.”
