The Deadfall

by Lilly Black

  "Well good for you," she said. "If you'll excuse me." She hurried down the hallway toward the restroom, leaving him stunned in her wake, and once inside, she wasted as much time as she possibly could, wanting to make certain he'd be gone when she came out.

  After that, it seemed Mr. Kemp Jr. had, thankfully, lost interest in her. Dani had also lost interest in hoping for Jax Bonham to show up, specifically because she saw a picture of him on social media signing autographs in another Pittsburgh bar. So they called their limo driver, took their last sips, and got up to leave, but in the narrow hallway that led to the lobby, someone was waiting for Olivia.

  "Oh, Miss Anders..." Kemp sang her name like a school yard chant as he approached her, singling her out and blocking her way with his arm against the wall in front of her. Her friends were several paces ahead before they realized what was going on and stopped in their tracks, shocked at his audacity.

  "Olivia!" Dani called back as Kemp stood, obstructing their view.

  "I was hoping we'd have a chance to get to know each other before you left," he said. "I'd love to give you a tour of the hotel."

  "I appreciate the offer, but beyond the bar and the lobby, which I've already seen, there really isn't much left, is there?" she asked with a spiteful glare.

  "There's my suite. I think you'd really enjoy..." he paused and leaned in objectionably close "...the view."

  "No, thank you," she said, then she attempted to push past his arm, which he held firmly in place. Angry, Olivia cleared her throat, and said, "Excuse me." It should have been obvious that she had no interest in what he was offering, but he didn't seem to understand. Instead of letting her pass, he put his other hand on her hip and moved into her personal space.

  Olivia was a strong woman, but this was not a familiar situation. No man had ever had the nerve to just come up and touch her without permission before, and though she was on the verge of losing control on him, the shock of the situation made everything seem to move in slow motion. Dani and Liana, however, had decided they were going to kick his ass, and they could have too. They had taken self defense courses together in high school, and during military training, Liana had kicked lots of men's asses. But before they took their first steps, someone else entered the hallway.

  Aleksander Hellström.

  Standing a head taller than Kemp, Aleksander immediately moved himself beside Olivia, looking down on her aggressor with fierce blue eyes and a confidence that told Kemp his only option was to yield.

  "Get your hand off her, put your arm down, and walk away," Aleksander said.

  "Who are you? Her husband?" Kemp demanded, releasing his hold on Olivia's hip but continuing to block her path with his arm.

  "I'm just a guy offering to educate you since you seem to be confused about the meaning of the word no, but if you turn out to be a slow learner, I'm going to be the guy who teaches it to you the hard way."

  Kemp held firm for a second as he studied Aleksander's face, but realizing he was outmatched, he raised his arm. Olivia immediately hurried past him to join her friends.

  "It doesn't matter," Kemp said. "I have a hundred little sluts just like her lined up to get in my bed."

  He looked over his shoulder to give Olivia a smirk, but when he turned back, he nearly crashed into Aleksander, who was now blocking his path like he had blocked Olivia's.

  "Why'd you have to go and do that?" he asked. "I was going to let you walk away, but the first thing you do is call her a slut because she didn't want to sleep with you? You need to apologize."

  "I don't apologize," Kemp said with a cocky tone, and furious, Alek grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

  "Did I do something to give you the impression that it was optional?" he demanded, glaring into Kemp's eyes as he held him there, the tips of his shoes barely touching the ground, and now that Aleksander could see that he was genuinely scared, he leaned in close and spoke softly. "Don't embarrass yourself anymore than you already have. Tell the lady you're sorry, and you can go back in there and keep right on ruling your sad, little kingdom without anyone knowing you nearly pissed yourself out here. Okay?"

  Kemp looked around to see if there were any employees who might help him but found no one in sight.

  "Fine. I'm sorry," he said grudgingly, and Alek realized it was probably the best he was going to get out of him unless he wanted to put his fist down his throat, which he decided to forego for Olivia's sake. It was obvious to anyone that she just wanted to get as far away from Kemp as possible, but she couldn't leave while Aleksander still stood there defending her. He let Kemp slide back to his feet, and the second he released his grip, the smaller man hurried off down the hallway.

  "Are you okay?" Aleksander asked as he caught up with Olivia and her friends. They all walked out into the street.

  "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you," she said, maintaining a calm façade even though she was screaming inside. The creepy encounter with Kemp had been completely overshadowed by the fact that Aleksander Hellström had come to her defense, and now here he stood before her in all of his tall, gorgeous, blonde glory concerned for her well being. The only thing wrong with Olivia at the moment was that she was utterly enamored against her will and better judgment.

  "I apologize for intruding," he said. "I'm sure you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. I just couldn't stand by and watch him treat you like that just because his daddy owns a hotel or two."

  "And I don't know how to thank you. I was so taken aback, I honestly didn't know what to do."

  "No thanks are necessary."

  "Still, there must be something..."

  "You don't owe me anything," he insisted, though inside his head, he was begging for her to push the issue. He wanted her to do something - anything - so he didn't have to walk away from her because the timing made it impossible for him. No matter how bad he wanted to, he couldn't come onto her right after Kemp's creepy behavior, and Olivia didn't want him to slip through her grasp so easily either.

  "I can't just let your noble deed go unrewarded," she said, the words pouring out of her mouth without a thought of what they might imply.

  "What did you have in mind?" he asked, but when her entire body squealed in excitement at the thought of him saying those words to her, she realized she had to get away from him. She and Reid had a solid marriage and a sex life that couldn't be outdone by the best one night stand, and because of that, no other man had ever even given her a passing thought of what might lie beneath the zipper of his jeans. But this was Aleksander Hellström. He was no man. He was a god!

  "If nothing else, I would, at least, like to buy you a drink to show you my appreciation, but the thing is, tonight we're celebrating my friend Dani's divorce. Our plans could really be hindered by having a man so..." [mouth-wateringly fuckable!] "... handsome with us if you get what I mean," she said, trying to part ways while her subconscious mind insisted that she leave the door open, and she felt like an ass for what she just said. "God, I'm sorry. I must sound like a total jerk saying that after what you did for me."

  "Shhhh...I understand," he assured her. "At least let me see you safely to your next destination, and if we see each other again, you can buy me that drink."

  "Okay," Olivia said, biting her lip as she motioned for him to follow. They headed down the street toward where the limo was waiting for them, and the other women were snickering and whispering to each other as Olivia and Aleksander talked.

  "My name's Alek, by the way," he said, extending his hand to shake hers.

  "Olivia," she said. "And this is Dani, Liana, and June."

  "Ladies," Alek said, dipping his head and smiling, and when he made eye contact with June, she blushed, her eyes chased away. She didn't watch his show or have any idea who he was, but even she couldn't deny that he was drop dead delicious.

  "Well, this is us," Olivia said when they came to the limo.

  "Then I'll leave you to it. Have a lovely evening, ladies," Alek said, his eye
s lingering just a little longer on Olivia than perhaps they should have.

  "We're in town a couple more days. Maybe we'll see you around," she said, and as she heard it come out of her mouth in a shamelessly flirtatious tone, she felt a deep pang of guilt.

  "I'm here until Monday," he said, "and I'd really like that." Then he flashed his smile and walked away, leaving Olivia thoroughly disgusted with herself as she swooned in his wake.

  "Oh, my freaking God!" Liana growled, fanning herself with her hand as they sat in the back of the limo while the driver pulled away from the curb.

  "You know, you did promise to get LiLo and me laid," Dani teased Olivia.

  "If I can't fuck Alek Hellström, none of you bitches can," she said, trying to pretend she was unaffected by June's self-righteous glare and her own moral compass. But she was affected. Whether she gave a shit or not about what June thought, she still felt horrible. Maybe it was natural for other people to be tempted but not for her. Her marriage was as idyllic as marriage could get.

  So why was it that she couldn't even trust herself to have a drink with Aleksander Hellström?

  "Would you stop?" Dani whispered in her ear with an exasperated sigh.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You got all hot and bothered, and now you're feeling guilty," she said, and Olivia snarled at her. Dani had always been good at knowing what was going on inside Olivia's head, and now that she was an experienced psychologist, there was no hiding anything from her. "It's perfectly natural, and it doesn't make you a bad wife. I mean, did you see those muscles? Damn, girl! You'd be blind not to want that."

  "I didn't," June sniped.

  "You wouldn't know what to do with it anyway," Dani said dismissively.

  "Well, I would, and since Olivia screwed me out of that opportunity, the next round's on her," Liana said, trying to defuse the situation before June could respond.

  "Let's start with a toast from the mini bar," Dani said, opening it up and grabbing the bottle of Goldschläger. She also pulled out four shot glasses.

  "You won't be needing that fourth glass," June informed her.

  "Please, Junie-bug," Liana begged. "Just one shot to celebrate Dani's divorce?"

  "You know I can't," she protested.

  "I'm not asking you to get hammered. It's just one, little drink," Liana pressured her.

  "But..."

  "Oh, for fuck's sake," Olivia said impatiently. "When you go to confession, you can tell the preacher I made you do it."

  "We don't really go to confession," June explained, but when Olivia looked at her with a scowl, her eyes rolling back in her head, she relented. "Fine. But just half a glass."

  "You got it," Dani said with a sly grin as she reached into the bar and pulled out a beer stein, and even June burst into laughter.

  T Minus 15 Hours

  Sunday

  June woke up with her first hangover since she was in high school. After her joke, Dani had poured her half a shot glass as requested, but once she did that, the others pressured her to do more. She stubbornly resisted, forcing them to pretend to twist her arm, absolving her of the responsibility for the sin of it.

  In total, she only had about six shots all night long, but since she had barely drunk more than a few glasses of wine in over fifteen years, it didn't take much. She loosened up and for a few, brief hours became the Junie-bug they all remembered and loved. This morning, however, she was back to her new self, claiming her nausea and headache were the wages of sin.

  "What you need is a little hair of the dog," Dani suggested as they rode in the limo toward the cafe where they planned to have brunch before shopping.

  "I'm never drinking again," June said.

  "Pounding Goldschläger probably wasn't the best course of action when you never drink, but I know what will make you feel better," Olivia said, and as soon as they were seated in the restaurant, she ordered four mimosas, banking on June not knowing they had champagne in them. She didn't know, and though she thought they tasted funny, her lack of experience with alcohol allowed her to keep up as Olivia ordered four more rounds, leaving her feeling much, much better than she had earlier.

  After brunch, they walked down the street toward the first of several boutiques they had found online, excitedly talking about their plans for later tonight when a sudden, heavy wind started to blow. Dani fought to keep her perfect hair from becoming a tangled mess, but it got so strong, they all had to duck into a doorway to wait it out as leaves and debris began to swirl over the sidewalk in front of them. Though they could see people walking on the other side of the street as if nothing was out of the ordinary, the wind on their side trapped them there, and when Dani turned around to fix her hair in the reflection of the shop window where they'd taken shelter, she noticed the signage and drew her friends' attention to it.

  Madam Levinia's Parlor - Futures Foretold - Spells Cast - Wishes Granted

  "Oooh," Olivia said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as Dani hummed the Twilight Zone theme song, but Liana was a little more superstitious than her friends. And of course June was fairly certain it was the work of Satan.

  "We're going in," Dani said.

  "I don't think we should," Liana protested.

  "I know we shouldn't! It's witchcraft!" June exclaimed.

  "And now it's definitely happening," Olivia said. She was going to vote against it since she didn't like the idea of paying charlatans to fill her head with bullshit, but June had to go and say something asinine. And she wasn't finished.

  "I'll wait out here for you. I can't go in there," she insisted.

  "What do you think is going to happen, June? Is a portal to hell going to open up and swallow us all?" Olivia demanded impatiently. "Nothing is going to happen. She's going to tell us what she thinks we want to hear, and we're going to leave poorer yet no more enlightened than when we entered."

  "She's probably right," Liana said with an uneasy giggle.

  "Bitches," Dani said, putting her foot down. "Jax Bonham is still in town, you promised to get me laid, and this lady casts spells. Get...the fuck...inside." She held the door open, and the others walked past - Olivia laughing, Liana massaging the cross on her necklace between her thumb and forefinger, and June silently praying for forgiveness for things she hadn't even done yet.

  When the door closed behind them, it took a minute for their eyes to adjust. It was so dark, all the decor in shades of deep, rich jewel tones and black. The furniture was antique with gilded, intricately carved arms and legs, and a thick, velvet curtain hung across the back, creating a narrow, cozy waiting area. As they looked around the room at the curiosities displayed on the walls and shelves, it only reinforced the opinions each had going in, and though not all of them were nervous about being there, they all nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard a voice.

  "Can I help you, ladies?" Madam Levinia asked, suddenly appearing through the break in the curtain. Dani took a deep breath and gathered herself, holding out her hand as she approached the old woman whose face was covered in deep trenches of wrinkles extending into thin lips that no longer lent themselves to adequate application of the dark, red lipstick she wore. Her eyes were a milky, dull blue with a cataract in the left one that made the pupil an even lighter color than the iris.

  "I hope we're not intruding. My friends and I just sort of stumbled in here by accident," Dani began.

  "There are no accidents, child," Levinia said. "I've been expecting you."

  Olivia was so annoyed by how typical this all seemed, it was killing her to keep her mouth shut, but for her friend's sake, she bit her tongue and pressed on when Levinia invited them to follow her behind the curtain. Olivia had to prod June who was frozen in her tracks, but Liana's fascination seemed to have overridden her superstition as she walked trancelike behind a very exited Dani.

  Madam Levinia sat down at a round table with five chairs. In the center was the obligatory crystal ball, and in front of the old woman was a deck of tarot card
s with a black pentacle on the back. Olivia enjoyed the look on June's face when she noticed them because she knew June had no idea what distinguished one five point star in a circle from the next. June automatically assumed it meant Satanism, and she grew ever more anxious as her eyes adjusted to the even dimmer room and she realized the motif was repeated throughout, including a faint representation on the table top with the points between the chairs.

  "You want a love spell," Levinia said to Dani with an enduring certainty that left her nodding in astonishment, but Olivia was unconvinced. Dani was a woman in her thirties, no wedding ring on her finger, hanging out with the girls on Sunday afternoon...it seemed like a logical guess.

  "And what about your friends?" the old woman asked. "I don't think you're the only one who could use a love spell."

  "I'm married," June snapped as if she was offended.

  "Same here," Olivia added. "The last thing I need is a love spell."

  "You, sweet red-haired girl, are not as happy as you deserve to be, and you, golden haired lady, you deny yourself something you deeply desire."

  "Oh! Do me next!" Liana clucked excitedly after hearing the old woman pretty much nail her friends.

  "Your strength and independence have left you lonely, but Madam Levinia can help you all." She rose from the table, picking up the tarot cards and taking them to a nearby bookshelf that housed hundreds of other decks, some in their original boxes, some tied together with rubber bands, some wrapped in silk handkerchiefs, all shoved in haphazardly, and without even searching, she pulled one out, sending a swirl of dust particles into the already stale air. In the corner, she lit candles and incense, then she wound up an old victrola that started playing a soft, scratchy recording from the 1940's that seemed somehow both juxtaposed with the scene and perfectly congruent.

  When she sat back down and unwrapped the tarot deck from the silk, on the back of the cards were four silhouetted figures on horseback. Without looking at them, Levinia pulled one card from the deck and laid it face down in front of each of the women.