The Red Wife

by Tyffani Clark Kemp

  “Brenda, you can't be here right now.” Sebastian stood from the piano and crossed briskly to her. With an arm around her waist, he turned her around and marched her back to the door.

  “What the hell? What's going on? Did you sleep with her?” Brenda's fake smile wilted and was replaced by a snarl. “You dirty bitch! You're such a whore!” She tried to leap at Mariss, but Sebastian held her back. Mariss stood, unsure whether she should laugh or be angry.

  Herbert came in from the bedroom, his eyes scanning for the disturbance. When he'd sized up the situation, he crossed his arms over his chest, his body rigid with irritation.

  Mariss looked at him, his eyes questioning her about the turn of events. She didn't even shrug, but turned back to Sebastian and Brenda's struggle in time to see realization flood the older woman's features.

  “Oh. You're having one of those kinds of parties! At least I wasn't invited. You nasty slut! You couldn't be happy with the one you had?”

  Sebastian wrangled the woman out the door, but in the process of shutting it, he turned his back and she wriggled her way through the opening.

  Brenda made a beeline for Mariss, her fist cocked back to throw a punch that would probably hurt but wouldn't cause any lasting damage. Mariss saw Brenda's narrow, boney, frail hand coming, but instead of lifting an arm to protect herself, she crossed her arms over her chest and grinned. Brenda screamed as she came nearer and Mariss waited. Her other self peered out through lowered lashes, but Brenda was too caught up in her rage to see the subtle change.

  Sebastian caught Brenda around the waist mid-air as she struck. Her punch hit nothing but air, but Mariss felt it as it passed her by and almost grazed her nose.

  “Aw, you should have let her hit me,” Mariss chuckled. “I could have pressed charges.”

  “I'm an FBI agent, Mariss,” Herbert said. “I don't deal with misdemeanors.”

  She shrugged. “You could have said it was part of a murder investigation. It wouldn't have been totally untrue and she could have spent the night in jail.”

  “Not. Helping,” Sebastian growled from the door. Brenda had gone still in his arms. He set her down, though he didn't relinquish his hold on her.

  “Murder? Who was murdered?”

  “A friend of mine was found dead,” Sebastian answered, his voice strained.

  “Oh, my god, Bash.” Brenda cupped his face with her hands, but he pulled gently away. “Who was it?”

  “It doesn't matter, but you can't be here right now, Brenda. I don't want you involved in this. Go home. I'll come see you first thing in the morning.”

  “You promise?” she begged, her full, collagen-filled lips pouting unattractively.

  “If anything changes, I'll let you know.” Leave it to Sebastian to give finesse to being non-committal.

  Brenda bought it, though. She planted a sloppy kiss on his mouth and hugged him, glaring at Mariss over Sebastian's shoulder.

  Mariss smiled back, loving the way she got under Brenda's skin. That wasn't her talking. The realization sobered her some.

  “This is why people try to have you killed,” Herbert muttered as Sebastian shooed Brenda out the door and locked it behind her.

  “Because I have the sexiest, most elegible bachellor at my every beck and call?” she asked, grinning at the beautiful man frowning down at her.

  “Because you antagonize my women,” Sebastain replied moodily on his way past her to the kitchen.

  “I don't like your women. You could do so much better than Brenda.” Mariss motioned jokingly to herself. “Case in point.”

  Sebastian stopped walking and turned, spearing her with a look that sent a shiver down her spine, even though it was considerably tamed.

  “Oh no,” she said. “Don't you dare kiss me with those blowfish lips.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  PRESTIDIGITATION

  Sebastian was staring out his office window when Mariss found him several hours later. Herbert had taken care of the situation, fielding it to his department so news of Hellena's death would be less likely to hit the media. If anything did leak, it would be a story about how she was found in her apartment, dead from an apparent drug overdose. Not all of it was a lie.

  Getting the body out without raising suspicion had been the tricky part. Herbert had sent them to separate rooms and told them not to come out until he gave the all clear.

  “Sebastian, I'm impressed by your composure through all of this.” Mariss watched his posture for any sign that he'd heard her, but he didn't even twitch. With his arms wrapped around himself, he looked so vulnerable. She walked over to the wet bar behind his desk and poured them both drinks. “Actually, impressed isn't the right word. It worries me. It worries me a lot.” He hadn't had much to say all day, but he was surprisingly calm. It was disconcerting to say the least.

  She carried the glass over to him and sat on the arm of the leather chair. Sebastian's eyes were steely and unfocused. Mariss wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how. With Holden, she just had to sit with him, be there for him but not try to fix it. She imagined Sebastian was quite similar.

  She didn't know how long they sat there. When their glasses were empty she refilled them until Sebastian finally told her to stop.

  “You have a lot of discipline, Mariss.” He tilted his glass back and forth, looking at its contents before he swallowed half of it in one gulp.

  “Not enough,” she scoffed.

  “I'm not an easy man to handle.”

  “I would never presume to handle you. I just don't want to leave you alone right now.”

  “I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, sweetheart. You've nothing to worry about.” He stood and walked to the other side of the room.

  “I didn't mean that I thought you couldn't handle it. I just want to be here for you.” Mariss slipped into the seat he'd vacated. “That was some prestidigitaion Herbert performed. I mean, I know he's good at hiding things, but I'm impressed that he was so quick about it.”

  “He liked Hellena,” Sebastian said. “He helped me when I needed it.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Sebastian's forehead creased like he was still disappointed that she knew so much about his past.

  “Let's go do something,” Mariss said.

  “What's that?” Sebastian turned to face her, his eyes subdued but curious.

  “Let's just go out and do something. Holden has been gone a week and now Hellena… I have a headache from crying and I need a break from mourning.”

  “What did you want to do?”

  “Let's go see a play.”

  “A play?”

  “A Broadway. I don't remember when the last time I caught one was. There's a new one, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. It's supposed to be really good and there's a pool at work to see who will be the next to see a Broadway.”

  “Oh yeah?” Sebastian smirked, amused. “How much are you worth then?”

  “No one is betting on me except for me. I honestly didn't expect to win, but I put a thousand dollars on myself. You could make me a rich woman.” Mariss wiggled her eyebrows.

  “Well, then. Shall I wear my top hat, Mrs. Red?”

  The use of her married name made her sad, but she smiled and said, “Oh, my god. Yes, please!”

  Mariss ducked into the car an hour later. Luckily, there was a showing of A Gentleman's Guide and she and Sebastian were able to get tickets. Of course, it might have had something to do with both of their names being dropped and the hint that Mariss was using it as research and it may be mentioned in a book's acknowledments page or an article somewhere. She wasn't usually one for name dropping, but today, neither one of them cared.

  The drive was short and they were ushered in ahead of the line after they arrived. Sebastian gave his driver instructions on when to pick them up and they marched inside.

  He'd gotten them incredible seats. They weren't too close so they had to crane their necks, but they weren't so far back that they
couldn't see clearly. Sebastian took her hand as the lights went down and he kept it through the whole show.

  The show was hilarious. Mariss couldn't remember laughing so hard. Even Sebastian couldn't keep his humor at bay. His subdued chuckles caught her attention in ways she didn't even realize were possible. Like the way her skin tingled when he shook next to her, his arm rubbing against her own unintentionally. It was his inadvertant attention that sometimes pushed her over the edge better than his purposeful ministrations.

  In the car on the way home, she watched his face, trying to read his blank expression.

  “Why do you do this?” she asked, holding up their still-entwined hands. “This is different from your normal touchy feely stuff. This is tender.”

  “You don't think I can be tender?” he asked, and he sounded almost offended. His eyes caught the lights of the city and glittered.

  “That's not what I meant. I know you can be tender. I meant that… I don't know what I meant.”

  “It's not often that I find someone I can be myself around,” he said after several moments of thick silence. “Hellena was one of those people. My mother is another. I am a womanizing arsehole,” he said with a wry smile, “but I can be this too.” Sebastian held up their hands and placed a kiss on the back of hers. “With you. Not often, but I need you tonight. Perhaps, that's selfish of me.” He shrugged.

  “I need you too,” she admitted and wondered how they'd come to be this. Friends. They'd once tried to be friends and failed, and now when they could possibly be more, friends was all they were. Well, aside from the obvious sexual attraction and being naked together. This was normal for Sebastian. Mariss thought she might be able do this, an open relationship, if he were to make it clear that was what he wanted. It might even last, given how they felt about each other.

  The car dropped them at the front door, and Sebastian walked Mariss up to his apartment. He let them in, but froze in the doorway.

  “What's wrong?” she asked, even as she felt the oppressive death hanging in the air.

  “I can't sleep in there,” he answered. “Where will I sleep?”

  Her heart broke as his grief caught up to him. How confused he must have been. For a man not used to feeling, he must have been drowning in emotions. “With me,” she told him and took his hand in hers. “Come on.”

  Mariss led him down the hall and into the guest bedroom. She flipped the light on and closed the door. Leaving Sebastian in the middle of the floor, she went to the bathroom to undress and slip into an oversized shirt of Holden's, one she liked to sleep in. As she stepped back out, Sebastian was laying across the bed in his underpants. His clothes lay in a neat pile on the floor.

  Mariss shook her head and grinned.

  “What's so funny?” Sebastian asked as she crawled between the sheets.

  “Your OCD is funny. And the way you cat-stretch in the bed like you're trying to attract all of the lady cats to lay with you. It's sexy and kind of disgusting.”

  “Disgusting in what way?”

  Mariss settled herself against his chest and he put an arm around her. “In the most delicious way.”

  “I thought I could be okay with it.”

  Mariss frowned, not sure what he was talking about. The comment was so off topic and out of character that she wasn't sure what to say, so she didn't say anything as she waited for him to continue.

  “That's why I showered in there earlier, but I'm not. I don't like feeling this way, May.”

  A strange thrill ran through her at his use of her mother's nickname for her. She wondered if he felt the same when she called him Bassy.

  “I know. It's not going to go away soon, though. It takes time. Maybe some time away would be good for you. Go home to see your mom or something. Do you have any shoots coming up?”

  “I have fashion week coming up,” he told her.

  “Oh, right. I've never been.”

  Sebastian chuckled. “Would you like to come?”

  “I…” Would she? Holden had only been gone a week, and here she was already in bed with Sebastian. But Holden knew this would happen, didn't he? Of course, they weren't having sex. Like that made it okay. Confliction warred within her, tugging her insides into a knot that it was hard to breathe around.

  Mariss pushed away from Sebastian and sat on the edge of the bed in the dark room.

  “I want to go with you,” she admitted. The bed shifted and his hands grasped her shoulders. “Is that wrong?”

  “Does it feel wrong? Quite honestly, I know what happens when you do something that you feel bad about. I have no desire to lose you in any capacity. If you're not okay with coming, then don't.”

  “No, I want to go.” She said it sternly. Still, the uncertainty echoed in her voice.

  “Listen, you don't have to make up your mind now. I'll be taking a few people out on my yacht before I debut my line at London Fashion Week. Come with us. You can decide what you want to do about London later.”

  Mariss nodded and leaned back against him. With the decision off her shoulders, she could breathe again, but it lurked in the back of her mind. She knew it would be there until she made her choice.

  “Okay.” Her voice was soft in the silent room.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  BOTOX BARBIE

  “How long is she supposed to be staying here?” Brenda whined, not caring that Mariss was on the other sofa, well within hearing distance.

  Mariss pulled her feet underneath her and tried to ignore her. She had a few well rehearsed phrases she'd like to spout, but she kept them to herself out of repsect for Sebastian.

  “Until she's ready to leave,” Sebastian answered tollerantly, not bothering in the least to keep the conversation between the two of them.

  “She's kind of a party crasher, if you know what I mean.”

  Mariss wanted to gag. She turned and speared her with a look she hoped would melt her plastic surgery face. “If you want to fuck him, do it.”

  Sebastian blinked at her, his eyes humored, but disbelieving.

  “I informed Brenda that we wouldn't be engaing in coitus unless you weren't in the flat.”

  “Coitus? Really? You can't just say sex like you usually do?”

  “I don't want to be insensitive,” Sebastian continued.

  “Do you want me to leave?”

  “Yes,” Brenda snapped at the same time Sebastian said, “That's not necessary.”

  Mariss raised an eyebrow and didn't miss Sebastian's little smirk at her 'undramatic expression'. “Well, which is it? If you need me to leave, I can call my mother and see if she'd like to have dinner with me. But only if you ask politely,” she added after a moment's thought. Mariss fluttered her eyelashes and grinned.

  Sebastian crossed one leg over the other and they waited for Brenda to speak. The older woman just stared at her, fury clouding her icy glare.

  “What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Does it physically hurt for you to be civil towards me?”

  “Don't push her,” Sebastian chastized. “She'll ask when she's ready.”

  Brenda tipped her head back to look at him. Apparently, she'd expected him to stand up for her, not to play into Mariss' little game. When she looked back at Mariss, her expression was more subdued.

  “If you don't mind,” Brenda started, “Sebastian and I would like to…”

  Mariss couldn't help the smile that creapt across her face as Brenda struggled to get the rest of the sentence out.

  “Have sex?” Mariss finished for her.

  Brenda nodded.

  “Sure.” She pushed herself up from the sofa and plodded back to the guest room to get her cell phone. She dialed her mother and waited.

  “Ja,” Katrina answered after three rings.

  “Hi, mama,” Mariss said in German. “Would you be interested in having dinner with me tonight?”

  “Of course,” her mother answered. “What's the matter? Is he kicking you out?”

  Mariss rolled her eyes. “No,
mama. He has a date. I told him I'd give them a few hours.”

  “It takes him that long? He's either very good or very bad.”

  “Mama.” Mariss shook her head. The woman was incorrigible.

  “Well, which is it?”

  “Oh, my god! Mom!” Mariss covered her face with one hand. “He's pretty good.”

  “Ah, well. At least the cheating was worth it.”

  “I'll pick you up in an hour, Mama.” Mariss hung up before her mother could say anything else.

  Sebastian cleared his throat behind her and she turned, startled.

  “Who's good at what?”

  “You're good at sneaking up behind people and scaring the shit out of them. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I just wanted to hear you speak German. You know how it gets me all hot and bothered.”

  “No, actually, I don't.” Mariss saw Brenda move behind him as he stepped closer to her. “Why don't you tell me about it?”

  “The way it rolls of your tongue.”

  Mariss snorted. “Nothing about German rolls off the tongue.”

  “The way you so elegantly growl.”

  She laughed and pushed him away when he invaded her personal space. “Shut up, Sebastian. You're so full of shit.”

  “I like the way your lips form around the words.”

  Marisss shook her head and turned away from him. “Brenda is behind you and I need to change clothes.”

  “Go ahead. I've seen you naked. More than once.”

  Sebastian stepped to the side to reveal Brenda with her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Aren't you gone yet?”

  “If the two of you would get out of the room I could change clothes.” Mariss copied Brenda's stance and waited.

  “Leave her alone, Sebastian.” Brenda walked away.

  Mariss grinned at Sebastian's severe expression as he stared down the hall at the other woman.

  “Someone thinks she's got you wrapped around her aging finger.”

  Sebastian turned his stare on her. “Be nice, Mariss. I've given you a lot of leeway the last few days, but she is still my-”

  “Cradlesnatcher?”