“Thanks for coming,” he said to her.
“Look, Nick,” she began, but he interrupted her.
“I didn’t think you would come.”
“We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do. Unfortunately, I’m due in court in about twenty minutes.”
“Oh,” Simone said, rising, “I came at a bad time.”
“No, no,” Nick said, motioning her back into her seat, “you’re fine. I just got the word. The jury’s got a verdict in a criminal case I’ve been trying.”
“And you aren’t nervous?”
Nick smiled. “I’m terrified.”
Terrified, Simone thought. Why he looked calm as a bird. He was a man who knew how to hide his true feelings, she thought. Or how to show his false ones, she thought again.
Simone stood up, causing Nick to stand too. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
“I’m not going to keep you. I know you need to meet with your client and—”
“I need to meet with you. You’re right, Simone, we need to talk.”
He sounded almost as if he wanted to make some things clear to her, too, which actually pleased her. “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Maybe after court today I could come over—”
“That’s not a good idea, Nick,” she said. “That’s why I came here. I wanted to be as clear as possible. We can’t see each other again. Not as friends. Not as anything.”
This, to Simone’s surprise, seemed to alarm Nick. “Why not, Simone?” he asked her, as if it wasn’t obvious.
Simone looked deep into his clear, tired eyes. Was he in denial somehow? “Because you’re married,” she said as if that said it all.
Nick placed his hands in his pants pockets. “About me and my wife, you don’t understand,” he started, but Simone stopped him.
“And I don’t want to understand,” she said, although her heart was breaking. “It’s none of my business to understand.”
“Simone— ”
Simone began leaving, desperately needing a quick getaway. But Nick grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him. When she looked into his eyes, tears were there. But she refused to relinquish her morality. She refused to relinquish her certainty that any kind of relationship with him would be wrong. And he could see it in her eyes, which weren’t tear-stained, or doubtful. But determined. He released his hold on her.
She hesitated, as if her iron will was suddenly coming undone, but then she hurried to his door and left his office. She felt awful, as if she was making some kind of earth-shattering mistake, but to not make it would be worse. That was why she was nearly running to the elevators, thankful for a clean getaway. Until the elevator door clanged open, and Ethan Graham stepped out.
“Simone?” he said, delightfully surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Simone could hardly believe it. “Hey,” was all she could manage to say.
“Hey yourself,” he replied as he pulled her aside and away from the numerous bodies attempting to get on and off of the elevator. “What brings you over here?”
The moment of truth, she thought. And she knew she had to come clean. She wasn’t interested in Ethan. After Nick, she didn’t think she could ever be interested in another man. Stringing him along, not unlike the way Nick had strung her, would be cruel. “I came to see Nick,” she said.
“Nick? Mr. Perry? Whatever for?” Then he smiled, only it was a nervous, now I get it smile. “Nick, is it?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“So you know him? I mean, before I introduced you?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
He waited for more, but Simone said nothing. “I thought so. I mean, he kept asking me about you. We were supposed to be negotiating my contract and he kept asking me about you.”
“It’s not like you think, Ethan.”
“How long?” he asked as if the last thing he wanted to hear was why it wasn’t like what he knew it was exactly like.
“Many years ago. Before he was, before he married. It was a very painful departure and it’s a long story that I can’t repeat.”
“You can’t repeat the story or you can’t repeat the pain?”
“Both.”
Ethan nodded. Looked her up and down. “So he hurt you?”
Simone paused before speaking. She almost wanted to minimize Nick’s role in her pain. But she caught herself. “Yes,” she said.
Ethan nodded. “And what, you decided to come back for more?”
“Ethan—”
“Answer my question please. Did you decide to come back for more?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing here? You certainly wasn’t here to see me because you didn’t know I would be here.”
“Please lower your voice,” she said and Ethan did look around. Then he exhaled.
“Anyway, I have a meeting.”
“Oh, he’s been called to court. There’s a verdict in one of his cases.”
“I’m not meeting him. I’m meeting one of his associates. After he ropes you in he leaves hiring matters to his underlings, didn’t you realize that? But I guess you did. Being that you know him so intimately and all.”
“Ethan, please.”
“Women are all the same, you know that? That’s why I always keep me two or three in the background, just in case my main squeeze starts acting a fool. But boy did you have me snowed. I didn’t think you’d mess up this soon. And with my new boss no less.” Then he shook his head. “I thought you were something different . . . I thought you were . . . Ah, forget it.” He frowned. “Bye, Simone.”
“Ethan!” Simone said as Ethan began walking away from her.
But he kept on walking, not toward the receptionist desk, but back on the arriving elevator.
And she just stood there. She and Nick had only spent one night together and already the hurt, the pain, was beginning again. Had Ethan changed his mind about joining up with Nick’s firm? Had her little appearance caused him to decide to blow the chance of a lifetime? Couldn’t be. At least, she prayed it couldn’t. Because that was the last thing she needed, she thought, as she decided to take the stairs. She couldn’t bear being responsible for another victim, another casualty of her and Nick’s poor judgment.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Jules thirty-fifth birthday party was attended by so many different people from so many different walks of life that Simone wondered how one person could make so many unique friends. But Jules had that knack apparently, because they came out in force. The only person who wasn’t there, to Simone’s delight, was Jeremy. When Simone caught Jules alone, in the kitchen getting ice, she asked her why not.
“Said he had to work,” Jules replied as she pulled another bag of ice out of the freezer.
Simone leaned against the center isle and shook her head. “That is so lame, Jules, I don’t know how you put up with him. He had to work. What surgery you know that’s being pre-arranged for night-time?”
Jules didn’t really want to get into it with Simone, especially not about Jeremy. “It happens,” she said.
“Jeremy didn’t have to work, okay, let’s not play his game.”
“Let’s not even go there, all right?” Jules said, and then she exhaled. Frowned. “You think I don’t know how this looks? Everybody found a way to make it to my thirty-fifth birthday party, even people I barely know, and my man of seventeen years couldn’t find the time? I hear the whispers. I hear people keep asking, ‘well, where’s Jeremy?’ as if it’s my fault, not his, that he’s not here.” Then she exhaled again. “Let’s just forget about Jeremy, can we at least do that?”
Simone, who was stunned by her sister’s forthrightness for a change, at first could not respond. Then she nodded her head. “That I’ll gladly do,” she finally responded.
“You’ve got more guests,” Shay said as she entered the kitchen. Both Simone and Jules looked at her.
“More?” Jules said, as if the turnout was still amazing her. “Who?”<
br />
“Ethan Graham.”
“Oh, Ethan,” Jules said. “Yeah, I invited him. Didn’t think he’d come though.” Then she looked at Simone. “He talked as if you and he weren’t doing too hot.”
“We’re just friends,” Simone said.
“And he brought a guest,” Shay said and the way she said it, both her sisters knew it had to be trouble.
“Who?” Jules asked.
“Nick Perry,” Shay said and then laughed when Jules’ mouth gaped open.
“What?” Jules said astonishingly. “No he didn’t come here.” Then she looked at Simone. Simone, however, didn’t say a word. She just went to greet the guests.
When she made it out into the livingroom, however, her steel will crumbled. For there they were: Ethan and Nick. And her heart dropped. Ethan was playing the room, laughing and talking with everybody in sight, but Nick seemed detached, almost nervous, as he pulled a napkin from his pocket and dabbed his upper lip. Unlike Ethan, he didn’t come here to network, and Simone could see it right away.
Nick stood near the back of the room, his eyes scanning every inch of the boisterous crowd in search of Simone. He was not a social animal. In fact, since Delia’s accident, he’d only attended parties that were held at his home. And even then, they were almost always business-related. But this birthday shindig of Simone’s sister, a party Ethan mentioned only in passing and that Nick asked suddenly if he could tag along, was the only way Nick could think of to see Simone again.
Nick had expected Ethan to be stunned when he asked to go to the party with him. Ethan certainly would not have known of any connection. But he wasn’t stunned at all. He seemed more irritated than anything.
“Why would you want to go to that?” he asked. “I’m only going because I heard a lot of hot-shots who got in trouble a lot were going to attend. I thought it would be a good way to whip up more business for your firm.”
“Not to mention more fodder for your ascension into the partnership.”
Ethan had smiled at that. “You got it. But why Jules Rivers birthday party? You certainly don’t need the business.”
“No, it’s not that. I know Jules. Or, at least, I knew her long ago.”
Ethan had smiled, although Nick could detect something other than friendliness. “Old girlfriend, that sort of thing?”
Nick immediately shook his head. Jules was hot stuff. She used to look almost as gorgeous as Delia, but the way she had treated Simone had lowered his opinion of her. “No, nothing like that,” he said. “Just thought I could use a night out.”
It was a lie, and somehow Nick suspected that Ethan knew it was. But what could Ethan do? Turn down his boss? Give him some excuse, such as I only have an invitation for one (which was the truth)? But nobody turned down Nick Perry like that. Least of which Ethan, who wanted that partnership more than he could even put into words. He, as Nick suspected he would, told him sure thing, smiled as if he was delighted for him to come, and moved on to other business. If Simone was to be Ethan’s date, Nick later realized, he never even mentioned it. And when Ethan and Nick left work and headed for the party, and Nick asked him if he had to pick up Simone, Nick was surprised when Ethan said no. “She knows how to get there,” was all he’d said.
Now they were all there. At least Ethan and Nick were. Nick was still looking for Simone. He’d give anything to see her face again. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way. He was married, after all, and his fascination with Simone could only end tragically, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to see her again.
“Don’t want to mingle?” Ethan said as he came up to Nick.
“No, I’m fine,” he said. “Just. . . Some crowd.”
“I’m saying. I didn’t know Jules was this plugged in. I mean, the mayor’s wife is here. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, she came by and spoke earlier.”
Ethan was impressed. “You know her?”
“Yes.” Then he added: “She and my wife are friends.”
“I see. Yeah, Mrs. Perry used to be a major supermodel, didn’t she? Before her accident, I mean.”
“Yes, she was. Internationally well-known.”
“That must have been so difficult for her. To be on the top of the world one day, and wheelchair-bound the next.”
It wasn’t quite that dramatic, Nick wanted to say. Especially since, at the time of Delia’s accident, she was labeled over the hill and could barely get any modeling jobs. But that wasn’t exactly Ethan’s business. “It was tough,” was all Nick would say about it.
“Speaking of tough,” Ethan said, looking across the room. “Simone’s here.”
Nick’s eyes immediately followed Ethan’s. As soon as he saw Simone, he had to contain his elation. She looked beautiful, he thought, in a lovely purple dress that fit her form perfectly. And what a form it was, Nick also noticed. And remembered. He also knew, to his shame, that he had to have her again.
Ethan waved at Simone when her big green eyes finally found them near the back. And she immediately started coming over. Ethan hated her at that very moment. He hated that she was so gorgeous. He hated that she would have looked perfect on his arm. He hated that she wasn’t like all of his other women, and fawning over him. But no, not Simone. Ethan wasn’t good enough for her. She had to have Nick. His boss. A man old enough to be her father. Or at least very nearly. But Ethan knew he had to contain his hatred. He wasn’t about to let some female like Simone Rivers hurt his chances of a partnership with Nick. In fact, he thought, maybe he could play their rift to his advantage.
“Simone, hi!” he said cheerfully when Simone arrived by their side.
Simone exhaled, tried to be cheerful too, but couldn’t quite get there. “Hello, Ethan,” she managed to say.
“You look mighty fine tonight.”
Simone didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t feel mighty fine tonight. Then she looked at Nick. Talk about fine. “Hello, Nick, I didn’t realize you were coming.”
“My invite, my invite,” Ethan said. “I’m sure Jules wouldn’t mind if my boss tagged along.”
“How have you been, Simone?” Nick asked her, all but ignoring Ethan.
“Good actually. And you?”
Nick couldn’t lie. He didn’t respond. A new song began playing, Beyonce’s Single Ladies, and the crowd began dancing. The change in atmosphere allowed Simone to make a fast getaway.
“Well, I hope you enjoy yourselves,” she said, moving away from the two men, but Nick grabbed her by the arm.
“May I have this dance?” he asked quickly, desperately. Ethan looked at him.
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he said. “But go ahead. I’m sure I can find somebody around here who can give a brother a whirl.”
Simone was surprised by Ethan’s sudden streety-type tone and she looked at him. But he just walked away and Nick drew her attention back to him.
“Please,” he said.
Simone sighed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.
Nick’s expression dropped. “I know it’s not,” he admitted. “But please do it anyway.”
Simone knew that it was useless. She knew that she was playing with fire. But she allowed it anyway.
They walked out onto the dance floor and began dancing mildly to Beyonce’s upbeat tune. Although it wasn’t that kind of song, Nick slowly pulled Simone into his arms and began slow dragging with her. Simone resisted at first, they must be out of their minds, she thought. But her resistance was futile. She went where he led. Until he had her so close, and was holding her so tight, that she could barely breathe. She closed her eyes, and laid her head on his shoulders. She was about to tell him that this was going no-where and that he had to know that, but they and everybody at the party were suddenly
interrupted.
“The police out here, y’all!”somebody suddenly said, “and they’re looking for Shay!”
All of the partygoers began to drift toward the front door. Someb
ody had apparently retrieved Shay and Jules because they both began to head for the front door, too.
“Shay, what are they talking about?” Simone asked as Shay and Jules hurried past her.
“How am I supposed to know?” Shay asked with her usual dose of ‘tude. Simone looked at Nick, and then hurried to the door with her sisters. Nick followed behind her.
Two police officers, both in uniform, were standing just inside of the large marble foyer of Jules house. When Shay and Jules arrived, the tallest one stepped forward.
“Are you the owner of this property, ma’am?” he asked both sisters.
“I’m the owner, yes,” Jules answered. “May I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am. We have a warrant for the arrest of Serita Rivers.”
Jules heart dropped. And so did Simone’s.
“Arrest her for what?” Simone asked as she and Nick arrived at the foyer. Ethan, too, had arrived.
“We were told that this may be one of the places where she could be found,” the tall officer said.
“Yes, but what has she done?” Simone asked.
“Let me handle this, Simone,” Ethan said, stepping forward.
“I’m Ethan Graham,” he said. “I’m an attorney. Now what exactly is this about?”
“No, first of all,” the officer said, “is Miss Rivers here?”
Shay began to back up a little. Jules, however, would have none of that. “Yes, she’s here,” Jules said. “But she has a right to know why she’s being arrested.”
“Are you Serita Rivers?” the officer asked Simone, but Simone, not about to agree to incarceration ever again in her life, shook her head. The officer then looked at Shay.
“Are you Serita Rivers?”
Shay knew when the gig was up. Instead of cowering in a corner the way she had hoped to do, she stepped up. “Yeah, so, what’s it to you?” she asked.
The other officer, the quiet one, immediately removed his handcuffs and took Serita by the arm.
“You are being arrested, Miss Rivers,” the tall officer said, “for an assault with a deadly weapon on the person of one Hamilton —.”
“Ham?” Shay said, astounded. “You got to be jiving?”
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