Deception (Infidelity #3)(3)
My knees gave way as my retreat met with the freshly painted wall. I couldn’t back any farther away. Down was my only option. As I descended into a crouching position, so did Nox. Our physical connection severed, though our gaze remained set.
Afraid to look away, from the corner of my eye I saw her face. Not that of Deloris, now holding tightly to the doorjamb, her complexion as pale as the walls, but of Jocelyn. She smiled knowingly up from the floor near my feet, still clad in the Louboutins. The high heels forced my knees toward my breasts. I grabbed onto my own tender wrists, clung to my legs, and willed my invisibility cloak of childhood to cover me.
What would Jocelyn have said if she were here? Would she assure me of my lover’s innocence or warn me of his dangerous ways? Would she hate me for being with her husband or thank me for reminding him to live?
“Alex. Alex,” Deloris spoke my name in a steadfast tone as she touched Nox’s shoulder and moved slowly toward me.
She didn’t stare at the beautiful face of the woman in the picture. If I didn’t know her well, I’d say she didn’t see it, but that wasn’t true. Deloris Witt saw everything. She knew everything. In one glance she’d summed up what had happened—how my world had crumbled in a heap of broken dreams.
Her conclusions were always correct.
At Deloris’s encouragement, Nox stood and backed away, his distance allowing me to breathe, giving me oxygen and filling my lungs. The much-needed air gave my body what it needed to carry on its involuntary processes. I couldn’t comprehend or consciously think as my body shuddered with pent-up sobs, and Deloris reached for my hand.
“Alex, let me help you stand.”
The tightness of my own grip around my knees had gone unnoticed until I released my hold and the circulation returned to my hands and arms, pink returning to my stone-cold fingertips. I wobbled as I stood, unsure why the world was on tilt.
Perhaps I was drunk.
No, I’d barely touched the lemon drop martini. One sip, or was it two?
The room spun around me. Lines that had been straight were now curves, ebbing and bowing. My empty stomach reeled before it free-fell from unknown heights. I stumbled toward the plush chaise lounge.
Nox was immediately at my side, his strong arm encircling my waist as he steadied me.
“Don’t touch me.” It was the first phrase I’d uttered, my first comprehensible thought.
His warmth disappeared as I sank onto the soft chair, still gripping Deloris’s hand.
“Alex, may I get you something? Water?”
Is she serious? Water? I shook my head.
My dry tongue darted to my parched lips as I tried to steady not only my voice but also the ricocheting of my heart. Surely they could both hear it bouncing between my spine and ribs. I couldn’t look at Nox. I needed space.
“Deloris,” I began, searching her eyes for comprehension. “Will you please take me to my apartment?”
“Fuck.” Nox’s expletive was barely a whisper, yet it filled the room with his displeasure.
“Alex, you’re safer here,” Deloris offered.
My senses returned. Noises registered—the hum of the air conditioning and the beat of Nox’s shoes as he paced against the polished wood floor. The aroma of our uneaten dinner wafted through the air.
“Safer here?” I rebuked. “This apartment was broken into. Your perfect security was breached. I hardly consider that safe.” Each statement came with more conviction.
“It was,” Deloris admitted. “However, if you two had stayed out a little longer, I would’ve had this resolved without your knowledge and you’d still feel safe. I guarantee, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
I narrowed my glare as indignation grew. “Without my knowledge? Without my knowledge? If we’d stayed out longer, I would never have known about the letter? It was addressed to me!”
I released her hand, her hold no longer comforting. “What else don’t I know? What else has been hidden from me?”
“Charli,” Nox’s velvet timbre reverberated through the cooled air. “It’s for your own good.”
“My own good?”
“Lennox and I have tried to explain,” Deloris said. “There are constant threats. It doesn’t do you or anyone any good to know all of the details. It would be—”
“Suffocating?” I offered the appropriate word to complete her sentence as I stood, my bones now solidly capable of supporting my weight.
“Unnecessary,” Nox corrected.
Slowly I spun, taking in the office that had been designed for me. I ran my hand over the back of the chaise, the fibers of the plush material bending to the pressure of my touch. I caught the brown-eyed smile of the picture still lying upon the floor. She was young and beautiful and had a life of promise ahead, and now she was dead.
My neck and shoulders straightened. “Answers, Nox. I need answers or I’m leaving.”
Nox took a step toward me. My glare stalled his movement, but not his declaration. “You can’t leave. I won’t allow it.”
“What the fuck are going to do? Are you going to lock me in this apartment? Ground me? Tie me up in your bed? That was what you said before. Well, too bad. You can’t.”
His lips formed a straight line that in only seconds grew increasingly thin. Without speaking he was telling me he could do that and more. Suddenly that thought was no longer erotic but frightening.