Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(72)

Cory would know what to do if I wore something like this. He’d know exactly what to do.

The flush of heat I’d doused in the cold shower came back, not doused at all. Only lurking. Dammit!

I hurried out of the store and walked briskly to my lunch date with the Posse. Not that I was eager to be there, but normalcy and routine. I needed both. Desperately.

In the Belvedere, the talk drifted easily from one topic to another, and yet I struggled to participate. I felt as if the fact I was living with another man was written all over my face. Several times, between the salad ordering and the iced tea refills, I found the words in my mouth, along with a perfectly crafted explanation. An argument that would leave this jury of my peers without a doubt as to my innocence.

Except that I’m not innocent. I had sex with him. I can’t stop thinking about him. I can’t sleep without him. The last two facts were almost more incriminating than the first.

“You’re awfully quiet today.” Minnie took my hand in hers, her smile pitying. “How are you? How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.” I gave her hand a squeeze and slipped mine into my lap.

“Have you seen Dr. Kinley?” Antoinette asked.

“Uh, yes. Thanks for the referral.”

Rashida cut a perfect, square bite off her halibut. “Is he helping? That’s the real question.”

I twisted my napkin tightly in my lap. “I’ve only been once.” And I don’t plan on going back.

“How are you sleeping, dear?” Minnie asked. “I do hope he’s given you something to help you sleep.”

“No,” I said, “because I haven’t needed anything. I sleep just fine.” So long as I’m with Cory. I cleared my throat. “Things are getting back to normal. I’ll be back at work soon and—”

“Back with Drew?” Antoinette asked, arching a brow. “Your engagement party is a week from Friday. Everything still on schedule?”

“To the minute.” I forced myself to take a bite of my scallops. Normally they were perfection. Today they tasted like oiled rubber. “In fact, I’m meeting my mother right after this lunch to do some flower shopping for the wedding.”

Minnie clapped her hands together. “Oh, how exciting! What are you planning for your bouquet? Which reminds me, do you remember Danielle Carson’s wedding? She carried the most gorgeous bouquet…”

The talk mercifully drifted away from me, to the various details of other weddings. But when the lunch ended, Lilah hung back and I steeled myself. My best friend had that look on her face. The one that told me I had a lecture coming. But Lilah surprised me by scooting into Minnie’s vacant seat on my left and taking my hand in hers.

“I’m going to tell you something, and I don’t want you to panic.”

I leaned back. “That’s precisely the kind of opening salvo that usually causes panic.”

Lilah heaved a breath. “One of my colleagues was at Superior Court last week. He’s an attorney in Family Law and he heard that Judge Walker had the Shark Lady in front of his bench, rescuing a child custody case for the Hero of United One by renting him her own house.”

I knew the color was draining from my cheeks and I struggled to put on my jury face. “Lilah—”

“It’s true?” Lilah asked, snatching her hand away. “He’s…living with you? Are you…having an affair?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Does Drew know? He doesn’t, does he? I can tell by the look on your face.”

“Yes, and the look on your face is precisely why I didn’t say anything,” I spat back. “I’m trying to do something nice for someone who needs help—for someone who took a bullet in the lung for me—but I know how it looks. It’s just…bad timing, me being apart from Drew when Cory had this emergency. It’s not a torrid affair. I…I wouldn’t do that to Drew.” Not twice, anyway.

Lilah held my gaze for a moment, studying me intently, not quite accusatory, not quite convinced. “I believe you.”

“Oh, thank you very much.”

“But be careful, Alex. I mean it.”

“I don’t need a lecture, Lilah. I’m a grown woman.”

“Yes, I think you do need a lecture. You forget, I know too much. I know you’re dissatisfied with Drew in the sack. I know you’re shaken up from the robbery and maybe not thinking clearly. But I’ve been there, Alex. I’ve found out the hard way that the person who had pledged his life to me had violated that trust, and it hurts.”

She held up a hand when I started to protest. “Tell Drew. Tell him before he finds out like I did. He’s got friends and colleagues all over the city. You think you can keep this from him? And if there’s nothing going on with you and this Cory person, why would you?”

At last, a silence, and I was ready to blast back. After all, I was an expert at crafting arguments designed to make the unbelievable believable. Instead, the weight of the secret was suddenly too heavy, and lying to Lilah would only make it unbearable.

“I already violated Drew’s trust,” I whispered. “In the bank. Cory and I…”

Lilah’s almond eyes widened, and she stared at me, shocked silent. Then she barked a kind of half laugh. “No, you didn’t. In the bank? Wait, in the bank? While you were being held hostage?”