Chapter 32
Sex with Marina made River feel like the entire world had exploded and left them intertwined.
It also made her feel like she never wanted to stop.
When she’d woken and felt Marina’s soft curves still pressed into her, she hadn’t been able to resist pressing her lips to that sweet flesh, and she’d made her way slowly from shoulder to hip before Marina turned onto her back and spread her legs in silent invitation.
River didn’t need any further hints.
An hour and a half later, Marina had half-heartedly pushed her away and shuffled into the shower, alone. She insisted she needed to get shit done today, and they’d have plenty of time in bed once she was officially jobless.
River pulled things from the fridge and made them some basic omelets. There wasn’t much to work with, but they’d be decent enough.
Marina came out and sniffed the air. “You cook too?”
“Only a little. Basic stuff, but I thought we could both use some protein.” River wiggled her eyebrows and was glad to see that Marina’s energy was steady today. Yesterday, it had been so terribly low, and the sadness in her had made River ache.
“What’s your plan today?” Marina asked.
“I’ll go to the shop and work like I do every day.” River shrugged. “My life isn’t the one in flux. The question is, what are you going to do today?”
Marina took a bite of toast and chewed, her expression thoughtful.
“I have to face the music, so to speak. I’ll go in to the office and meet with Montgomery, and I’ll just have to go from there.
I don’t think I’ll hear from the Disciplinary Commission for a week, at least, since they’ll be aware it’s a federal investigation.
Then it will probably be up to the Illinois Supreme Court as to whether I’m disbarred or not. ”
River flinched. “What are the lesser possibilities?”
“Reprimand, suspension, probation. A fine.” Marina ticked them off on her fingers.
“But I was thinking about something in the shower.” She shook her head at River’s dirty grin.
“Not that. At least, not the whole time. I was thinking that I don’t regret it.
Yesterday was a lot, and whatever comes, it’s not going to be easy.
But I don’t regret handing Sheila to the Feds.
She’s a particularly evil bit of carnage in more ways than you know. ”
“Oh, I have a feeling I’m pretty aware.” River grimaced, remembering the look and feel of Sheila’s energy. “It’s not all that surprising she went nutty when she thought we were together. She wanted you something fierce.”
Marina made a gagging sound. “She made that clear.” She took her plate to the sink. “I’d better get going. I hate putting things off, and I’ve avoided this long enough.”
River handed over her plate, then went and finished getting dressed. She came out to find Marina staring out the window at the blue vista of Lake Michigan. “You going to be okay?” she asked, slipping her arms around her from behind.
“I will be.” Marina turned in her arms. “Thank you for last night. And this morning.” She winked and laughed when River spun her around. “Get out of here. I’ll call you later.”
River capitulated and gave Marina a last kiss before heading out to the Lime.
The snow was a couple inches deep, and she was glad she didn’t have to try to navigate her bike in the snow, but the Lime wasn’t going to get her anywhere fast either.
She sent a quick request to the Universe to help her get back to South Shore in one piece.
It wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be. The roads were mostly clear, and she only had to go slowly in case of ice. When she pulled up to the shop, she saw that the sidewalk had been shoveled clear and the lights were on.
The bell chimed when she went in and Audrey called from downstairs, “I’ll be right there.”
“Just me,” River called back and hung her coat in the back room.
Audrey came up and headed for the little kitchen. “Did you treat my precious Lime well?”
“Did you remember to feed Shamus?”
Audrey yawned widely. “Ask him yourself.”
As though summoned, the fluff ball ran into the room and jumped into River’s arms. His yowls made it clear how he felt about her sleeping elsewhere. “You brought him into a place where he can knock a zillion things off the shelves?”
“But he won’t. We had a talk, and he knows he has to be on his best behavior.” Audrey sat behind the counter, sipping a hot cup of coffee. “And I want you to have company once I’m gone.”
River hugged Shamus a little tighter. With everything going on, she’d forgotten about Audrey’s departure plans. “At least Shamus won’t cost me a fortune in pastries and fancy coffee,” River said with a sad smile.
“True.” Audrey looked outside and tilted her head. “I have an appointment today too.”
Mrs. Crabtree came in, looking far more hale than she had for the last few days. She tapped her cane on the floor and looked at Shamus suspiciously. “That’s no cat.”
River put Shamus down and he trotted over to sniff at Mrs. Crabtree’s cane. “You’re right. He’s a shapeshifter from a different world.”
“Let’s go.” Audrey grabbed her keys and jacket. “We’re going to check out a couple places for our spitfire to set fire to.”
Mrs. Crabtree laughed, but River held up her hands. “I thought I was supposed to be doing that with you?” River said.
“I don’t need both of you. And frankly, Audrey’s ability to zap into people’s minds is more useful than you getting a feeling about folks.” Mrs. Crabtree waved River off. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring her back.”
Then they were gone, and River was alone in the shop. For a second, she didn’t know what to do with herself, and she watched as Shamus carefully picked his way over the things in the window and then settled among the autumn wreaths they’d put out in preparation for Thanksgiving.
“Okay then.” River went to the appointment book and was surprised to see a handful of readings and two afterlife conversation requests. They were never this busy in the shop this time of year. Not only did she get to keep her shop, but it was thriving thanks to the whole debacle.
Before her first appointment, she spent some time going through stock, making notes of what they needed, what they’d sold out of, and what else she might want to bring in.
She got texts from Adriana, Madison, and Emma, all congratulating her on the win as well as on her new relationship.
She asked if there was any way they could all get together to celebrate, though she knew full well how busy they all were.
After her second appointment of the day left, she ordered lunch and sat in the back room to eat. The door chimed just as she finished her last bite. She chugged down some iced tea, then headed out. “Hi. Can I help—”
She froze. Sheila Black stood like the Tower in the middle of the room, destruction personified.
Dressed all in black, with her hair pulled back in a severe style, she might have been a character out of a dark fairytale.
There were three men standing behind her, all in suits and ties.
“What are you doing here?” River asked, determined to stay calm.
Sheila looked her over and clearly found her lacking.
She slid her fingertip over a small metal cauldron and then looked at it like it had dirtied her pale skin.
“I wanted to see you face to face, without the cameras or your flunkies. What Marina did was unforgivable, and I will be pressing charges. But I also wanted you to understand that your little protest did nothing. I have no intention of backing down. I will tear this building to pieces.”
River studied Black’s energy. She opened the gates of her mind she usually kept shuttered so she didn’t get overwhelmed, and she let the information from Black’s energy and ego flow her way. “I think you should have a tarot reading.”
Black scoffed. “I’m a grown-up. I don’t believe in that nonsense.”
River moved past her to the reading table.
“Oh, but you do.” She picked up the deck and shuffled and saw the way Black’s eyes followed the cards.
“And part of you wants to know what they have to say.” It was good that Audrey wasn’t there.
She’d have disagreed with River using her gift this way, when it wasn’t going to do anything but hurt someone.
But Marina had proven that sometimes you had to color outside the lines.
Like bullets, River slapped five cards onto the table without taking her eyes off Black, whose gaze was fixed on the cards.
“Leave,” Black snapped at the men behind her, who seemed only too happy to go stand out in the snow.
River finally looked at the cards and read the connections.
“Oh. Wow. It’s worse than I thought it would be.
” She looked up at Sheila. “You cheated on your wife. Repeatedly, it looks like. And what’s this?
” She tapped a card hard, and she was as certain as she’d ever been about what it said.
“You killed someone. A person to do with your ex.”
Black went white. She swallowed hard and lifted her chin. “That’s absurd.”
“Is it?” River considered the question and pulled two more cards.
“In fact, you did it yourself. You didn’t even hire someone to do it.
And you’re carrying that secret like an ankle monitor.
It’s always with you, following you, tracking you.
” River closed her eyes and let her senses flow wide open, her gifts in full force.
“Susan?” she finally said. “No. Suzanne.” She opened her eyes to see Black looking like she might pass out.
“You can’t know that,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “No one knows that.”
“Ah, but I do. And you know what happens when I get this kind of information? I can pass it on. People may not believe in psychics, but when someone gets curious about what I’ve said and goes digging, do you think they’ll find a Suzanne that suddenly went missing out of your orbit? Or your ex’s orbit, anyway.”
Black took a step backward. Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.
“You seem like the kind of woman who likes to make deals.” River picked up the card that represented the dead woman and walked toward Black with it. “I’ll keep this knowledge to myself if you leave. And I don’t mean my shop. I mean Chicago. Get the hell out of here and leave us alone.”
Black’s throat worked and she finally said, “How do I know you’ll keep your end of the deal?”
“Because I’m not an asshole like you.” River shrugged. “And stay the fuck away from Marina. No charges. Just leave us all the fuck alone.” She held out her hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Black looked down at her hand, then slowly raised her own to shake it. “If you fail to keep your end, I will raze this neighborhood to the ground.”
“You could try.” River wiped her hand on her jeans to get the sticky energy off. “But I’ll hold my end up if you do.”
Black turned and walked out of the store without another word. The three lackeys hurried to catch up and get in the black SUV before Black drove off and left them.
River flapped the tarot card against her hand.
The woman Black had choked to death had been in love with Black’s wife at the time, and when she’d found out she’d gone insane, despite the many affairs she’d had of her own.
She’d hired someone to take the body away and taunted the ex that the woman wasn’t going to be sharing her bed again.
River cleaned up the reading, reshuffled them, and set them aside for smudging later.
She sat down, closed her eyes, and smiled when Shamus jumped up and curled into a big ball on her lap.
With clear intent, she closed the doors to her gift that made it too hard to live with otherwise.
She didn’t need that kind of knowledge about people.
She didn’t want it, and it had taken a long time to figure out how to shut that part of her away.
When she opened her eyes, she felt much better.
Black had been dealt with, and River had no doubt she was gone for good.
Eventually, one day, the truth about the woman she’d killed would come out.
River could let the Universe deal with that part.
That meant Marina was safe too, and that was the most important thing.
She loves me. The thought spread warmth throughout her body. Just like the reading had suggested what seemed like ages ago, every path led to Marina.