Chapter 40
“It was nice of you to come, Gale,” Robin said, sitting upright in her bed. Her skin was still covered with bandages, and seeing her without any makeup and with the flattest hair ever was like seeing an unphotoshopped photo of a supermodel.
Nala pretended she recognized her friend upon entering the room carrying a small bouquet of get-well flowers and – most importantly – a chocolate bar. “I would’ve come earlier, but I had to go out of town for a while.” That was all Nala said as she sat next to Robin.
Across from her, she saw the permanent indent Lucian had left from all his time sleeping by Robin’s side.
Nala didn’t know why that surprised her.
Apparently, she assumed that all the relationships in The Aviary were as fake as her and Varen’s had been.
But if we fell in love, then they must be too.
The only couple she wasn’t sure about was Maggie and Jay, but there was a lot she wasn’t sure about there.
“It’s okay. I’m glad you came at all.” Until now, Robin had put on a brave face that said she wasn’t hurt or scared. Wasn’t she well enough to go home yet? Or was Lucian’s money able to keep her here until she was emotionally ready as well? She must feel safe here.
“Not many people have visited me, besides Lucian, of course.” Robin looked away, biting her lip. “Nobody from The Aviary has come. Not until you, anyway.”
Nala sighed. “Maybe they didn’t want to find out your real name,” she teased. “You know that’s supposed to stay hush-hush.”
“I like my name, though!” Robin’s face lit back up, much to Nala’s relief. “It’s your name nobody knows, honestly. Well, yours and Maggie’s. I could easily tell you Quail and Starling’s real names.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to…”
“No, but we’re not at a meeting, now are we?”
Nala shrugged.
“I’ll tell you Quail’s name. It’s Sybil. She came out here as an escort if you believe it.”
Nala believed anything and everything these days.
A woman in The Aviary being an escort? Super easy to believe.
Nala was practically one for a few weeks.
And my sugar mommy girlfriend is still paying me.
Would Varen keep gifting her a thousand dollars a week until they died?
Maybe. Hopefully. Nala would not say no.
“Her and Seba are still a pretty new couple. I don’t know much about Quail’s past, but I know that she and Seba aren’t as serious as they look. They live together, but I’m not sure how serious it is. I think it’s a business deal if you ask me.”
Nala hadn’t, but that was okay. “But you and Lucian are a real thing, right?”
“Oh, yes! He comes here every day. He’s cried so much… I never saw him cry hardly in my life until I ended up here. You know how those types of men are. They don’t want to cry, either because they think it’s unmanly or… I dunno. It’s not healthy if you ask me.
People are supposed to cry to keep the stress out of their bodies. Does Varen cry?”
So rarely did she ever call Varen by her first name. “I’ve never seen her cry, no.”
“Oh. Sounds like Lucian. Well, as I said, I’ve been seeing him cry a lot lately. Made me realize how much I mean to him. I mean… I always knew he loved me, but I could see how scared he was to lose me! It scared me too. I’ve never meant that much to somebody before!
I’m not even sure my mother would cry that much to lose me. I think it might be forever with Lucian if I ever get out of here.”
“When will that be?”
Robin sucked her face inward as if she tasted something unbearably sour. “I don’t know,’ she said carefully. “The doctors say that, despite my injuries, I’m doing well. I could probably go home in a few days if I wanted.”
“If you wanted?”
“I don’t know if I actually will.”
“I see.” Nala didn’t press that issue. Clearly, Robin was scared.
Lucian was probably even more afraid, especially if he knew the source of his girlfriend’s pain.
What did he do to piss Ravenwood off? Varen was right.
They picked Robin not only because she was Nala’s friend, but because they wanted to get to Lucian as well. A double-whammy.
“Do you remember what happened?”
She treaded dangerous waters here. If Robin wasn’t forthcoming with what she knew about her own attack, then she probably didn’t want to share. If she even knew…
Robin set her face into a grim look. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told the police every time they were in here. I don’t remember anything. One minute I was walking in my neighborhood, and the next thing I knew, I was in here with Lucian crying beside me. What happened in between?
I couldn’t tell you. I don’t remember any event, and I definitely don’t remember any people.”
The way she said it betrayed her lies. The police probably thought the same thing, if they came in multiple times trying to get something out of her.
She knows who it was. She’s too scared to mention it.
Nala didn’t blame her, but having Hawk’s involvement confirmed would mean so, so much in the world of getting to the bottom of this.
“Well, I hope that you can get out of here sooner rather than later,” Nala said. “It’s awful seeing you like this. I really mean that.”
Robin smiled. “Thanks so much, Nala. I mean…”
Nala sat up straight in her seat. “So, you know who I am…”
“Yes. Lucian told me a while ago. He said that you had a pretty name and that Varen was lucky to have you.”
“Did he, now?”
“I hope you’re not angry, Nala. I assumed that you knew my name anyway. It’s hard to keep a person’s identity a secret in this day and age.”
“Do you know my last name?”
Robin squinted. “I remember something Russian. I’m sorry, I’m terrible with foreign words and names.”
“I’m sorry you found out too much,” Nala said, zipping up her jacket. “I’m sorry that he decided to make an example out of you.”
“Nala…”
“No, don’t say anything. It’s best that way.” Nala nodded to one bandage on Robin’s hand. “It’s best that you don’t find out more about me. Or Varen. Make sure you tell Lucian that the next time you see him.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Then understand this. Varen and I are involved with something very dangerous. If you knew anything about our histories, then you would know that… well, I won’t get too much into it. I’m sorry you got caught up in this, but you must try to avoid The Aviary as much as possible until things blow over.
You’re not safe there. None of us really are.”
Robin still made that sour face. “I know. We haven’t been safe since the day it began.”
Nala didn’t know what that meant, but she would leave Robin to it.
After a curt but polite farewell, she stepped out of the hospital room and took a meandering path down to the sidewalk, where she grabbed a rideshare back to Varen’s loft.
I should have brought the bodyguard, I guess.
Varen was adamant that Nala never leave by herself.
Yet how was she to trust a hired hand? Right now, Nala assumed that everyone was in Ravenwood’s pocket.
Except for her and Varen. She kept reminding herself that as the car went down the road.
Varen was home, although she was not locked at her workstation like she had been when Nala left a few hours ago.
Instead, she walked into the loft to find her girlfriend in a far, empty corner, in gym clothes and beating the shit out of her punching bag.
Every wumpf! echoed in the loft, sounding like the largest scuffle of the century going down in one abandoned warehouse.
This isn’t abandoned, though. This is our home.
Nala dropped her things by the couch before wandering over to Varen, still punching her bag as if she never noticed Nala.
She was gorgeous, with copious amounts of sweat streaming down her skin and even getting on the bruised and battered red punching bag.
Enough sunlight came through the upper windows that Nala could see every streak of pink flushing Varen’s skin as she worked out until she couldn’t anymore.
A woman should not be this good-looking.
The idea that she was hers for the taking whenever she wanted…
that seemed ludicrous. Was it even possible for Varen to think the same way about her?
That she was so crazy beautiful that she often stopped to stare at her in wonder?
Because that’s what I am doing to her right now.
Nala felt better for the first time in days.
Not only because Varen was there – and the sexiest woman on the earth – but because looking at her, at her strength and her ability to do such things, made her feel safe.
Right now, especially after seeing Robin in the hospital like that? Nala valued safety above all else.
“You gonna keep punching that thing and ignoring me?”
Varen gave the bag one more hard smack before stilling her equipment and looking at her, short of breath. “How was your visit?” It was almost cute how easily she spoke after that much exertion.
“Robin claims to not know anything about her attack, which is of course bullshit. Also, she knows my name.”
Varen stripped her hands of their protective gear and tossed them to the side.
Finished, are we? Was there enough energy still left in her for them to have a go in the shower?
They had yet to have any fun in there… and they had yet to have any real fun at all in a good while.
Get some of this before my period arrives.
Nala coyly stripped her sweatshirt off, but Varen appeared too engrossed in her routine to pay any mind.
“That’s not surprising,” she said. “Both of those things.”
Sweat trickled down her back when she bent down away from Nala and fiddled with her shoes.
“She must know that it was not a random attack, and the person who attacked her has a lot over her head. Even if the police came for her, she wouldn’t give it up if it meant keeping her and Lucian alive. She must know what happened to those two old members.”
“Speaking of, did you find out anything?”
Varen grunted in neither affirmation nor denial.
“I thought I made headway earlier. Managed to break through some bit of security finally. Then I hit another dead end. Didn’t lead to where I thought it would, in other words. All I got were some personnel files. His butlers and landscapers and shit.”
Varen sighed as she switched feet. “You’ll be impressed to know that I now know who has requested two weeks’ worth of vacation later this year so they can go on a honeymoon in Thailand. Also, someone named Albert hasn’t taken a sick day in fifteen years. They gave him a raise for it.”
Nala sighed right alongside her. “So now what?”
“So now I find something else to break into.”
“Are you going to keep doing this until you get what we want?”
Varen snatched her arm and brought her near.
Hello there, body odor. Nala reveled in it, running her hands along Varen’s sticky skin, feeling the sheer power of her muscles and the overall spoils of her intense workouts.
For all the easy breathing she did in front of Nala, the woman puffed beneath her hands. Good to know she’s still human.
“I always get what I want. Eventually.”
Nala tried not to blush “Just don’t get us in even more trouble.”
Varen put both arms around her, practically inhaling her throat as she kissed Nala there. “Trouble is my middle name, Miss. Shall I show you?”
Nala liked post-workout Varen. “Is trouble beneath your clothes?” Nala slid her hand beneath Varen’s sports bra, not one bit put off by all the sweat there.
Before they could kiss, however, Varen’s phone buzzed a few feet away.
“Some mail came, Ms. Lake,” said the man in charge of the patrolling security. “We checked it. It’s clean.”
Groaning, Varen pulled away from Nala and went to the door. A man was standing on the other side, handing over a small stack of envelopes. “Thanks.” She shut the door in the man’s face. “Great,” she said with a bite to her voice. “The fucking Aviary is calling again.”
Nala curled up on the couch as if it could shield her from Xan Ravenwood. “Tell him we’re still not buying what he’s peddling. Even if you’re making shit up again.”
Paper rustled behind her. She could practically feel Varen reading over whatever invitation Ravenwood had sent this week.
“This isn’t a regular invitation. He says that in lieu of a regular meeting this week, they will be promoting a swingers event.”
“Joy. Please tell me we’ve been paired with Lucian and Robin so we don’t have to do anything.” Nala knew that wouldn’t be the case. Swinging only worked if there were an even number of couples.
“Sorry, darling. We’ve been requested by a different couple.” The invitation landed in her lap. “Your new best friend wants to take me for a spin.”
“My new best…” Nala held up the invitation in front of her. Maggie and Jay’s names loomed before her eyes. “Fucking hell.”
“I know I’m not turning them down.” When Nala shot Varen a dangerous look, she explained, “Not because I want to sleep with Maggie, okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Because there’s a lot we can ask them. There’s a reason they chose us, Nala. I’m guessing they want to finally talk about what’s going on. Maybe we’ll find out who they are.”
“I’m not holding my breath. They’re more likely to kill us, I think.”
“You’re cynical.”
“You’re not?”
Varen pointed to something else on the invitation. “Two days from now. You ready to go pretend to be hot for Jay?”
“Shut up.” Nala snatched Varen’s chin and held her place. No way you’re getting away from me right now, lady. “I am not screwing around with any man. And you are not going to have sex with her. Got it?”
“Let’s see how the night unfolds.”
The way Varen backed away from the couch implied that she was giving her girlfriend a hard time.
Nevertheless, Nala leaped up from the couch and nearly chased Varen down to the bathroom, where she was halfway to locking the door.
“Don’t you dare!” she cried. “You’re all mine, Varen Lake! Do you hear? I’m the only one who gets to eat your pussy!”
“Why,” Varen said, peering through a crack in the bathroom door. “You’re feisty when you’re jealous.”
She latched the door in Nala’s face. In another minute, the shower turned on, and Nala had a whole slew of crap to whine about.
Entry 20
Tomorrow, I hope to find out a truth in The Aviary. But what amuses me more is how jealous Nightingale is at the thought of me sleeping with another woman.
It shouldn’t amuse me so.
But it does.