money to waste. The fourth wall was glass and overlooked an atrium that held a miniature tropical forest. Tara pressed a button then eyed the numbers above the door like they were her arch nemesis.
Moving only my eyeballs, I glanced over to Steve when I felt him looking at me. He had that funny smile again, the one that wasn't funny. I realized he did that when he was nervous. It came with a furrow between his brows this time, making him look like a constipated kill joy.
It occurred to me that with his chaperone status, he would know at least the bare details behind this assignment. And it fucking scared him.
Fuck.
Exiting the elevator, we followed T-Rex Tara down a hall. You 'd swear she did this kind of thing five times a week. She paused at a door, and the first signs of hesitancy showed. Briefly. She turned and looked at me with a pleasant smile. "In and out. Demon domination 101 baby."
I raised my brows and nodded a little. "Right with you love."
She regarded Steve. Then me again. "Why not wait in the hall in case it gets…ugly."
" No, no, no," Steve whispered back. "We have to both attend." He gave a regretful frown, more for himself no doubt. Who the fuck wanted to witness this? Besides me. And that was mostly to find out more about Tara.
" Fine." She raised her wrist and spoke into her bracelet. "Demon domination in progress. Please pay close attention."
She opened the door and walked in, straight past the receptionist.
"Ma'am? Ma'am! You can't go in there."
Steve and I followed quickly behind Tara as she barged right through a door at the end of the hall.
A man and a woman were engaged in conversation and he stood from where he sat on the edge of his desk and turned. The anger in his handsome face became a mask of confusion the second he saw Tara. His confusion and maybe concern grew when he looked me and Steve over.
I finally realized that Tara was speechless and staring at the woman. Uh oh.
" Rita?"
The beautiful blond e stood. "Tara." She smiled.
" Why are you here?" Tara's voice held genuine confusion.
" I…I work here. Transferred after college."
Tara nodded at her for several seconds then looked at the man. She cleare d her throat. "I'm…I'm here to…here to…"
I stepped closer to her and put my hand on her shoulder, reminding her I was there.
She looked at me and I leaned in to her ear. "We can come back tomorrow," I whispered, extra quiet.
Her brows furrowed with the return of her anger and sparkly indifference. She looked back at the man who towered next to us. He was a half a head taller tha n me and seemed to think that would keep me from kicking his ass if he made one wrong move or said one wrong word to her.
" I'm here to tell you that I forgive you." She held out her wrist and his face went screwy.
" For what?"
She shook her head slowly at him. "You know what." Her words were soft and certain, with a hint of hurricane warnings.
" Ummm." He raked his hand through jet black celebrity hair and wiped his mouth then spread his arms wide. "Are you referring to me finding out the day of our wedding that you were not the woman you professed to be?"
She went still for several seconds then her hip cocked. "What?!"
" What do you mean what? You know what. Your…" he glanced at me and Steve as though suddenly realizing they weren't alone. "Your condition. With…children."
My gut tensed and Tara steeped forward, out of my reach. She held her wrist out toward at him. "So. You're saying you…left because I was raped and can't have children?"
He seemed embarrassed and looked down. "I wanted kids."
My knuckles ached with the force of clenching my fists.
" We could have adopted."
" I don't want to adopt."
" Ah. And don't you think you could have told me that?"
More shame filled his face and he stood there hemming and hawing. "Don't you think you should have told me something like that?"
Tara laughed. "I did. What do you think 'I was ruined' meant?"
" I just thought it meant
Learning to Kill: Stories