He Will be My Ruin

I feel him hardening against my wrist, so I guess the pain has faded. I help it along by wrapping my fist around the base, enjoying the feel of his velvety soft skin. “Are you going home for the holidays?”

“Nah. I don’t get enough time off here to make it worthwhile.”

“Seriously? What could people need so badly that they can’t wait a week or two?”

“This is an old building. I get a call or text almost daily from a tenant in dire need of having something fixed.”

“I was wondering what you did all day.”

He smiles. “I replace a lot of screws for Ruby.”

“I’m serious. Do you actually enjoy being the building super?”

He exhales, thrusting himself against my tightening fist. “It’s easy work. Low stress.”

“Not exactly ambitious, though. Don’t you want to do something bigger with your life?”

“Bigger?” He reaches over to hook a hand around the back of my thigh. He rolls, pulling me on top of him, lining us up perfectly. “Like what?”

I lift my body until I’m hovering, daring him to slip in. “I don’t know . . . I know I was kidding before, but you really could come to Africa with me when I go. You’re so handy; I could use your help.”

“You need someone to replace screws down there, too?”

“I could definitely use someone to do some screwing there.” My words end with my mouth on his and our tongues tangled again and him reaching for the nightstand to grab another condom.

————

“See? They know I keep odd hours.” Grady holds up his chirping phone, as if that tells me something. “That’s Ms. Sanders in 302. She’s texting me about her refrigerator making a weird noise. Wants me to come listen to it now, if I’m awake.”

“At four a.m.” I glare knowingly. “Is Ms. Sanders attractive?”

“For a fifty-nine-year-old, she’s smokin’ hot.” He fishes his clothes off the floor, working at turning them right-side-out in the dim light.

I prop myself up on my elbow and watch Grady get dressed, admiring his nakedness. “That reminds me . . . when did you fix that window for Celine? My PI said that the latch has been replaced recently.”

“About a week before she died, I think?” He yanks his pants on. “Look, about the other day. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you and your investigator. I would have, if I could.”

Mention of Doug brings me back to the jump drive and Celine. And Jace. The temporary relief that Grady afforded me tonight gives way to agitation once again. “That’s fine. We got what we needed anyway.”

“Oh . . . okay. Good.” He sits on the bed to pull his socks and shoes on. “What were you looking for?”

I sigh. “I wanted to see the surveillance on the night that Celine died. To see if she had any visitors.”

“A visitor? Why would that matter?” Grady pauses, turning to study my face. Realization dawns on his handsome features. “You seriously don’t still think . . . Is that really why you hired that guy?”

“I have a couple of lingering questions and I can’t stop until I have my answers, one way or the other.” I don’t have the energy to bring up the case of the missing vase right now.

He turns to stare at the window.

I sit up and reach out to touch his bare back. “I have to be sure, even if it’s only a small chance.”

“Yeah . . .” He hangs his head. “Yeah, it’s just . . .” He glances over his shoulder at the bed. I assume he’s thinking about where they found her.

Where he found her.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this in here again.”

I’ve gotten good at blocking out the knowledge that Celine died in this very bedroom. Now these are just walls to contain a bed and a dresser, the contents of its previous habitant packed away. New people will move in here. New people will laugh, will love, will have sex within these walls, without any clue of the horrors that have also transpired here.

If I hadn’t blocked those horrors out, I wouldn’t be able to sleep in this room. Hell, I would never have stayed in this apartment in the first place.

But now that Grady has labeled what we just did in here as wrong, I can’t help but feel downright filthy. “You’re right. We’ll stick to the rooftop. Or your place.” Which I still haven’t been inside.

He leans down to place a kiss on my nose. “I should get going. I have things to repair in the morning. And that new tenant wants to come by on Sunday. Are you cool with that?”

“Sunday’s not good. The movers come at ten to load up the boxes for storage and then I have a big charity ball to get ready for in the afternoon. How about Monday?”

“All right.” He tugs his shirt on. “Charity ball . . . that sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, Ruby’s going to be my date.”

“Kind of like bringing your cousin to a dance, isn’t it?”

“I guess, but I know it’ll make her entire holiday.” Just the look on her face when I invited her made my day brighten. “And I figured you wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing.” Though I’m also guessing that Grady could clean up really well in a tux.

“You’re right . . . I wouldn’t,” he chuckles.

I crawl out from under the covers and grab hold of his belt to pull him closer.

With one last deep kiss, he slides the window up.

“Just use the front door!” I pull the covers up and around me as the draft chills my naked, spent body.

“But this is more romantic, don’t you think?” He winks, and then he’s gone.

CHAPTER 26

Maggie

December 13, 2015

“It was 1971 and we were in the Starlight Roof room. Oh, Maggie. You should have heard her. There was nothing like it.” Ruby’s eyes twinkle as she recounts her last time in the Waldorf Astoria, to see Ella Fitzgerald perform.

“Well, I don’t know that tonight will be as glamorous.” I lead her into the Grand Ballroom by the arm, my steps extra low and measured. The room’s décor of rich tapestries and crystal chandeliers is luxurious enough. Now, though, with the holiday bouquets and silvery linens and additional lighting, and the orchestra set off to one side, it looks pretty damn fabulous. And packed. Too packed for my liking, but with over fourteen hundred tickets sold at a thousand per head, plus some generous contributions, it’s certainly going to generate some well-needed money for VU.