Insufferable Proximity (66 page)

“What the hell?” Gloria turned back to Adele. “You put this in here, you’re trying to set me up!”

“I am not! You stole my perfume then broke your own bracelet to cover it up!”

“Why would I break an expensive bracelet for a cheap bottle of perfume, that smells like fish guts, you simpleton?”

“That bottle was very expensive-”

“Maybe for you, but not for me.” Gloria corrected her, “I could buy 30 bottles of that if I wanted, and I don’t have to steal yours.”

“Liar!”

“Wait a second,” Reese said, believing both of them. She knew damn well Gloria would not have stolen that bottle of perfume. If it had been anything else, she may have believed it, but Reese knew firsthand how terrible that perfume smelled, no one would steal it.

Not only that, but Reese could not see Adele breaking Gloria’s bracelet. Adele was more underhanded with her pettiness, she was very sneaky and would do something spiteful instead. She was too cowardly for any physical acts of retribution that could be linked back to her.

“What?” Gloria snapped.

“Something just doesn’t seem right here.” Reese tried to analyze the situation.

“You mean besides Adele’s love of designer knockoff perfume and her stringy hair.”

“That was not a knockoff you gold-digging, jumbo-hipped bitch!”

“I’d rather be jumbo-hipped then have the hips of an adolescent boy!” she frowned, “and dry shampoo isn’t for everyone Adele, you need hair to use it.”

“Kiss my ass Gloria!”

“What ass? It looks more like someone sliced a line up you back.” both of them stared at each other for a moment before storming out of the room, leaving Reese to contemplate what the hell was going on.

***

Friday morning brought a conundrum in the form of one Mrs. Sasha Jewel, a nouveau rich socialite who moonlighted as a part time porn star. The self-claimed sex-obsessed, social butterfly had decided to murder her husband after catching him having sex with their pool boy. The fact that her 70 year old billionaire husband had married her on her 18
^th
birthday had set the press into frenzy and had made her a household name as well as an internet star practically overnight. She was a media sensation, and now, one day shy of her 21
^st
birthday she had been arrested for murdering her adulterous husband.

Heaven and Julian stood up at the conference table facing each other, every lawyer from the firm was in the room with them. Some were already working on their own cases but all of them knew they didn’t stand a chance to get this case and none of them were willing to fight neither Julian nor Heaven for it.

“I want this one.” Heaven said, refusing to let herself feel an ounce of anger.

“So do I.” Julian said.

“What if we work together?” Heaven threw the offer on the table.

“Maybe.” he said not sure how he felt about sharing.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked with her brow raised, “Alone.”

“Yes.” Julian nodded and they both left the room in single file and then continued to his office in the same fashion. Once they were inside, they turned to each other.

“If we don’t work together then we will end up fighting again.” Heaven tried to reason with him.

“If we do work together we will definitely end up fighting again.” He reminded her.

“I want this case, I gave up the last one.” She pouted as she put her hands on her hips.

“We both gave up the last one.” he corrected her.

“Are we always going to fight over cases?” she frowned.

“Probably.” he answered.

“Then let’s at least try working together, at least until we can figure out how to not fight.”

“Alright,” he said and pulled her to him, “we’ll try it.”

***

Gloria was at the restaurant down the block from the office when she ran into Petal and they decided to have lunch together.

“It was good running into you today.” Gloria smiled, “did you hear the news? Julian King is engaged.”

“Really?” Petal smiled.

“Yes, he is marrying Ms. Deville, the one I thought I saw at your party.”

“Oh yes, Sevigne Deville, she works with him correct?” she tried to change the subject, not realizing her blunder.

“Sevigne? You mean Heaven Deville?”

“Yes, that’s who I meant.” she smiled, “sorry.”

“Who is Sevigne? I’ve heard that name somewhere before, wait, isn’t Sevigne the name of Madame Sybille’s daughter?”

“Um, I’m not sure.” Petal knew she would have to work hard to talk her way out of this one.

“What do you mean you’re not sure? You were close to her, you talked about her when I worked there, you wanted me to meet her, but I never did.” she looked at Petal as it began to dawn on her, “Madame Sybille Deville, her daughter’s name is Sevigne and you said she went by her middle name because she hated her first name.” Gloria figured it out and Petal regretted having such a loose tongue. “You’re telling me that Heaven Deville is Madame Sybille’s daughter?”

“That’s not what I said.” Petal shook her head.

“But she is, isn’t she!” she said an exhilarating surprise overtaking her, “It all makes sense now.”

“You keep this to yourself.” Petal warned her and Gloria nodded.

“I like Ms. Deville, she can be a bitch, but she’s honest and you already know how much I love Madame Sybille.” she shook her head. “Besides, exposing her secret means exposing mine.” she smiled.

***

Heaven was in the break room and was happy to see that no one was there. She washed out her coffee cup and locked it in the cupboard. Her happiness was short lived when she heard the door open and watched Gloria walk in the room. Gloria walked over and rinsed out her own cup before turning to Heaven.

“You know I have a little secret that no one at this firm knows,” she admitted and Heaven turned to look at her, “but I want to tell you.”

“Why would you want to tell me?” Heaven asked suspiciously.

“I worked at a brothel.” She admitted.

“Congratulations.” Heaven said her poker face in full effect.

“Madame Sybille often told me that I was stubborn like her daughter, I just had no idea how stubborn her daughter really was.” she smiled from ear to ear. “Nice to finally meet you Sevigne.”

“How did you figure it out?”

“Your name.”

“Is that why you said Lila Strain attacked me first?”

“No, I did it because Lila Strain is a bitch and she deserved it, I wish I could have been the one to smack her.” she grinned.

“You still have time.” Heaven said.

“True. Well, it was nice talking to you, maybe one day we could do lunch.”

“Maybe.” Heaven almost grinned before leaving the room.

***

“I think it will be fun working on the case together.” Heaven walked towards the bar with a smile then slid off her towel, revealing one of the tiny bikini’s he had bought her from Hawaii. He stopped blending the drink and picked her up.

“I love that suit on you, good choice.” he pressed his lips firmly against hers.

“Fruity drinks by the pool equal scandalous bikini from Hawaii.” she smiled. He put her down next to him then poured the strawberry margarita mix into two robust glasses and she toasted “to us and our new case.”

“To us.” he tried to click her glass with his but she pulled back.

“You really don’t want to work on this case with me do you?” she asked.

“No, I don’t.”

“Why?”

“We are finally getting along, why would we jinx it? We are both too domineering with the way we handle our cases to ever make this work. We’ll spend more time fighting for control then working. I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Fine,” she shrugged her shoulders and held her glass up, “then a toast to you and your new case.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m stepping back, I don’t want the case anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re right, we probably would fight,” she leaned against him “and there are lots of other things I would like to do with you that don’t involve fighting.”

***

The clouds swelled just moments before the rain began to pour down. The dusk’s dusty shadow was creeping up the sky and darkening the land below. The small rickety house on old Craven Road stood in silence, shrouded by the over grown lawn. It was a depressing house where love had never lived and disciplinary action stifled all forms of happiness.

The old woman who lived there almost never left the house, leaving herself open for the deepest form of gossip. The small town folk were unable to resist the mystery that surrounded the old woman and had appointed her an urban legend long before her death. Many nights, townsfolk could see the old woman walk by the window, her long silver hair was a wild mess and dominated her tiny frame, only adding to her ghostly appeal and fodder for the gossip.

The old woman lay on the bed, her frail body shivering from the cool breeze drifting through the window. It took all of her strength to lift her head up to look at her only child, a child who had grown into a bitter and spiteful adult. She had not known how to be a good mother, her own mother had been a horrific excuse for a parent and had shown her anything but love. In return, she had shown her only child the same despair with which she had been raised, neither a drop of love nor an ounce of compassion.

It was not until her thirtieth birthday that she had even known what love could be, she thought back to that day when she met the man that would permanently change the direction of her fate. He had been so lonely like her, he was in a marriage with a woman who despised him and was in the beginning stages of a nasty divorce. She had comforted his cold heart as much as he had warmed hers and they had developed an intimate relationship. She had given him her love and had been foolish enough to believe that after his divorce they would be together.

It was not long before she suspected that she was pregnant and had made the poor decision to wait until she was positive before she told him. While she was waiting for her own confirmation, his wife had found out that she too was pregnant and knew of his affair. Instead of sticking up for the mistress he swore that he loved, he cut off all ties with her. He then called off his divorce and remarried his wife.

The man, who had shown her a completely new way of life and had opened her eyes up to all the possibilities the world had to offer, had ended up being the man who had destroyed her heart so badly that she would never be able to love again.

Suffering from heartbreak, she had given birth alone to a child she would come to hate and blame for its fathers actions. She had no love left to give, her prince charming had drained her and vengeance was all that remained.

Now she was dying and she could feel death hovering over her, demanding that she let go. She looked up into the eyes that looked so much like her own and smiled, May was content and finally ready to leave this cruel loveless world. She was taking her last breath, knowing that her well trained offspring was ready for retribution and Ayden King would not see it coming until it was too late.

***

Heaven and Julian drank three pitchers of mixed drinks before making love and passing out. Halfway through the night there was a text sent to his phone and a few minutes later it started ringing. After the seventh ring, he made a move to go get it, but Heaven held him tight.

“Ignore it.” she murmured, her head on his chest, she was too tired to move. After another five rings, Julian got up to answer it but the caller had hung up. He saw his father’s number and tried to call him back but he did not answer. Julian’s phone signaled that he had a new text and he frowned as he read it.

“I need to see you immediately, meet me at work ASAP! –Dad’

“Who is it?” Heaven asked, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

“My father, he wants me to meet him at work, it’s an emergency.” he tried calling his father’s phone again. “He’s still not answering.”

“I hope everything’s alright.”

“I’m sure it is, but I need to go check.” he bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He took a moment to silently appreciate her and groaned in satisfaction as well as the disappointment of having to leave her. He wasn’t ready to leave her yet, if he hadn’t of passed out from all the drinks he would still be inside her right now.

“Are you sure you’re alright to drive?”

“Yeah, I slept most of it off.” he slid his hand down her chest. “I’ll be right back, don’t move and don’t get dressed. I want you just like this when I get back.” he kissed the tips of both breasts before kissing her lips once more.

“Maybe,” she grinned before he kissed her again, “now hurry up and go so you can hurry up and get back.” she pouted.

“Alright.” he kissed her one last time before he turned around and rushed out of the room.

***

Mrs. Duffy, Heaven’s next door neighbor, was outside looking for her beloved cat Humphrey. He was a rascally cat, who at 13 years old, still behaved like he did when he was a little kitten and Mrs. Duffy loved him for it. Although the nights he decided to escape to meet the half Siamese cat down the street were starting to get on her nerves and if he wasn’t so old she would get him fixed. She was looking in her rose bush for her cat when she heard a car start. She then turned to watch as the car sped down the driveway and knock down the garbage can that was in the middle.