I opened my eyes just before five that evening. Good thing, too, because I didn’t set my alarm. Part of me wished I had overslept, but I knew there was no turning back for me now. I knew that from the first moment I locked eyes with Parker Ramsey. Raptor would never expect me to come after him. I couldn’t let my feelings for Eric get in the way of that.
What were my feelings for him? With so much time between us, it was hard to say.
It would undoubtedly be a difficult night; however, I couldn’t remember a night since the murder that wasn’t full of pain. The thing I had to keep in mind, that had to keep me going, was that this wasn’t about me at all. This was about payback. I was doing all of this to settle a score that had long gone unresolved. My father deserved so much more than to be just another name in a file passed from agent to agent as the years went on.
As I let the hot water cascade over me in the shower, my thoughts invariably turned back to Eric. They usually did when I wasn’t consumed by anger. And, really…how angry could I be when I was in the shower?
I hadn’t spoken to Eric in the last year. Before that, I didn’t know how much time elapsed since I last saw him. I didn’t even know if he was seeing someone. Come to think of it, he could be married by now…
That thought hit me hard as I dried my hair. I needed to rethink my whole tough girl, mask of stone routine when I was around Michael. If I hadn’t spent so much energy trying to pretend the prospect of seeing Eric Sauters tonight didn’t completely unhinge me, I might’ve thought to ask about that.
Or did it even matter? After all this time, I wasn’t still in love with him. No way. I’m not sure of much, but I’m sure of that.
Probably.
Ugh.
How was I going to pull off lying to Raptor when I’m not even capable of lying to myself? I didn’t ask Michael because I didn’t want to get an answer. For another few hours, I’d wanted to imagine he was still single and we’d get a second chance as soon as this mess with Raptor was finally over. It wasn’t a question of whether I still loved him; it was a question of whether I could keep my poker face intact during those first moments when I saw him. Especially if there was a ring on his finger…
I couldn’t even bring myself to imagine that.
It was selfish to hope he spent the last year of his life alone and pining for me, but I…I didn’t know how I was supposed to be okay with his moving on. The only thing I was sure of was that I was not ready to see Eric again. If he was with someone, I knew I would feel hurt, but I would feel worse if he wasn’t.
“Stop it, Skylar,” I ordered my reflection in the mirror. “None of that matters. Raptor is close and you are going to bring him down.”
I dressed quickly and managed to get to First Alliance by a quarter after six. When Michael greeted me at the door, he let me know I was the first to arrive. I supposed all of the society types would be fashionably late. The airs these sorts of people put on drove me nuts. It was going to take all of my patience not to lose it on any of them, or so I imagined.
After I settled into the boardroom of the bank, Michael left me alone so he could keep watch for the others to let them in as they arrived. I was only alone for a few minutes when an energetic raven-haired woman, who could’ve passed for a high school student, entered the room and plopped down next to me. Her sea blue eyes were shining when she spoke.
“You must be Skylar. I am so excited to finally have another woman on this committee who isn’t like a hundred years old. Oh, I’m Reyna Vinson, by the way.”
I instantly understood what Michael meant at lunch. Reyna did not act like someone who was worth tens of millions of dollars. In fact, she looked like she should be at the mall hanging out with her friends and gossiping about boys.
I accepted her outstretched hand. “It’s good to meet you, Miss Vinson.”
“Please, Sky, it’s Reyna. Do you mind if I call you Sky?” She didn’t wait for my response before continuing. “ Of course you don’t. I’m not one of those stuffy housewives who are hung up on formalities. Anyway, I am so glad I have someone to help me with all of this planning.”
“What about the others?”
Reyna made a dismissive gesture with her hand before she spoke. “Please. Most of these people are at the meetings just so they can get their name out in front of people. ‘Laine is a whiz at fundraising, but she isn’t much for the details. Michael tries, but that man is just too busy with the bank. I mean, you know how he is. Everyone else could vanish and I would probably still get the same amount of work done,” she replied.
I wasn’t sure why, but I liked Reyna in that instant. It wasn’t everyday you met someone who told it exactly as it was. She shot from the hip and that was refreshing. Even though she was acting completely informally, I could tell she was also capable of presenting herself in the dignified manner I was sure her family would expect.
I noticed a figure out of the corner of my eye, but Reyna jumped up before I could make sense of who it was. She grabbed his arm and led him into the room towards me.
“Sky, this is another one of the slackers I was telling you about. He only comes enough to keep me happy. Sweetie, this is Sky. She’s going to help me out with all of my million errands.”
“We’ve met,” Eric replied in soft voice. “It’s good to see you again.”
© 2010, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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Glad that Sklylar likes Reyna – I get the impression that she has been very lonely, and has let herself wallow (and plan) for the past couple of years……
It will be good for her to have someone she feels comfortable with…..even if it is just at the meetings etc.
So she has come face to face with Eric……looking forward to seeing how that one goes……..xxxxxx
Well, vengeance doesn’t leave much time for making friends. I guess the question is whether she still likes Reyna now that she’s got an answer to the question of whether Eric’s found someone else…