Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1) (12 page)

“Yeah, not a very good one if you can’t tell diamonds from glass.”  now it was the men who were laughing. 

“I think these are about done.”  Noah pulled at the fish. 

Jerith called to the women.  They sauntered over, laughing, as they came.  Their conversation toned down the closer they got to the fire, which only confirmed to the men they were being talked about.

Denise dropped down between Jerith and Aris.   Anaya sat on the other side of Noah.  Saoirse sat in the sand in front of Aris and Jerith.  Jerith handed a stick with fish on it to Denise.  Aris was pulling some of the meat off of one of them while Noah cut a piece off another for Anaya.  Jerith was busy showing the giggling Denise how to pull it off the stick to eat it.  Aris offered a piece to Saoirse.

“Eew.  No, I’m not doing that.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think my fingers would bother you.”

She wrinkled up her nose.  “I don’t eat fish.”

“Why not?”

“...Cause it tastes like fish.” 

Denise began to laugh hysterically on the other side of Jerith.  “Try it Seer.  Tastes like chicken.”  All the women burst out laughing.  Jerith looked strangely at Denise who couldn’t stop giggling.  Anaya and Saoirse simply looked at one another and tried to stop laughing.

“I guess we didn’t get the joke.”  Jerith was still looking at Denise giggling though his comment was meant for the guys sitting with him.  “Nise, what’s your favorite color?”

“Purple.  Why, do they taste different when they’re purple?”

“Oh my god.”  Saoirse started laughing again.   Anaya had her hand over her mouth she was laughing so hard. 

“Saoirse what’s your favorite color?”  Jerith didn’t understand what they were laughing about but he was going to go around with the question anyway. 

“Heather gray.”

“What?  That’s not a color.”  Aris was incredulous.

“Anaya what about you?”

“Blue.”  Anaya smiled at him.

“If that’s your favorite color, why are all the suits you wear for important court dates green?”  Aris was looking at her like she was lying to him.

“Didn’t we go through this once before?”  Saoirse was looking over at Denise. 

“So you wear suits you hate on important court dates?” Aris was still confused.

“What? No!” 

Anaya burst out laughing.  “It’s the cut?”

“You know it!  I bought all of them in one swoop.  If they would just come back into style, well, next year, I might be able to get them in a color I like!”

“What’s the cut?”

“Aris, weren’t you listening to anything?  I bought my suits all at once.  They just happened to be green. I bought the one with the black knots on the jacket because it makes my hips look smaller, the one with the peplum jacket makes my hips and ass look smaller...”

“Yeah, and your tits look bigger too.”  Denise chimed in while picking at her fish.  Noah nearly choked on his.  Jerith wasn’t exactly sure he’d heard that right but wasn’t going to ask.

“...yeah, exactly, and the one with the green ribbon ties in front do the same thing too, it’s just so I don’t have to wear the same suit all the time.”

Aris was staring at her like she was full of it.  “There’s nothing wrong with your body.  Heather gray?”

“Yes.  It goes with everything.  You can put it with any color you like because nothing clashes.”

“It’s convenient, like black. Very neutral.”  Denise sounded like she was expounding on some complicated theorem. 

“So what’s your favorite color?  Green?”  She threw the words at him before he had time to say anything.

Aris shrugged, “I prefer red.”

“Of course you do.” 

Denise jumped up from where she was sitting.  “I need another drink.  Anyone else?”

“I’ll go with you.”  Saoirse stood up taking Anaya’s glass. 

“Would you bring me a bottle of water please, Denise?”  Jerith called after her as she walked toward the house with Seer.

“Thanks Jerith.”  Aris looked slightly confused still.

“It’s alright Aris, I got something I wanted out of it too.”

“I guess sapphires are out.  What the hell do I do with heather gray?....Diamonds?”

Anaya looked at Noah for the fill in.  “We have to go to Xang’s the day after tomorrow.  Aris asked Saoirse to go with us.”

“Oh.  Diamonds might fit the bill.”

Chapter 10

Saoirse spent the following day with Denise helping her get as much done in Martin’s office as she could.  Denise was adamant that she didn’t mind Saoirse going away for the day. 

“Why don’t you want to go?  And don’t say it’s because of me, even if we had this place in perfect order you’d still be whining about having to go.”

“I feel like I’m being kidnapped again.”

“Seer, when are you going to stop it?  You’re not being kidnapped.  If you really decided you didn’t want to go, with a legitimate
reason for it, you know full well that Aris wouldn’t even consider asking you to go.  You’ve never been to Hong Kong before.  What’s the problem?  The last time he took you somewhere without spelling it out for you in advance you were just fine.  The trip to Darwin wasn’t terrible.  You didn’t get your skirt ripped or lose another pair of Choo’s.  Every time the man wants to show you something or makes some kind of noise about wanting you beside him for anything you flip out like you’ve been gagged and chained.”

“I’m a control freak.”

“You’re going to be all alone if you don’t learn to relax.  I know you haven’t dated anyone in years because there’s really no one to date, particularly not in our line of work, but there’s a really sweet guy hanging around you that does love you.  Okay, so his chosen profession has it’s down side but Maid Marian had to learn to accept it knowing that King Richard might never come back.  At least Aris isn’t a terrorist.  He could be blowing all that money on fast cars, faster women, and beating up the worse off but he’s not.  He’s just trying to get through life happy.  If it makes him happy to show you Hong Kong, take you to lunch in Darwin, or fly to Paris for breakfast, is that really so terrible?  Just because you’re not good at anything besides being a lawyer doesn’t mean that he’s going to be disappointed in you or decide you’re not worth his time.  He couldn’t care less what skills you do or don’t have.  He’d teach you whatever he knows that you don’t.  How much more can you ask for?  Kick back, giggle, be a girl.  It won’t hurt you.  It’s not like your lawyer skill is going to shrivel up.”

“Thanks Mom.  Are we done with the lecture?”

“Look, I’m your best friend.  He just wants to make you happy.  If he’s not getting it right, say so, don’t bite him for it.  Tell him what makes you happy.  He’ll do it.”

“Maybe that’s the whole problem.  I don’t know what makes me happy any more.”

“It’s a possibility.  Even winning big cases for you isn’t all that exciting any more.  You’re always kind of relieved that it’s off your plate instead of excited you won.”

“I can’t do any more of this stuff today.  The tediousness is killing me.  I’ll help you some more when I get back tomorrow.”

*****

The flight to Hong Kong was short.  Noah and Aris talked about what they wanted out of the deal with Xang.  Xang was a straight player so they didn’t worry too much about dealing with him. The bigger issue was whether he was willing to part with the stones for a price they wanted to pay.

Saoirse sat in the chair across from them with her eyes closed.  She was semi aware of the conversation, but she was more tuned in to the advice Denise had tried to impart the day before.  Maybe she should try harder.  Aris had never hurt her.  He wasn’t the type of person to embarrass people or play games.  She had a really hard time dealing with the fact that he intimidated her just doing nothing.  Even simple things like taking her hand made her nuts.  Her mind would scream that she wasn’t a child then she would have to consciously remind herself that he was doing it because he wanted to be affectionate.  He liked holding her hand.  Couples held hands all the time.  It was one of the hallmarks of being an item.  Maybe that’s what was really bothering her.  This together thing didn’t look like it had a future to her.

The plane touched down beside a car that took them into the business district.  Looking around, all the sidewalks seemed to be wall to wall bodies.  Aris wrapped her arm inside of his before taking her hand.  She looked around at the different shops as they walked down the street, with Noah somewhere behind them in the crowd.  Aris would move to the side of the sidewalk every few feet waiting for the wall of bodies to carry Noah to them before he would start walking again.  On one of these stops she thought she saw a face she recognized.  She looked again into the crowd but didn’t see it.  She chided herself for her crazy behavior, expecting to see someone she recognized in a city she’d never been to before, half way around the world from home.  How crazy was that?  The only problem was the feeling wouldn’t go away.  She turned her body sideways, still walking beside Aris, to look at the crowd.

Suddenly it felt like the crowd parted, as the face she thought she had seen was right there in front of her.  It was Ling.  What was he doing here?  Her mind was wrestling with the information until she saw his cellphone held sideways in his hand.  Something clicked with it, coupled with the look on Ling’s face, when he realized she’d recognized him.  He tried playing it cool, slowly trying to fade back into the crowd.  It made sense, but it was too wild to be believable.  It was only when she’d called out his name that he bolted down a side street.  Instinctively, she yanked her arm away from Aris, sprinting off in the direction Ling had gone.  If he had thought about the situation for a minute, another sharp turn then slowing to a walk would have made him invisible in the crowd again, but as it was he was still flying down the sidewalk, standing out like a sore thumb.  He turned, then turned again.  She wasn’t used to running, she hadn’t done it in years unless she was late for court, but her adrenaline was gushing through her body.  It was all coming together.  Denise had been right, the picture in Aris’s office was taken with a cell phone.  He’d been stalking her, or getting someone else to do it for him, but she’d have to catch Ling to get to the truth.  She turned down another street.  It took her a minute to realize Ling wasn’t here.  In fact, there wasn’t any one.  She must have turned into an alley.  She dropped her speed to a jog when she became aware of three men in the alley in front of her.  One of them had just stabbed one of the others.  Panic consumed her.  She turned around, and began running the second she realized what she’d seen.  Unfortunately, it was too late.  The men running after her also realized she’d seen them.  She was only half way up the alley, she’d never make it back out to the street before they caught her.  She turned her head as she ran.  They were catching up.  She ran head on into something in the alley that nearly knocked her off her feet.  She felt herself spinning around as she looked up to see Aris holding on to her arms.  She tried to say something but the momentum was pulling her back in his direction down the alley.  Before she could say anything, Aris’s eyes went wide with shock.

Aris let go of her arms turning around to face the men in the alley.  They were yelling something at one another when another guy came up.  Aris’s back was bleeding.  The new man to the group pointed at Aris saying something.  She thought she heard the man say Aris’s name but she wasn’t sure.  He drew his hand across the other man’s throat, dropping him to the ground.  They turned back down the alley and were gone.

Aris grabbed her arm heading toward the mouth of the alley.  

“Aris?”

“It’s alright, my love.  Noah will be here in a minute or Ling will double back.”

Saoirse pushed his body sideways to look at his back where he was bleeding. 

“Give me your shirt.”  she yanked against the buttons pulling his shirt open trying to get his arm out.

Aris caught his breath in pain. 

“I have to get pressure on the bleeding.”  her mind wasn’t thinking about being caught in an alley in Hong Kong with a professional criminal and two dead bodies.  She folded up his shirt into a wad the size of a baseball.  There was a single wooden pallet leaning up against the other wall of the alley.  She grabbed it turning it on its side.  She sat him down balancing him on the side of it.  She put her arm around Aris trying to get leverage as she pushed his shirt against the cut as hard as she could.

“Where the hell is Noah?”

“Shh.  He’ll be here in a minute.”

“He should have been here by now, his minute was up two minutes ago.”

Aris smiled at the ghost of seven years ago in front of him.  She was pushing hard against him frowning. 

“NOAH!” 

“Ling should be doubling back in a minute.” 

She was aware of Aris staring at her.  Something about the look in his eyes frightened her.

“Saoirse.”  Aris held her chin in his hand smiling at her.  “I love you.”

Before she could say anything Ling came out of the back door of a shop opening to the alley. 

“Get Noah!”

“I’m right here.”  Noah looked at Aris’s back.  “They might have struck the nerve.”  Aris stood up from the pallet walking toward the face of the alley where the car was waiting.

“LING!  Get Saoirse back home.”  Noah yelled.

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.  LING!”

“I got her Noah.  I’ll get her back home.”  Ling grabbed her arm as Noah pulled the car door shut.

“Hey!” 

The car sped down the road out of sight.  Her hands suddenly felt sticky.  Looking down she realized they were covered in blood.  Aris’s blood.  Celeste’s voice came back to her. 
‘She gonna bleed you Aris, love.’

*****

Saoirse was dropped at the tarmac on the island. 

“Go to Aris’s.  I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”  Ling was headed off in another direction.

“Where are you going?”

“Seers, just go!  There’s been enough trouble for one day.”

She jogged down the hill catching the tram as it came by.  When it dropped her off at the cul de sac, she ran down the hill to the house.