Women of the Otherworld 10.5 - Counterfeit Magic (12 page)

A faint clatter cut me short. It was a sound I knew so well I could visualize it. Lucas waking, half-asleep
, reaching
for his glasses on the nightstand…

“Who is it?” asked a voice, one I knew just as well, and I struggled to breathe, praying I wouldn’t hear—

“Your wife,”
came
the reply, muffled, as if Ava had covered the phone.

A soft curse, then the sound of someone scrambling out of bed.

Someone?
Someone?
You know who’s climbing out of her bed.

A murmur—Lucas’s voice, words indistinguishable. Footsteps padded across the floor. A door clicked shut.

“Sorry,” Ava said, coming back. “I’m not alone, which explains why I totally forgot you were calling. Totally forgot
everything
.” She giggled.

I hung up.

Waking Nightmare

I sat on the sofa.
Just sat there, unable to think, unable to form a thought.
When I could, all I could think were two words. Not possible.

I was dreaming. I’d fallen asleep while I was waiting to call Ava, and I would wake up soon with Lucas’s hand on my shoulder, his warm breath on my cheek, the faint smell of his shaving lotion…

Tears burned my eyes. I blinked them back. There had to be another explanation. He’d been in her hotel room, discussing the case. They’d fallen asleep.

On the bed?
Together?

Maybe it wasn’t a bed. They were on a couch and he’d been getting his glasses from the side-table and the creak of springs had been sofa springs.

It wasn’t what it had sounded like. It couldn’t be.

I called Lucas’s number. As it rang, I pictured him listening to my ring tone, seeing my picture on the screen, just sitting there,
waiting
for voice mail—

“Hello.” His voice was hesitant, as if he already regretted answering, and my insides knotted. The first tears trickled down my cheeks. I swiped them away.

“Hey.” I tried to sound casual. “I thought you were out.”

“I am, unfortunately.” His voice had an odd echo.
In a bathroom?
Her bathroom, where he’d retreated after I called? “I really shouldn’t talk.”

Couldn’t
talk.
That’s what he meant.
Wasn’t ready for me.
Wasn’t sure if I’d heard him with her.
Wasn’t ready with an excuse.

“Ava called,” I said. “She had a message from you, but I never did get it, so I thought I’d go straight to you.”

“Message?”

A
pause,
and I knew there’d been no message. Of course there hadn’t. She’d texted me to call in an hour because she knew by then they’d be dozing, and I’d call and she’d nudge him, accidentally of course. He’d wake and I’d hear him and I’d know.

“Perhaps she misunderstood,” he went on. “There wasn’t a message, so no need to worry.”

Someone spoke in the background.
A young woman.
Lucas quickly covered the phone and murmured to her.

“Who’s that?” I said.

“Just the contact I was meeting. I really should go. I’ll call you in the morning.”

I said goodbye, but he’d already disconnected.

No “I love you.” No “Sleep well.” No “I can’t wait to be home.”

Nothing.

I sat there, phone still in hand, tears streaming down. Then I collapsed back on the sofa and sobbed until I couldn’t breathe.

I gasped, wiping my face, struggling to get a grip, make a plan.

Make a
plan
? I couldn’t even form a coherent thought.

Lucas had cheated on me.

Everything inside me screamed I was wrong. I had to be wrong. This was Lucas.
Lucas
.

When someone knocked, I blinked, then turned toward the front door and checked my watch. A second
knock,
and I realized it came from the back. A key clicked in the lock.

“Paige?” Adam called. “I need to grab a file.”

When I didn’t answer, he called my name again. Then his footsteps sounded in the kitchen. I held still, praying he’d think I’d gone to bed and slip past, find the file and leave. He came into the living room and saw me on the sofa.

“Paige?”

I faked a yawn. “Sorry, just dozing. What’s up?”

He flicked on the light before I could stop him. I tried to turn away, but he strode over, saying, “Paige? What happened?” Then he looked at the phone still in my hand and stopped dead. “Shit. It’s not—
Is
everything okay?”

I couldn’t answer.

“It’s not Lucas, right?”

Fresh tears filled my eyes. I blinked them back, but not fast enough and crouched in front of me.

“Is he hurt?”

I shook my head. “He… he slept with her. Ava.”

I waited for his laugh. Not just a chuckle, but a tremendous burst of laughter that would tell me I was nuts.

Only he didn’t laugh. He just sat there, looking at me, and the expression on his face wasn’t shock or disbelief. It was pain.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

My heart thudded against my ribs. No, this wasn’t right. Adam should laugh. He should tease me about getting into the champagne early or falling asleep and having a bad dream, because clearly—
clearly
—Lucas had not cheated on me.

He hovered there, as if trying to decide something, then lowered
himself
beside me. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, silent for a moment,
then
he twisted to meet my gaze.

“A few months ago, when you were out of town, I…” He took a deep breath. “I caught him.
With someone.
It wasn’t anything… Well, it wasn’t completely incriminating, just…”

He hesitated,
then
shook his head as if deciding I didn’t need details.

I was misunderstanding him. I had to be. Or he’d misunderstood what he’d seen. Not Lucas.
Never
Lucas.

Adam went on. “He fell over himself insisting it wasn’t what it looked like, that he was just under a lot of stress because of the Cabal stuff, and with you away, and he’d had a few drinks…”

He rubbed his chin. “I believed him. I figured he was just flirting, and me catching him was all he needed to realize how close he’d come to completely fucking up his life.”

“But… Ava,” I managed. “You knew she—”

“—had the
hots
for him.
Yeah. I figured letting him go with her was a good test. If he didn’t give in to temptation, then everything was okay. And if he did…?”

Adam clenched his fists and I could feel the heat radiating from them.

“Don’t,” I whispered.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Paige. Never did. When you hooked up with him, I wondered what the hell you were thinking. But you were happy, so I didn’t say anything. Then you bought this house, and he moved in and next thing you know, you’re marrying the guy. He barely earned enough to cover his expenses, jetted all over the country playing crusader while you slaved at home and raised Savannah.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Yeah, it was. But then he bought the office with his trust fund, so you guys had a place to work together, and I figured he was finally manning up. Then a few years later, what happens? He joins the Cabal.
The
Cabal
.”

“It’s not like—”

“Not like that? Listen to yourself. You spent years supporting him.
Then years helping build his business.
And what does he do?
Joins forces with the bad guys and screws around on you.
Don’t defend him.”

I kept my mouth shut, but inside, I was still thinking, “It’s not like that,” because it wasn’t. I’d been the one who insisted Lucas take pro bono jobs. I’d seen how much it hurt him to watch me working while he chased his dream. I’d known how hard it was to dip into his hated trust fund, but I’d known it was important, too, for him to buy the business so we could pursue our dream together. I understood why he helped with the Cabal and how much he struggled with that choice.

“We should have seen this coming,” Adam went on.
“As soon as he joined the Cabal.
Screwing around on your wife is just part of the culture. Hell, his own mother was Benicio’s mistress, and Benicio saw nothing wrong with making his bastard son the heir.
A complete lack of respect for his wife.”

Again, I wanted to say it wasn’t like that. Benicio had made a political marriage, and ended up with a vicious woman who threatened to ruin his business in a divorce. They hadn’t lived together for decades.

Adam knew all that. He’d never had a problem with it before. Never had a problem with Lucas before and certainly never said he thought I was being mistreated.

Adam was my oldest friend. Whenever he’d had issues with the guys I’d dated, he’d said so, which meant he was backfilling now, reshaping history to make me feel better. Only I didn’t want him to tell me what an asshole Lucas was. I wanted sympathy and support until I’d calmed down enough to make a decision.

Adam shifted closer and put his arm around my waist. I tensed, then leaned against him, closed my eyes and let the tears fall again.

“Lucas has changed,” Adam said after a few minutes. “He’s not the guy you fell in love with. You know that. You’ve known that for a while.”

His arm tightened around me. “You’ve grown apart. We’ve all seen that. He’s becoming the Cabal heir, and you’re becoming the heir’s wife. Not his business partner. Not his confidante. Not his lover.
Just his wife.
You’re trying to be everything he needs, but
you
haven’t changed, Paige. It’s all him. He’s not the same guy, and you know it.”

But he was. Even now, knowing what Lucas had done, I couldn’t find comfort in that excuse—that he’d changed—because he hadn’t. His life had changed. His work had changed. But as the Cabal sucked him in, I’d watched for any sign that it was changing him. It hadn’t. He was still the guy who wanted to save the world. He’d just come to realize that it might not happen quite the way he’d thought it would. He’d learned to be flexible. He’d grown up.

I wasn’t making excuses for him. None of that changed what he’d done. I’d need to deal with that, but I couldn’t just say, “He’s changed into a selfish jerk.” Whatever had happened to us, it was more complicated than that.