Empire of Desire by Rina Kent

“And who the fuck are you?” frameless glasses guy asks.

I guess no one in IT really knows what’s going on in the rest of W&S. Because all the junior associates and interns recognized me. Or, at least, most of them did.

I lift my chin. “Jane’s friend.”

“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes and leaves.

“Assholes.” I punch the air after them.

Jane’s manic tapping stops for a second and she tilts her head to stare at me. It’s a bit creepy with how her hair drops to one side as well. “Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

“That I’m your friend.”

“Because they were being jerks. I’m allergic to those.” Even though I married one.

“I don’t need you to stand up for me.”

“Sorry, but I can’t stay quiet when things like that happen.”

“If you keep it up, you’ll end up getting hurt one day.”

“One day isn’t today.” I stand and twist my neck, then move my legs to get the blood circulating to my toes. “Let’s go get lunch.”

She opens a drawer and retrieves one of those sandwiches you get from the convenience store. “I have my lunch right here.”

“That’s not called lunch. Let’s get a real one.” I reach for it and she catches my hand so fast, I flinch.

“Don’t touch my computer.”

“I was going for the sandwich.”

Her hold slowly eases from around my wrist. I massage the skin as it quickly turns red.

“Wow, you guys are super possessive of your computers, huh?”

She pushes her glasses back with the heel of her palm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s fine.” I grin, even though it does really hurt. It’s as if she’s a trained ninja. “Lunch?”

She pushes the button on her screen, making it go black, and begrudgingly stands up. I intertwine my arm with hers, and she looks at me funny, but she doesn’t pull away as we head to the elevator and take it to the intern area.

“Do you like home-cooked food better? Because I can cook. I love it sometimes, though I love baking more. I brought cupcakes this morning, but I don’t think there will be any left, because Daniel stole them all. Do you know him? He’s funny and has a dreamy accent and dimples. Jeez, they shouldn’t be legal. Anyway, I’ll bring you new cupcakes tomorrow—”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Lawyers aren’t usually this chatty.”

“But we’re supposed to be. Talking is what wins cases, Jane.”

“And here I thought it was actually studying law.”

“Hey! Rude.”

She lifts a shoulder as if she couldn’t care less.

I can’t help the smile that pulls my lips. “You’re funny.”

“I’m sarcastic. There’s a difference.”

“I’ll go with funny.” I grab my bag from my desk, trying to ignore the interns’ cutting gazes. Jane doesn’t even pay them any attention and keeps studying her black nails.

Soon after, we take the elevator to the parking garage. “Hey, Jane.”

“What?”

“You really don’t know who I am?”

“You said you were Gwen.”

“Yeah, right.” I don’t know why I feel giddy because someone actually doesn’t associate me with Dad, the firm, or anything.

I’m just Gwen. And that’s liberating.

The moment the elevator opens, my smile drops and so does my heart. Because Aspen is getting in Nate’s car and she’s smiling. No, she’s laughing, and he’s smiling.

Aspen is in Nate’s car and she’s happy and it’s lunchtime.

But that’s wrong.

Yes, I know they’re close, but she’s not supposed to be with him during lunch and be happy about it. Or maybe this is normal, but my head doesn’t understand that logic right now.

I’m not thinking as I let my legs take over and start walking toward the car. The same car he picked me up in on our wedding day. The same car that Aspen shouldn’t be getting into while she’s all smiles like that.

But I’m late, because the car has already left the parking garage. It’s already out and I’m standing here, staring at the exit with the sound of the tires and Aspen’s laugh echoing in my ears.

And I want to chop off my ears and feed them to the nearest dog.

“Gwen?”

I slowly look away from the exit to focus on Jane. For a second, I forgot she was there, that she almost saw me make a fool out of myself.

Because I shouldn’t. I’m fine, right? It doesn’t matter who Nate spends his lunch with or that he returns her smile or that she only laughs with him.

“Are you okay?” Jane runs a hand in front of my face. “You look like you’re having a stroke.”

“I’m fine. Fiiiine. Yeah, totally fine.”

“You don’t look fine. If you were a PC, I’d run a malware check. But I can’t, so I’m lost here.”

That earns a smile from me. “I don’t think any malware checks can fix me or what I saw.”

“What you saw? You mean Aspen?”

“You know her?”