15. Ember

15

EMBER

" Y ou haven't given Cole any dirt yet?" Kora asked, her eyes wide with disbelief as she lounged on my ratty couch. "None at all? Hasn’t it been like a month since you started at Foster Real Estate?"

I paused my aggressive assault on a bag of low-calorie popcorn the size of a body pillow to shoot her a guilty look. " Five weeks. And I've been busy actually working. And I mean really working. Did I tell you about Eleanor Golding? She was this super tough client nobody could crack, but then I noticed she had this one ceramic duck on her desk during a video call. Turns out she collects them. So I sent her one, and now she calls me just to chat about her collection."

"That's... great?" Kora said slowly. "But what does that have to do with getting revenge on Cole?"

"Nothing. I just... I don't know. I kind of love this job? I think Orion put me in client relations because he wanted me to fail spectacularly, but it turns out I'm good at it. Like, really good. I'm doing something that matters for the first time in my life. I'm not just plugging numbers into a spreadsheet or proofreading meeting notes. And Moira—my terrifying vampire boss—actually smiled at me yesterday. Well, her lip twitched. But for her, that's basically a hug and an invitation to be bridesmaids at each other's weddings."

Catman chose that moment to materialize from whatever dimension he spent his time in, hopping onto the coffee table to give me his signature one-eyed stare of judgment.

"Don't look at me like that," I told him. "You're still my favorite undead creature." I scratched his wrinkly cheeks. "I know what I'm doing," I added, though I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince Catman, Kora, or myself.

"Do you, though?" Kora asked, reaching for the popcorn satchel. I surrendered it reluctantly. "Because Cole texted me today asking if you were okay. Apparently, you've been dodging his calls."

I flopped back against the couch cushions. "Ugh. I know. But every time I see his name on my phone, I just..." I made a gagging sound. "There’s so much going on every day. I've even been bonding with Orion's sister, Remmy, too. She invited me to dinner tomorrow night, and she's going to teach me to paint!"

"Uh-huh," Kora said. "And how's working with the devil himself? Still making him crazy?"

"Orion? Oh, he's... fine. I mean, he's still ridiculously uptight. Last week, he got out a ruler to check my skirt for dress code like I was back at boarding school or something.”

Kora smirked. “You went to boarding school? How am I just learning this?”

“Yeah, well… Some might say I’m a handful, and my parents had enough after middle school. So, yeah. I spent my high school years at Primington’s Academy for Troubled Youth in upstate New York.”

Kora rolled back and clapped her hands as she let out a shrill laugh. “Oh my God. Troubled youth? Now that you say it, I can totally picture it. Was this before or after juvie?”

“Shut up,” I said, smiling. “I wasn’t actually troubled. I just thought it was funny to talk back to people. And play minor pranks. And occasionally get into trouble…”

Kora gave me a look, so I threw a few pieces of popcorn at her.

“Anyway!” I said loudly, changing the subject. “Like I was saying. Orion is hilariously uptight. Yesterday he went on a five minute rant about the size of the margins on a client report I sent him. Who even notices that? And he's always lurking around my desk with his stupid perfect suits and his stupid perfect hair, probably plotting new ways to try to catch me breaking his ridiculous rules..."

"Sounds awful," Kora said, failing to hide her smirk.

"It is! He's impossible. And he has this thing he does when he's annoyed where his jaw ticks and his nostrils—" I caught myself. "I mean, not that I notice things like that. I just happen to have eyes. In my head. Which sometimes see things. Completely normal, non-obsessive things."

Kora’s face said her bullshit detector was blaring at full volume. To her credit, she only smiled patiently and nodded.

My phone buzzed. Cole's name flashed on the screen.

"Speak of a different devil," I muttered.

"You should probably answer it this time," Kora said. "Before he gets suspicious."

I knew she was right. With a deep sigh, I picked up the phone. "Hey, Cole."

"Finally," his voice crackled through the speaker. "I was starting to think you'd forgotten our arrangement."

The word 'arrangement' made my skin crawl. "No, just been busy. It's not like I could just walk in and ask for the company secrets at Foster Real Estate. I have to actually build trust first."

"And? What do you have for me?"

I caught Kora's eye. She made an encouraging gesture.

“Nothing yet,” I said slowly.

“That’s not good enough, Ember. You need to give me something right fucking now, or this whole thing is over.”

I felt a stab of panic. Shit.

"Well..." I said, scrambling for something I could toss out that wouldn't really help Cole but might get him off my back. I needed something that sounded important, but it was vague enough that it wouldn’t actually hurt Orion or help Cole. “I mean, I’ve heard them talking about a guy named Davenport a lot, I guess? But like I said, I’m still trying to get more trust so I can do more than eavesdrop.”

"Davenport?" Cole's voice sharpened with interest. "Tell me more."

My stomach dropped at his tone. Something in the urgency and hunger there made me think even the vague tip was something Cole would cling to like a dog with a bone.

“I really don’t know more yet. If you give me more time, maybe I can find out, though. But honestly, I’m not even sure Davenport is really worth looking into. It’s just a name.”

“Your clock is ticking, Ember,” Cole said. “Give me more on this Davenport guy soon, or you’re done.”

I hung up and immediately felt like I might throw up my entire body weight in popcorn.

"You okay?" Kora asked.

"Yeah, I just..." I shook my head. "I’m worried I gave him more than I should have there. I panicked.”

"If just the name of some guy is enough to screw with Foster Real Estate, then they're operating on shaky ground anyway, right?"

"Yeah," I said, though the sick feeling in my stomach said otherwise. I couldn't shake the sense that I'd just knocked over the first domino in a very long line.

My phone buzzed again. This time, it was a text from Remmy.

Remmy: Hey! Remember how I said Orion wouldn’t be at dinner tomorrow night? Mom’s making him come and he’s being a total baby about it since he learned you’d be there. He tried to back out and our mom won’t let him. So you have to come just so we can watch him squirm. Please? My mom’s lasagna is amazing, and there may or may not be Orion’s baby pictures up for viewing if you come…

"What's that look for?" Kora asked.

"What look? There's no look. I'm just... thinking about lasagna." I was already typing my reply before I could talk myself out of it.

Me: Baby pictures of Orion Foster? I would pay money for that kind of blackmail material.

"You're in trouble," Kora said, shaking her head.

"Please," I scoffed. "The only trouble I'm in is that I have to see my impossibly grumpy boss outside of work, I said, tilting my phone toward her so she could read. “But hey, free lasagna. And maybe I'll finally figure out if he was born wearing a tie."

As I spoke, that weird feeling in my stomach was back. And this time, I was pretty sure it wasn't just the massive amount of half-digested popcorn.

No, this feeling was way more dangerous than a popcorn overdose. This was the feeling of someone who was starting to care way too much about a man who was supposed to be nothing more than a stepping stone in her revenge plot.

Catman gave me another judgmental look, and this time, I couldn't even argue with him.