Chapter 19

Sam stoppedherself from recreating the Saturday Night Fever intro while striding to her department chair’s office. Knowing she was going to see Natalia again so soon was a song her body couldn’t resist.

“Good morning, Rashmi.” She knocked on the open door of the department chair’s office. Dr. Kapoor looked up from her computer screen. “Got a minute to discuss my sabbatical request?”

“Of course.” Dr. Kapoor leaned back in her chair, gesturing for Sam to take a seat. “I saw your email about guest lecturing,” she said, sounding dubious.

Sam sat down and launched into her pitch. She outlined the universities that had already extended invitations. UCLA, Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard.

“And I just received a request from Oxford as well,” Sam added. “They’re interested in me teaching a condensed 2-week seminar on the Lilith mythology. It would be an intensive course, but a tremendous opportunity.”

Dr. Kapoor looked hesitant. “That’s quite a bit of time away from campus, Sam. I’m just concerned about you being absent for so long when you have classes to teach and dissertation committees here.”

Sam nodded. She’d expected pushback. “I’ve arranged for Dr. Chen to cover my undergraduate courses in my absence. My PhD students are at a stage where they can work independently for a few months. As for the committees, we’ve been meeting on Zoom since the pandemic. No reason I can’t meet those commitments.” She leaned forward, hands clasped on her desk. “Rashmi, this is the chance of a lifetime. My research is gaining momentum — invitations from these institutions prove it. This tour will expand my reach exponentially.” Sam held Dr. Kapoor’s gaze. “I know I’m asking a lot. But I promise the payoff will be immense, for me and for this department. I’ll be bringing back knowledge and connections that will benefit everyone.”

Dr. Kapoor considered her words. Sam stayed quiet, letting her think. “I don’t think I can get Dean Merman to sign off on such a long?—”

“I know the dean can be tough, but surely he’ll see the prestige this brings to our department. After all, your leadership is the reason we’re attracting interest from top institutions.” Sam gave Dr. Kapoor an earnest look. “You’ve built this department into a powerhouse, Rashmi. My tour will showcase that to the world. I’ll be sure to highlight in every interview how vital your mentorship has been to my career.”

Dr. Kapoor looked slightly mollified by the flattery. Sam pressed on. “Just imagine the dean’s pride when Harvard and Oxford come calling again, wanting more of our professors to lecture. He’ll know it’s because of your work elevating our scholarship.” Sam smiled encouragingly. “This is your chance to really put our department on the map. I know the dean trusts your judgment. If you approve my sabbatical, he’s sure to agree.”

Dr. Kapoor tapped her fingers on her desk, considering. After a moment, she said, “Perhaps I can convince the dean, if I propose it strategically.”

“I have no doubt you can,” Sam said warmly. “You’ve always been a skilled negotiator. That’s why I know I can count on your support with this.”

Smirking at her, Dr. Kapoor shooed at her to get up. “Alright, alright. That’s as much blown smoke as I can take.” She chuckled. “I don’t want you to sprain anything.”

Sam laughed. “I meant what I said. You?—”

“Go on before your talk gets any sweeter and I leave my husband for you.”

Taking her advice, Sam slipped back into the hall and resisted the urge to pump her fist. She was re-energized about her upcoming tour. She’d cleared the biggest hurdle — now she just had to get through a few more committee approvals. The finish line was in sight.

The moment she sat down to work, her phone rang. It was the Key West resort where she planned to host her parents’ Fiftieth anniversary three years earlier, before the world shut down. They’d had a cancellation and would be able to accommodate their first weekend of April date. Thrilled, Sam started drafting an informal invitation to let everyone know.

It was after 10pm and Sam was still in her office, poring over student papers. She’d meant to head home over an hour ago, but had lost track of time grading.

When her phone buzzed on the desk, she glanced at it without much thought. Then did a double-take. The text was from Natalia and contained nothing but a location pin.

Sam grinned, immediately intrigued. She plugged the location into her maps app. It pointed to a spot in Wynwood. Near a couple of cool bars, based on the street view. Not the highfalutin location she was expecting.

Sam quickly gathered up her things, anticipation building about where this night might lead. She texted back before changing into a pressed black button down that she tucked into her plum-colored trousers.

Sam: You do realize this is how people get murdered in horror movies?

Natalia: Please. I have far more creative ways of killing someone. This is an invitation. One you’re clearly interested in since you’re running to your car.

Sam laughed aloud. Natalia wasn’t wrong — she was already locking up her office and speed-walking to the parking lot. It was the confidence with which she said it that Sam found most amusing. She’d never met anyone more self-possessed than Natalia. It was intoxicating. She typed out another message as she slid into her car.

Sam: On my way. But fair warning, I’ve seen every slasher flick made since the 80s. I know all the rules for surviving a rendezvous with a mysterious and potentially homicidal maniac.

Natalia: Say less. Don’t keep me waiting.

Still grinning to herself, Sam tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and started the drive toward whatever awaited her tonight. Leave it to Natalia to keep her guessing. With that woman, the possibilities were always endless — and endlessly exciting.

Sam pulled up to the nondescript warehouse building Natalia had directed her to. A neon sign reading The Limelight was the only indication it was a bar.

Inside, music and fifty conversations converged into a swirling discordant sound wave, but Sam cut through it with ease. She spotted Natalia right away, sitting alone at the far end of the sleek concrete bar.

Dressed in an all-black suit with her hair pulled back, she looked like a panther waiting to pounce. The sight of her, combined with the noise and energy of the busy bar, was like crushing ten Cuban espressos at once.

Moving toward her, Sam had to resist the urge to jog. The closer she got to Natalia’s orbit, the more electricity ran through her body. Her heart raced and her skin warmed. Anticipation coiled in her belly until Natalia looked up from her cell phone when Sam approached.

Dark eyes framed by even darker makeup were a heart-stopping contrast to Natalia’s full lips painted glossy nude. When Natalia’s attention landed on her, the jolt was nearly fatal.

“Well, you look right at home in the serial killer bar,” Sam teased despite her pounding pulse making the words feel foreign in her mouth.

“Like I’d be so obvious.” Natalia’s eyes gleamed even as her tone retained its low, detached quality.

Sam had never considered herself one for games, but the back and forth with Natalia was different. If it were a sport, she’d be happily training to be an Olympian.

“Can I get you anything?” The bartender with purple hair and piercings asked.

“Two shots of that Japanese whiskey you have there.” Sam pointed at the massive wall of bottles.

“Shots, Professor?” Natalia’s tone said caution, hazards ahead, but Sam couldn’t stop herself. She was so dialed into the now of the evening. The night was crackling with something she couldn’t help but chase.

“Too wild for you on a school night?” Sam leaned against the bar instead of sitting on a stool. She was too energized for sitting.

Natalia set aside her glass of wine without dropping eye contact. She bored into Sam with her gaze. The intensity reminded her of the scene in The NeverEnding Story where the enormous stone Sphinxes opened their laser beam eyes, ready to disintegrate the unworthy.

Feeling singed but whole, Sam handed Natalia a shot glass before picking up the other. Natalia turned in her seat to face Sam, bare legs crossed and inviting Sam to part them.

“What shall we toast to?” Natalia raised her glass.

Sam tilted her head to the side and thought for a moment. “To powerful women, embracing their strength,” she began.

Natalia lifted a curious eyebrow but stayed silent, intrigued.

Sam’s smile widened. She leaned in, just a hair closer. “To all the daughters of Lilith out there, unapologetic and unbound.”

Natalia’s eyes flashed with amusement, but her infinitely kissable lips were unmoving.

“And…” Sam lowered her voice to a throaty purr, “to irresistibly commanding women who always, always get what they want.”

She held Natalia’s gaze, wondering if she picked up what Sam was nearly willing to offer. Unattached sex, if that was all she really wanted. She could tell Blanca she’d tried and failed, but parted with an outstanding consolation prize.

“You’re so good at pretty words.” Natalia raised her shot glass. “To getting tipsy,” she said before tossing back her drink and swallowing it without flinching.

With a chuckle, Sam gulped her drink but couldn’t help the shake in her shoulders as the smooth whisky warmed her chest. Turning the empty glass in her hand, she cocked her head to one side, hair falling only a little over her forehead thanks to tons of product. “You have to love things that are bold and complex and fiery, but go down so easy.”

Natalia moistened her lips like a cat sharpening her claws. “Oh, I don’t know.” She signaled for the bartender to bring them two more. “There’s a lot to be said for getting it hard.”

Tossing her head back, Sam laughed at the unexpected response. She’d never met anyone as unpredictable as Natalia. After another round of shots, Natalia surprised her again by ordering a beer and falling into easy conversation. Sam told Natalia about potentially getting to teach abroad, visiting universities across the U.S. and Europe.

“It would be incredible exposure for my research,” Sam said excitedly.

Natalia swirled the IPA in her glass, assessing Sam thoughtfully. “You know, there’s an even better way to keep these stories alive.”

Sam laughed. “I expected so much more subtlety from you, Natalia.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things, Professor. Usually some version of direct. Or the weak and jelly-filled might call me a bitch.” The corner of her lip twitched a fraction. “But never anything as useless as subtle.” She leaned forward. “What if the producers promised you full creative control?”

“Those promises always melt away once contracts are signed,” she replied, wishing for the first time that it wasn’t true. Wishing that she could see her work translated into an easier to consume medium like film or prestige TV. Lilith and her daughters should be immortalized and venerated the same way Arthur and Hercules and countless other male heroes had been. They should have countless retellings that capture their raw, feminine power. But she couldn’t trust an industry like Hollywood. There was no way they wouldn’t exaggerate the erotic and queer underpinnings, leaving out the critical focus on female-centric society and matriarchy.

“The terms would be in the contract,” Natalia replied without hesitation.

Sam shook her head, wishing things were different. “You’re not going to wear me down, you know.”

“What is your aversion to this, Samantha? And cut the bullshit about principles and esoteric crap. What are you so afraid of that you won’t even negotiate?”

Leaning away from her, Sam was surprised at the sharpness of Natalia’s tone, but it wasn’t aggressive as much as it was real. It was like she’d dropped the character on stage and Sam was compelled to follow.

“You really want to know?” Sam signaled for the bartender to bring them water.

“If you think I’d ask a question just to hear myself speak?—”

“My work has been stolen before.” Sam ripped off the old bandage, gluey from age, and stuck to her skin. If Natalia really wanted the truth, she’d give it to her. Maybe she would finally understand why the sale was not an option for her.

“What do you mean?” Natalia’s energy shifted. Her body tensed, and jaw set in a way that was genuinely intimidating. But Sam knew it wasn’t directed at her. On full display was a protective energy Sam hadn’t anticipated. Not from a woman who claimed that all she wanted was a fuck buddy.

It made Sam drop her own defenses and revisit a painful memory. One she’d worked to rise above and insulate herself against. One that made her feel stupid and weak and naive.

“Early in my academic career, I was just starting my Master’s, and I was working on this paper challenging enduring masculine assumptions in ancient mythology,” Sam explained. “It was groundbreaking work at the time, looking at gender roles in folklore through a feminist lens. And it was years of research that I’d started during my undergrad studies.”

Natalia’s brow furrowed enough to show her displeasure at where the story was going, but she let Sam continue without question.

“And one of my professors thought it was so interesting, she mentioned it to the chair of the humanities department.” Sam sipped her water, ice bumping against her lips. “Imagine my surprise when ten months later, all of my ideas — nearly word-for-word in some places — were published in a paper that went on to win accolades. Of course, through his lens, the focus shifted away from the feminine to make space for the same tired theories.”

Natalia’s face flushed with color. A violet wave that cresting over her throat and up her cheeks. “Didn’t you tell your professor? The one who told the chair? She would have seen your work. She would have been able to verify that it was your research. Your sources. Your ideas long before they were stolen. I mean, that’s illegal. You could’ve sued. The copyright was established the moment you wrote?—”

Sam nodded, interrupting Natalia before her visible anger peaked. “That was the most painful part,” she explained, wishing she could recall the experience without feeling the old hurt in her stomach and chest. “I did go to her. And she told me the truth of it.” She took a breath and raced through to the end. “I had two choices. I could absolutely go after him and win. Or I could have a career in academia.”

“Because what? You’d be alienated? Even though you were the aggrieved party? That literally makes no sense.”

Sam nodded, the discomfort pushed aside by the spreading warmth in her chest. Natalia’s energy was so protective. She looked ready to reach back in time and avenge her. It was almost sweet, in a slightly terrifying way.

“You know how the world works. How powerful people keep power. And how people rally around revolting behavior when it’s perpetrated by one of their own.”

“Closing ranks around the problem instead of expelling it,” Natalia added like she’d experienced something similar, even though she couldn’t imagine anyone crossing Natalia. Not at twenty years old and not today. “That will never happen to you with this, Samantha.”

“I believe that you believe that,” she said after a beat, voice softer than she intended. “But these things just have a way of getting a life of their own. People start sticking their fingers in it.” She shook her head. “I just can’t give my ideas to anyone again. It’s like ripping out a chunk of my heart and watching someone drop kick it into a toilet.”

“I would never let that happen,” she promised, leaning in, hand on Sam’s hip. “I’m trying to give you everything you want.”

The promise was so low and sultry that Sam felt it like fingers unfastening her belt. Sam couldn’t resist the intoxicating effects of Natalia’s voice. Not when it was so soft and earnest and her eyes were ignited with a mix of rage and admiration. Like she’d find the man who wronged Sam and destroy him.

Sam moved closer. Close enough that all she saw was Natalia. All she smelled was her perfume. All she heard was the sound of her own racing heart.

“Well then… what I want is to talk less,” Sam said, while slipping between Natalia’s legs. Legs that parted effortlessly for her.

Natalia tilted her head toward her, lips full and dangerous and close enough to kiss. “Don’t let me keep you from taking what you want.” She moistened her lips. “Isn’t that what us unapologetic and unbound women do?”

The words were an electric current shocking every one of Sam’s systems. “That we do,” she agreed before leaning in, mouth hovering over the shell of Natalia’s ear. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Natalia slid her hand over Sam’s back before digging in her nails. “You’re the one who is still talking.”