Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

dinner anytime you like.”
Charity’s singsong voice pulls me from my texting. “Is that the boy?” she teases.
I nod, but don’t want to talk about Calvin, so I volley the conversation back to her love life.
“Who did you say brought you here? Some guy from work?”
I watch her face to see if she looks guilty. Before, I would have never regarded Charity with
suspicion, but now that I know she cheated on Tyler the night before she married him, I’m wondering
if she just flits around having affairs and I somehow never noticed.
She nods, not looking at all guilty as she scoops up more of the appetizer. “Brian. He’s a major
foodie and a major bragger. Bringing me here, he got to introduce me to an amazing restaurant and
make me die of jealousy by comparing it to food he had when he was in Venice, so it was his ideal
night.”
I smile faintly. “Is he cute?”
She frowns like that’s a weird question, which I guess it is. “Um, kind of. He’s like a more
pretentious Joe Goldberg, but he’s also super, super gay. I take it things between you and Jackson’s
boss aren’t going so well?”
“No, they’re… as well as can be expected.”
“What does that mean?” she asks, frowning at my discomfort.
I’m anxious that this conversation could go very, very wrong, so I scoop up another bit of goat
cheese and tomato sauce, but as I do, a wave of nausea hits me.
No, no, no. Behave yourself, stomach.
The last thing I need is to get sick here in front of Charity.
I will the little devil’s seed lodged in my womb to behave itself and look around to see if the
waitress is any closer with my iced tea.
“How’d you meet him, anyway?” she asks, gazing at me across the table as she takes a sip of her
martini.
“Um… well, I guess the first time I saw him was actually at Jackson’s office Christmas party. I
don’t remember him, we weren’t actually introduced, but he remembers seeing me.”
“Aww.”
“Yeah,” I murmur, even though I know it’s decidedly not an aww situation. I don’t know how to
explain how I met him. I don’t want to tell her I blew off her bachelorette party to go hang out with my
ex and his boss, but I can’t tell the truth, either.
I’m saved by Charity’s phone. She holds up a manicured finger and says, “Hold on one sec.”
Then she puts the phone to her ear. “Hello?”