As April stared at the screen, something caught her eye. The page on Vicki’s father described Blake International as one of the biggest property development firms in the world. A company like Oasis had to be one of Blake International’s competitors.

  Why, then, was Vicki working for Oasis?

  It didn’t matter. Watching West Heights change over the past few years had proven to April that all those big multinational development companies were the same. They wouldn’t rest until every square inch of land, including national parks the world over, was covered with luxury high-rises, shopping malls, and office buildings.

  April returned to her search for Vicki’s contact information. All that came up was the same work email and phone number that April already had. Sighing, April sent off another email. She didn’t know why she bothered. She would just get another canned response back saying that ‘Ms. Blake would contact her as soon as possible.’

  It aggravated her to have to chase Vicki for this. April hated the idea of begging Vicki for attention. But this was for the library.

  And April would do whatever it took to save it.

  After locking up the library, April made the short walk to Eliza’s house. Too late, she remembered that Eliza had been away visiting her sister. April hoped she’d returned.

  She reached Eliza’s address. The small townhouse was one of the few remaining houses in the area that hadn’t been bought out and torn down in preparation for new developments. The red brick facade was crumbling, and the door needed a new coat of paint, but April liked the familiarity of it. She’d grown up in one just like it. Of course, April’s old family home had been replaced by a block of apartments several years ago.

  April knocked on the door.

  “I’ll be right there,” a voice called from inside. After almost a minute, a short, dark-haired woman with bright brown eyes opened the door. “April. Come in.”

  April followed her inside. The interior of the house matched the outside. The wallpaper was peeling off, and the floorboards creaked under April’s feet.

  Eliza walked slowly down the hall. She was barely forty, but the measured way she held herself made her seem decades older than she was. It was the result of a recently developed autoimmune condition that left her joints stiff. It was the reason Eliza had to quit her job as director of the library. April helped her out by picking things up for her from the store every now and then, but Eliza was too stubborn to accept anything more.

  “Would you like something to drink?” Eliza asked. “I’m about to make tea.” She was always drinking tea.

  “Sure.” April sat down at the kitchen table. “How was your trip?”

  “It was great.”

  Eliza filled April in as she made tea in the kitchen. April wanted to help her, but she knew better than to ask. Still, it pained her to see someone she cared about struggling. Eliza had been there for April since the day they had met fourteen years ago. Eliza was a librarian at the time. She and a teen-aged April formed an unusual friendship, which April had sorely needed. Now that Eliza needed her, she wished she could repay the favor.

  When Eliza was finished, she handed April a cup and sat down at the table across from her. “How did that town hall meeting go? I heard someone from Oasis came to talk to everyone.”

  “The meeting itself was great,” April said. “Half the neighborhood showed up. But it didn’t do much good in the end.”

  April recounted the events of the last week. Naturally, she left out the part about having sex with Vicki. Eliza listened calmly and silently, showing no reaction to April’s growing frustration.

  “It’s been over a week now!” April said. “And I still haven’t heard back from Vicki.”

  Eliza took a slow, thoughtful sip of her tea. “That woman sounds exactly like every other corporate big-shot I’ve had to work with,” she said. “All evasive language and empty words. Unfortunately, these things always take time. A week is nothing. You’ve just got to keep on pressuring them.”

  “Keep pressuring them?” April said. “I don’t have time for that! We have less than three months before they tear the place down, and I’m just supposed to keep sending them polite emails and phone calls?”

  “April. You need to stop putting your heart before your head. That’s not always a bad thing, but right now, you’re letting your emotions control you. You look like you’re ready to pick a fight.”

  April crossed her arms. Lexi had said something along those lines too.

  “I understand more than anyone why you feel like you have to stand up for the library,” Eliza said. “But sometimes, you have to slow down and think, and allow time for diplomacy to work.”

  “Okay. I’ll be patient. But the moment I get Vicki on the line, I’m going to do everything I can to stop Oasis taking over.”

  “April,” Eliza said. “You should be prepared for the fact that you might not be able to stop this.”

  “Why are you being so calm about this?” April asked. “You worked at the library for longer than I have. You’ve lived in West Heights longer than I have. The whole neighborhood is being taken over. It’s not fair!”

  “Life isn’t always fair. And change is a part of life.”

  April huffed.

  “You need to be more open to compromise. When the woman from Oasis finally gets back to you, don’t just bully her into doing what you want.” Eliza held up her hands defensively. “Sorry. Poor choice of words. What I mean is you should stay calm and talk with her civilly. Try to meet her halfway.”

  “Fine,” April said. “I’ll try.”

  “Look, since you’re here, there’s something I need to tell you,” Eliza said. “When I was visiting my sister, she asked me to come and live with her.” She placed her cup of tea down on the table. “I said yes.”

  “What? You’re moving away?”

  Eliza nodded.

  “But you can’t leave!” April said. “You’ve lived here your whole life. You love it here.”

  “I do. But as you know, my health isn’t great. It would be good for me to have people around who can help me out a little. Plus, I can barely even get up these stairs anymore.”

  “But you have me here to help you,” April said. “And all your other friends.”

  “I can’t rely on all of you forever,” Eliza said. “Also, my medical bills are starting to pile up. The developers who bought the place next door have been offering to buy my house for years now. I’ve always turned them down, but they recently made me an offer that’s hard to refuse. April, it would mean that I’m set for life.”

  “But…” Tears began to form at the corners of April’s eyes. She wasn’t the type to cry at the drop of a hat. But she had known Eliza since she was fourteen. She had opened up April’s world and introduced April to the sanctuary she needed so badly at the time. She had taught her how to stand up for herself and fight for what she believed in. She was April’s guiding star.

  And now she was moving away.

  “You can always come visit me. It’s only a short flight away.” Eliza placed her hand on April’s. “I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

  “I understand.” April blinked away her tears. “I should go. Thanks for the tea.”

  “Okay.” Eliza gave her a sympathetic smile. “Try to remember what I said. Be open to compromise.”

  April nodded. As soon as Eliza let go of her hand, she fled out the door.

  April stood on the sidewalk, wiping the tears from her eyes. She wasn’t being fair to Eliza. But she was just so angry at the world right now. Everything was changing. Everything was out of her control. And there was nothing she could do about it.

  But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to try.

  She would take Eliza’s advice about being open to compromise. But she wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Vicki any longer. April needed to track her down, figure out a way to see her face to face. It wouldn’t be easy, with Vicki ignoring April’s attempts to get in touch.

  There was one option. It was Tuesday night, and April knew exactly where Vicki was supposed to be.

  It was a long shot. But April had to take it.

  Chapter Seven

  When April got home from Eliza’s, she only had an hour before she was due to meet Vicki at that club. After a quick shower, she looked up the address that Vicki had given her, hoping to find out the name of the club. However, there was no information about it online at all. It was like it didn’t even exist.

  Was this some kind of joke? Had Vicki been messing with her all along? April sighed. It wasn’t like she had any other options. She threw on a simple black dress that was somewhere between casual and dressy, and headed straight to the club before she lost her resolve.

  April arrived at the address with a few minutes to spare. She double-checked the number next to the small, black door in front of her. This is it. Once again, she wondered if Vicki was messing with her.

  April looked up at the sign above the door. It read Lilith’s Den in red cursive script.

  Lilith’s Den? April had taken a class on mythology at college, and although she had forgotten most of what she’d learned, she was pretty sure that Lilith was a demonic seductress from Jewish folklore.

  And April was marching right into her den.

  Two women walked around April to get to the door. They were both dressed in long black coats. One was wearing thigh-high leather stiletto boots with laces all the way up the front. The other wore a spiked leather choker around her neck that resembled a collar.

  What the hell is this place? When Vicki mentioned a club, April assumed she meant a nightclub. What if this was a different kind of club entirely?

  It didn’t matter. April wasn’t planning to stay. She would go in, find Vicki, and make her set a meeting there and then. That was it.

  Steeling herself, she followed the couple through the door.

  April was met with a small lobby, all painted black. A large, burly woman in a suit stood by a set of doors which led to the club inside. Another woman sat behind a small desk beside the door, a tablet in her hand.

  The woman at the desk greeted the couple in front of April, waving them through. The bouncer opened the door and let them inside. April caught a glimpse of the flickering lights beyond before the bouncer pulled the door shut.

  “Can I help you?” the woman at the desk asked.

  “Someone invited me here,” April said. “A friend.”

  “Are you on the list?”

  Great, a list. Vicki hadn’t said anything about a list. “I don’t know.”

  The woman looked her up and down skeptically. “Name?”

  “April Reid.”

  The woman tapped at the screen on her tablet, frowning.

  April’s shoulders sagged. It was unlikely that Vicki had bothered to put her on the list, especially after everything that had happened. Coming here was a stupid idea.

  “There,” the woman said. “April Reid. You were invited by Victoria Blake?”

  “Yes,” April stammered.

  “Then she’s responsible for you while you’re in here. You’ll need to sign these.” The woman grabbed a clipboard from under the desk and handed it to April.

  “What is all this?” April asked, flicking through the pages.

  “Club rules, waivers, a non-disclosure agreement. The usual.”

  The usual? What had April gotten herself into?

  “A first-timer, huh?” The woman asked.

  April nodded.

  She smiled. “I know how scary going to a BDSM club for the first time can be. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands with Vicki. She’s one of our regulars.”

  A BDSM club. Of course Vicki would spring this on her. Was this supposed to be some kind of test? Was Vicki trying to scare her, to see whether April was serious about being her submissive? It didn’t matter. April wasn’t interested in that anymore. She did not want a repeat of the other night, no matter how much the thought of it turned her on.

  Maybe this was a bad idea.

  “Is everything okay?” the woman asked.

  “Yes,” April said. “It’s fine.”

  She sighed. She was going to regret this. Without even reading the documents, she scribbled her signature at the bottom of each page and handed the clipboard back to the woman.

  “Great.” The woman gestured toward the door. “Welcome to Lilith’s Den.”

  The bouncer opened the door wide. Focusing her mind on her goal, April strode into the club.

  Music assaulted her ears. The dimly lit room was filled with women, drinking, talking, dancing. It almost looked like any other club. However, the patrons were mostly dressed in black, with only flashes of other colors to be seen. Some, like April, wore dresses. A few wore suits. Others wore lacy corsets or elaborate contraptions made of straps and leather. April’s jaw dropped when a woman edged past her wearing nothing but latex pants and duct tape over each nipple in the shape of an X.

  The club itself? It contained the usual tables and chairs, and there was a bar at one end. But around the room were all sorts of unusual pieces of furniture, some of which had people tied to them. A large wooden cross, a horse-shaped bench. Most of the crowd’s attention was turned toward the large stage at the far end of the room where a woman was being led around on a leash.

  April stood rooted on the spot, staring at everything. For the second time that night, she felt the urge to turn around and walk out the door.

  Then, she spotted Vicki.

  Wow. Vicki looked even hotter than she did the night April had met her at the bar. She was sitting in the corner, lounging lazily on a chair, her legs crossed. She wore tight leather pants and a matching jacket, with a loose black top underneath and heeled leather boots. She wouldn’t have looked out of place on the cover of a high-end fashion magazine.

  Vicki sat alone, a martini glass in her hand. There was this empty zone of space around her as if no one dared to approach her. But more than one woman in the crowd was looking Vicki’s way, eying her with either jealousy or adoration. Vicki didn’t pay them any mind.

  She tossed back the last of her drink, placed the glass on the table, and sat back, scanning the room idly. Almost immediately, Vicki’s eyes fell on April.

  Shit. There was no turning back now.

  Summoning all her strength, April marched purposefully toward Vicki. As she approached, Vicki’s lips curved up into a smile, one that seemed to say, I knew you’d come. But April hadn’t come for Vicki. This was purely about the library.

  “Hi April,” Vicki said.

  “Don’t ‘Hi April’ me.” April put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you all week!”

  Vicki stretched her arm out over the back of the chair. “Miss me that much, did you?”

  April scowled. “You said you’d contact me. About the library, I mean.”

  “I did say that. But I’ve been busy.”

  “Busy? So busy that you couldn’t even send a single email?”

  “I was out of town dealing with a work emergency. I wouldn’t have been able to meet with you anyway.”

  “You could have told me that instead of leaving me in the dark,” April said. “I guess the library isn’t high enough on your list of priorities.”

  “Look.” Vicki stood up to face April. “I didn’t forget. I wasn’t ignoring you. I’ve simply had my hands full all week.”

  “Are you sure that’s why?” April asked. “It wasn’t because you found out that the woman you slept with is the same one standing in the way of your development project and you didn’t want to face me?”

  “Although it was quite a surprise, I don’t let business get in the way of pleasure,” Vicki said.

  April let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t have time for your games.”

  “I mean it. And I’m being honest. I was always going to meet with the head of the library. Public opposition to this project is high, so it’s something Oasis needs to address. But I haven’t had a spare moment for the past week.”

  “You weren’t too busy to come here tonight,” April said.

  “That’s because I told you I’d be here,” Vicki replied. “I came here for you.”

  April felt a twinge of desire at Vicki’s words. Her stupid, traitorous body. “You didn’t seriously expect me to come here after everything that’s happened?”

  “You’re here, aren’t you? You came here for me too.”

  “Yes, but… No! I came here because you’ve been dodging my calls and emails. I decided I needed to find you and speak to you in person.”

  “I’m very glad you did, April.” April’s name seemed to roll off Vicki’s tongue.

  “Don’t use your seductive bullshit on me,” April said. “I saw through that smile of yours the moment we met. And I came here because I wanted to talk to you about the library. That’s it.”

  “Really?” Vicki asked. “So this has nothing to do with the other night and how incredible it was?”

  Heat rose through April’s body. “No, it doesn’t. I came here to try to see if we could work together to come up with a solution for the library. But it’s clear that your mind is only on one thing.”

  “Can you blame me? You’re not the only one who enjoyed the other night.”

  “Dammit, Vicki, can’t you take this seriously?”

  “Okay, fine.” Vicki combed her fingers through her hair. “Here’s the deal. This project is going ahead. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. But I meant it when I said I will work with you to try to minimize the impact-”

  “That’s not enough!” April said. “We both know that’s not going to be enough. If you’re going to go ahead with this project, I’m going to do whatever it takes to stop you.”

  “You can try, but it’s not going to change anything,” Vicki said. “Be reasonable. Work with me here.”

  “I’ll never work with you.”

  “Look, I get it. You’re feeling betrayed because you found out I’m on the opposite side of this crusade you’re on.”

  “I’m not on a crusade!” April glanced around. They were attracting more than a few stares. She lowered her voice. “And I don’t feel betrayed. I never felt anything toward you to begin with.”

 

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