Page 3 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood (A Paranormal Halloween #5)
Aury finished physical therapy, muscles trembling while she showered and dressed in wool pants, a cozy sweater, and her heaviest jacket, then drove to the Northshore, to the comfort of her best friend’s apartment.
Her muscles recovered enough while she and Ruby hung out, she was fine to walk to Zaya at nearly seven. They were seated right away in their usual cozy corner alcove, perfect for people watching.
“It was faster when we took scooters everywhere,” Ruby said, “but I love walking around town with you, just don’t overdo it.”
“No more than three thousand steps without a thirty-minute rest. My watch will nag me if I go over. We’re good. Tell me about the new guy at work.”
Ruby was Legislative Administrator for the chairman of the Chattanooga City Council — a calculated steppingstone. She didn’t just want the commissioner’s seat, she planned to take it and then keep climbing. Mayor. Governor. Higher, if the wind blew right.
She only worked when the commissioner did, seven or eight days a month, which gave her plenty of time for her charity projects, each designed to put her into position when she was ready to put herself out there as a candidate.
Ruby rolled her eyes. “They totally hired him because he’s married to someone at the Chamber of Commerce, but he isn’t a total idiot.”
“Wow. High praise coming from you.”
Ruby chuckled. “He isn’t going to one-up me, and he’s capable of doing the work I don’t want to handle, so he can stay.”
“And if he’s married, he’s less likely to hit on you.” Ruby never dated anyone she worked with.
“Since when does a wife stop someone from trying to…” She gave a dismissive shrug.
“I guess he didn’t know his wife and I’ve worked together on a half-dozen charity events.
I told him to let her know I’d be happy to jump in and help with the Ironman logistics, or to help rustle up more funding, and he backed off. ”
“Maman says the two of you have some ideas to get a few big companies interested in helping?” Aury’s mother had founded a charity to help people who need prosthetics, specializing in custom-made pieces for specific needs.
* * * *
Axel had to wait for the sun to set before he could venture out to find his Aurélie. He found her brain signature and slid in, so he could see and hear what she did.
He listened from outside the restaurant while she talked to Ruby, her best friend since sixth grade, when they’d both arrived at the all-girls private school.
Aury had been home-schooled up to then, and Ruby had gone to a private school outside Knoxville.
Unlike the other girls, who’d come from feeder schools, they’d been lost in a sea of cliques and had found each other.
Ruby dated often — muscled arm candy, ambitious men, the occasional political up-and-comer — but rarely made it to a fifth date.
Aurélie was different. One boyfriend, ever.
A scrawny chess player four states away.
A relationship built on two years of texts and a handful of tournament weekends, and never once alone in private.
Which brought him to the truly important detail: she was still a virgin. No , more than that, she was still untouched. Never even properly kissed.
Axel felt a flare of satisfaction he didn’t try to temper. He’d have killed any boy or man who’d despoiled her.
In the quiet hours while she slept over the following nights, he combed through her thoughts and dreams, searching for a path. A way to enter her world. An introduction to make him trustworthy and acceptable from the start.
* * * *
Over the years, Aury had learned how to turn her pain receptors down, rather than completely off, and she did so during the flexibility portion of her PT two days later.
She’d never in her life managed a full squat on her right foot, but she was damned close to it.
Turning the pain completely off was dangerous, since she might push too far and rip something, rather than stretching it, but no way could she have made it so far if she hadn’t been able to dampen the pain feedback.
When the torture was finally over, Aury showered, changed, walked across the parking lot, and rode the elevator to her appointment with Dr. Woods.
“I have a new goal,” she told him the instant she stepped into his office from the lobby, her knee pulsing with a dull, manageable ache.
“Is this a short-term or long-term goal?”
She dropped into the too-comfortable chair. “Remains to be seen. I’m going to learn how to walk in five-inch heels.”
A slow blink. “You might want to start lower and work up.”
“Yes. Agreed. Also, a normal yoga class. Not yet, but maybe by spring.”
“Before the surgery, you were hoping to take the Krav Maga class with Ruby. Is that still a goal?”
“Yes, but I figure that’s farther out than yoga.
” She took a breath and jumped into the other short-term goal.
Much shorter term. “I’m working the Haunted Swamp, starting tomorrow night.
My costume works even better with a knee brace, so I can make sure I don’t fuck it up since I’ll be walking around on uneven ground for hours and hours, but I’m going to fucking do it. ”
“Have you cleared this with your PT team?”
She glared at him, but he merely lifted an eyebrow. “You already know what they’ll say. You’ll have to sit and rest after whatever step count they approve of for uneven ground.”
A nod. He wasn’t wrong. “Ruby says they can pull a chair in, and we can make the tableau work whether I’m standing or sitting.”
“Good. Talk to your therapy team so they can help you do this without setting yourself back.”
They’d talked about this before, but she couldn’t help bringing it up again. “I know why the surgeons all wanted to wait, but it still ticks me off I couldn’t do this years ago.”
He nodded. “It’s fine to be angry at the wait, but doing it anytime before your early twenties would’ve likely meant needing two total replacements.”
Right, and the second is always more of a problem than the first. Waiting was the smart move, but it still rankled.
“Mom being involved in research means I have the latest and greatest before it even hit the market, and the extra time waiting for it I know is worth it, but still, it’s irritating I had to wait so long. ”
Dr. Woods didn’t interrupt her intensity, just waited a beat to see if she had more to say before he picked up with where they’d left off in the last session. “Your memories matched your mother’s, in the initial police reports.”
She exhaled. “Yeah. But I was five…” she frowned. “That is kind of odd, isn’t it? People usually take in the same scene differently, right?”
“You didn’t see them cut her arm?”
She shook her head. “No. Not in my memories or the dream.”
By the time Aury finally left the hospital campus, it was late, and her knee throbbed with a steady pulse of protest.
At home, she grabbed a wrappable ice pack from the freezer and velcroed it on while chatting with her mom. “You know how much I love your béchamel croquettes,” she said. “What can I do to help?”
“I made extra sauce, and we have cauliflower. Let’s do a gratin while we’re at it.”
The two worked comfortably side-by-side, slipping into the easy rhythm of shared kitchens and old routines.
When Aury’s dad came home from work, he checked the bread, pulled it from the oven, kissed Aury on the forehead and his wife on the lips, and opened a bottle of wine.
The family had owned textile factories in France, rugs mostly, but also the thick fabrics for draperies, sofas, and chairs.
Dalton, Georgia calls itself the carpet capital of the world, but the tax situation had been better in Tennessee, so her father had opened a new factory in northern Hamilton County.
Close enough for easy supply delivery from Dalton.
Far enough to save a fortune in business and personal taxes.
Over dinner, they talked about Aury’s therapy, her visit with Ruby, her plans to work the Haunted Swamp, her mother’s upcoming prosthetics foundation fundraiser, and how things were going at the factory.
Her mother cleans pots and pans while she cooks, so there wasn’t much to put away after dinner, and then Aury walked back to her place, walking on the ground beside the sidewalk originally put in for her scooter.
It was nice to walk on her own two legs in the cool night air.