Red Alert/Red Notice (The "Super Jerk" Prequel)

5 - Strangelove

^^Chapter title credit: Song by Depeche Mode.^^

{Geoffrey}

In my opinion, fate's a bitch. The look on Raina's face when I told her I couldn't come home with her nearly made me want to call off the entire thing. I know I don't see her enough, and we haven't spent real quality time together since before Ettie was born. Lying next to her, one hand on her baby bump and the other on her face while I kissed her was something I never got tired of doing. Other times I would curl myself around her and pull her close, because trying to get comfortable as Ettie grew was much harder for her.

But now, here I am, waiting in an all-night diner in Brooklyn, looking up every time someone comes in. If I ever get the chance, I'm going to battle her through all five boroughs and throw her into the Hudson.

Then, finally, five minutes to ten, she comes in. Her hair's still long and brown with caramel-colored highlights, her skin is bronze as always, and her eyes are still an unusual bright purple. The second she sees me, she zeroes in on me like a hawk with its prey.

"Felicia," I say as she slides into the booth across from me.

"Geoff." She gives me one of those coy side-eye looks. "Or should I call you Mr. Cromwell now? I hear you're making the big money."

"Geoff is fine." My fists tighten, but I have to keep my composure until this meeting's over.

"I always liked the sound of your name with mine," she says, examining her nails. They're long and painted a dark shimmering red. "Much more than...what's her name...Raina."

"Well, I liked the sound of your name and went away, but that's just me."

She frowns, sticking her bottom lip out. "Come on, Geoff. You haven't even thought of me? Not once?"

"Not since you called my hotel room. With my wife in the room next to me." I didn't want Raina to know about this because I knew what Felicia was capable of. She could seduce men with one touch, just one among her many other superpowers.

"Oh, Geoff." She tilts her head to the side, her grin catlike. "Don't you know I don't care about that? Raina's got nothing but her looks going for her, and when you two are eighty, you'll see that."

"Shut up," I snap. "She'll always be beautiful to me."

She says nothing, only continues to stare at me.

"What do you know about Ridley's campaign?"

"He's campaigning?" she says, but I can tell her surprise is fake. "This is the first I've heard about it."

"Stop lying." I scowl at her. "I know you know something. What is it? Why does he want me to fund it?"

"If I knew, don't you think I would have told you by now?" Her eyes catch mine and stay there, and I suddenly feel a pulling sensation in my stomach.

"You've been known to dodge the point on many occasions."

"Look at that, the Red Knight's on to me." She lays her palms flat on the tabletop. "Tell you what. I'll give you what I know, but not here. Too public."

That should have been my first clue, but at the time I didn't realize it. Instead we both get up from the booth, and I drop some cash next to my uneaten burger. Then I follow her outside and down the sidewalk. It's not hard to miss her, with her swaying hips. That's what distracts me, enough that she's able to grab my arm and pull me into a dark alleyway. A second later she's pinning me to the wall and kissing me like she wants to suck my soul out.

I'm helpless to her influence. I grunt and kiss her back, dragging my hands all over her. She groans into my mouth and slips both hands up under my shirt. I flip us around so now she's got her back to the wall, yanking her hard against me. She lets out a sigh and grips my head in clawed fingers, preventing me from escaping.