Once Upon Stilettos

“Hmm, I haven’t seen her, either. I hope they’re okay.”



Ari and Idris approached us, both of them smiling smugly. “Play it cool,” Owen whispered. I wondered if he was talking to me or to himself.



“Hey,” I said to Ari. “Love your dress.” Then I smiled at Idris and said, “Hi, I’m Katie.”



“This is my friend, Fred,” Ari said. He darted a funny look at her, like that wasn’t the cover name he’d have chosen. It seemed she couldn’t resist making even her evil allies uncomfortable. “And this is Owen and Katie. We work together.”



Now that I knew what was going on, I recognized the cat-who-ate-the-canary look in her eyes. I should have suspected earlier that she was up to something, but she always looked like she was up to something, or was at least thinking about being up to something.



“It’s good to meet you, Fred,” I said with faked sincerity as I kicked Owen in the ankle. He was quivering with barely suppressed hostility. Owen kept a carefully blank face, though, going only a little bit pale. I couldn’t resist giving the verbal knife a little twist. “I can’t believe Ari hasn’t told us anything about you. She usually doesn’t have much of a problem with kissing and telling.”



I was rewarded by a fleeting look of panic in her eyes. “Fred’s just a friend,” she said. “All my other potential dates vanished. Well, gotta mingle. Catch you later.”



Owen’s champagne glass shattered in his hand, then disappeared in midair before it hit the floor. “I’m going to kill him,” he said with calm certainty. “But unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll be tonight.”



“All our players appear to be onstage, so now what?” I asked.



“We play our roles and see what happens. I can break his illusion, but it’ll be easier if he’s off-guard, and much, much more effective if I do it at the right moment. But let’s first give her enough rope to really hang herself. Bringing him as her date is probably enough evidence, but let’s see what else she does.”



It was hard to focus on party small talk when I knew a major battle could take place at any moment. Then we ran into Rod. Now that my immunity had returned, he was the same old Rod I’d always known, which made it easier for me to face him. I could pretend those things that had happened between us had involved some stranger I’d never see again, and in time maybe I’d be able to forget it entirely. For now, though, his split lip served as a vivid reminder of what had happened.



Rod gave me one of his more charming smiles, and Owen responded by putting his arm around my waist and pulling me roughly against him. “Back off,” he said with quiet intensity. “How many times do I have to warn you to leave her alone?”



“At least I had the stones to make a move. And shouldn’t the lady have the right to decide who she wants to be with?”



“She’s here with me.”



I’d had enough of two otherwise sane, rational men acting like rutting stags over me. “Would you two cut it out, please?” I begged. “Let’s put it behind us, okay?”



Owen’s mouth twitched, then he whispered to me, “Play along.”



While I was still gaping at him, Psychodrama Theater continued to play, drawing a growing audience. “Please,” Rod said. “Like you’d even know what to do with her.”



“And you did such a good job that she ran away from you and went straight to me.”



I wondered what my role in this little play was supposed to be. Was I supposed to be horrified, or was I supposed to enjoy the attention? It would have helped if they’d shared the script with me, but I had a feeling they were making it up as they went along, based on a lifetime of being practically brothers who knew each other well enough to anticipate every thought or action. I finally decided that I should go with the way things were when the shoes were working on me and everyone else around me. That had to have been the intent of the scene. They were making Ari think the shoes still worked.



I tried to put on the attitude of a woman who could have any man she wanted. That was something of a stretch. I could, however, fake not knowing why men were acting so weird around me. “Seriously, cut it out, you two,” I said. “You’ve been friends forever, and I don’t want that to end on my account. Besides, we don’t want to ruin the party for everyone else.”



Rod glared at Owen for a second longer, then turned and stalked away. Owen pulled me to the other side of the room with a possessive arm still around my waist. Oh, but that felt good. I chanced a glance at Ari, who seemed to have enjoyed the entertainment immensely.