Free The Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed

to write a titillating piece about a man all women would desire—not a suicide, not a murder mystery. Don’t you leave this office until you agree to stay away from Avalon.”
    “I promise to do the right thing,” she said, willing her expression to remain blank.
    “The right thing for Illicit and for myself. Same as always.”
    Nora got to her feet and came around the desk. “Listen to me. I know you’re hungry for a good story, and yes, Adrian’s is certainly fascinating. But for all you know he could be some kind of nut, and you’re no Lois Lane, honey. I’m your boss, damn it.
    You have to follow orders.”
    With a half-hearted salute, Billie smiled at Nora and backed out of the office. She wasn’t about to give up on Adrian. Every time she thought about the article and the publicity it would bring the women’s magazine, a spark of excitement flared within her.
    Some of it was lingering desire from her tumultuous few hours with the escort. But mostly it was her intuitive taste for sure-fire success, and this article, with its provocative premise, would turn heads all over the country.
    One more hour of Adrian’s time would be all she’d need. If he didn’t end up charged with murder.
    * * * * *
    The low hum of male voices rose and fell in the dining room, flatware clinking against china, the haunted strains of Debussy floating over all. No one laughed. Just hushed conversation. The scene was a somber shadow of the usual camaraderie that infused Avalon’s monthly employee luncheon.
    Like a high-priced funeral parlor, Adrian thought dully. How appropriate, days after Lucien’s swan dive into oblivion. His family had buried him somewhere in upstate 42

    The Fifth Favor
    New York, and Adrian hadn’t driven up for the interment. The thought of lying to Lucien’s parents, who stubbornly clung to the belief that their youngest son had been a college teacher, threatened to destroy the last bit of restraint Adrian held over his roiling emotions.
    It was unbearable to picture himself standing at his friend’s graveside, scrambling for words of apology that wouldn’t form because he was sorry about so many things. So many brush-offs and moments of insensitivity…and what had he offered Lucien in the last desperate minutes of his life?
    He hadn’t even looked his friend in the eye at the very end. He should have known what Lucien was thinking; should have read the shattered pieces of the man’s spirit in the wild look about him. In the way Lucien laughed and cried at the same time. In the slump of his shoulders, the pallor of his skin.
    Hell, Lucien had shown up at Adrian’s door already dead.
    “Coffee, Mr. Adrian?” A young, accented voice permeated his dark musings and he stirred to find an aproned server waiting to pour him a cup.
    “Please.” He offered the Hispanic boy a distracted smile. The teenager obliged him, then continued around the table of twenty. When the server reached Azure at the head, she touched his cheek. “ Gracias , Jorge. That will be all.”
    Watching her with wide, star-struck eyes, Jorge nodded and backed into the kitchen. No doubt Azure had tested the waters with the kid for future employment. She had a penchant for dark-haired men of all ages.
    When the door swung shut, Azure stood and tapped a knife against her crystal water goblet. Instantly the room fell silent.
    “I’m so pleased to see everyone here.” Her silky voice was just loud enough to reach her audience’s ears. She glanced at Adrian, then at the empty seat beside him.
    Lucien’s chair. A place setting had been laid out in macabre tribute to the missing companion, china and crystal sparkling in the chandelier’s diffused glow.
    “There is little I can say to ease the heavy sense of grief and shock over what happened last week. We’ve lost a member of our family, and no one can ever take Lucien’s place.” She paused, her blue gaze sweeping the handsome faces of the nineteen men surrounding the long