Free Star of Wonder by Angel Payne Page A

listens?”
    “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Methods should be modified for the subbie, my friend. I think your friend Celina might react to a more literal approach. And I believe I have just the secret weapon to help us achieve that.”
    “What exactly is that?”
    “Not what.” He pulled his cell out of his pocket and punched a button. “ Who .” His smile deepened. “Hello, my pet. How are you? No, I’m still here with Inferno Boy. I’ll be home soon. I called to ask you a question. How would you like a field trip to Dark Escape?” He held the phone back a few inches as a high-pitched shriek erupted through the ear hole. “I think that means she’s in.”

Chapter Eight
    Celina glanced at Eve and Reiley again as they hurried from the “L” station and crossed Jackson Boulevard, hunching their shoulders against the knife of icy wind cutting up from the river. The street banners flapped over their heads, making it look like the cartoon turkey on them had invented a new dance step. She wondered if the big guy would be boogying in some snow during his big parade this year.
    She stopped and hesitated as they got to the doors with the gleaming letters declaring they’d arrived at the Willis Tower. The two of them must have spiked her coffee yesterday morning, because she still couldn’t believe she was here, tagging along for yet another party. “Because last week ended up so well,” she finished in a dark mutter.
    “What are you grumbling about back there, Kouris?” Eve called above the beat of her platform party heels as she led the way into the building.
    “Pascal, are you absolutely sure this is where Trev’s party is?”
    She knew Trevin Nash was turning thirty. She also knew he’d do anything to make an impression on Eve. But a birthday bash at the most iconic skyscraper in the city, still called the Sears Tower by many because it was that famous, seemed out of budget even for their cocky coworker.
    “Cel, just go with the flow for once, all right? This is gonna be…fun!”
    Something felt weird about the pause in her friend’s statement. Eve was genetically wired to spit out the word “fun” every fifteen minutes or so. But her voice had definitely hitched, even if her sashay hadn’t. Celina shot a look of concern at her friend’s leather-jacketed back. Maybe she was starting to have cold feet about Lieutenant Nash and all his swagger. That was just fine by her. Just because the guy worked for the navy didn’t mean he wasn’t as flash hungry as a private-sector attorney. But bling was an irresistible siren to Eve too. On the other hand, Eve hadn’t watched what money could do to people. How it broke hearts and lives.
    Great. Hadn’t she picked out the perfect mindset to bring into a building like this? Celina clomped along behind her friends in a pair of black high-heeled boots Reiley had persuaded her to buy on sale in June. Their footsteps bounced off the lobby’s gleaming floors and shiny walls, making the place sound like a basketball court, if basketballs were now made of million-dollar bills. She tugged at her skirt, now wishing she hadn’t also let Rei talk her into wearing fishnet hose with her outfit.
    “Would you stop that?” Eve chastised as they got onto the elevator. “Your skirt’s so long, people can only see two inches of the hose anyhow. And I can’t believe you wore a turtleneck too.”
    She glowered at them both. “I feel totally out of place. Like Julia Roberts at that polo match in Pretty Woman .”
    Reiley glared. “You look like Julie Andrews, circa The Sound of Music .”
    “Before she left the convent,” Eve added.
    “Way before,” Reiley asserted.
    The elevator got to their floor. Celina didn’t even pay attention how high they’d come in the building, but if her mild vertigo was an altitude barometer too, she guessed they were well past halfway. She got off the elevator after her friends and entered a lobby that dripped of