Susan Mallery - Lip Service

Lexi walked away.

Mitch stood in the corner, feeling small and wrong and wondering how it was possible for a mother to act that way. He’d heard rumors that Pru was a little crazy and self-absorbed, but now he knew those were more than rumors.

He looked around the room, searching for Skye. When he caught sight of her, he didn’t know what to do. Telling her he knew about her mother wasn’t going to help anyone. What it came down to was whether or not knowing this changed anything at all.

SKYE KNEW something was wrong. She couldn’t figure out what it was, exactly. The guests were still talking, but the overall noise level wasn’t right. There was a slight hush she couldn’t explain.

There was plenty of food. She saw the servers circulating and the guests eating. They hadn’t run out of liquor. From what she could hear, Jed hadn’t said anything that had offended twenty or thirty people. So what was it?

She was about to tell herself she was imagining things, when one of the servers hurried up to her.

“There’s a problem,” the woman said. “A couple of people are sick. It came on really fast. I hate to think it’s the food, but maybe it is.”

Skye’s body tensed. “Where are the guests who aren’t feeling well?”

“In both downstairs’ bathrooms.”

She hurried in that direction, only to have a local banker go rushing past, his hand covering his mouth. She heard a gagging sound and saw a well-dressed woman suddenly vomit.

Horror rushed through her. What was going on? Had the caterer brought something tainted? Was it food poisoning? Didn’t that usually take-

She turned toward the kitchen and saw Garth standing by the bar. He raised his glass toward her. All around her people started rushing for the door.

She walked to Garth. “What the hell did you do?”

He smiled. “Something seems to be wrong with your party. It can’t be the food, can it?”

“You poisoned my guests?”

“Poison is a strong word. It’s more of a prank. But you might want to call nine-one-one just in case.”

“Bastard.”

He took another sip of his drink. “Yes, but you already knew that.”

Two hours later everyone had left. Whatever had caused the sickness faded as quickly as it started. The paramedics took a few older people to the hospital to be checked out.

“This is going to ruin me,” Mary, the caterer, said. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

Skye didn’t know what to say to reassure her. The truth was Mary hadn’t done anything wrong.

“If you need a reference,” Skye began.

Mary wiped away tears. “Like that will help,” she whispered, then walked away.

A few minutes later Dana arrived.

“I got your message,” her friend said. “What happened?”

Skye told her about people getting sick and what Garth had said. “One of the paramedics said there were only a few things that could cause instant vomiting.”

Dana shook her head. “Are you sure it’s Garth?”

“I know it’s Garth. He practically told me he did it. But when I explained that to the police, they wouldn’t listen. Why would a guy like that do something like this?” Skye was beyond frustrated. “At least that’s their reasoning. Oh, they’ll do an investigation, but they’re assuming it’s somebody’s kid playing a stupid game. Maybe a fraternity initiation. Garth is too smart to get caught. I’m sure he’s covered up his involvement. Jed’s no help. He disappeared at the first sign of trouble.”

“Can I make you feel better by saying you’ve never loved throwing Jed’s parties. Maybe now you won’t have to.”

“Small comfort,” Skye said, knowing Jed would blame her for this and equally aware that right now she didn’t care.

“I’ll ask around. See if I can find out anything. Garth is one busy guy. Eventually he’ll make a mistake and we’ll be there to catch him.”

“I hope so. I don’t want to think about what he might do next or who might get hurt.”

MITCH HATED to waste the time on his prosthesis, but he couldn’t stop pacing. He was angry, which wasn’t news, but for once it wasn’t at the world in general. This time his temper had a specific focus-Garth Duncan.

Last night had been a disaster for Skye. Nearly everyone at the party had gotten violently sick. While the illness had passed as quickly as it had come on, it had been bad for anyone who’d experienced it. People would be talking for months about what had happened.

Mitch hadn’t realized Garth was behind the illnesses until Skye had called him that morning. Now he was going to confront Garth and put a stop to what was going on.

He heard a car pull up and walked out of his office. Garth got out of his Mercedes.

“Do we have a problem?” the other man asked.

Without thinking, Mitch hauled off and punched him. Garth staggered a step, then steadied himself.

“I take it you got sick last night,” Garth said, rubbing his jaw. “Sorry. I should have warned you.”

“I didn’t eat anything, you bastard.”

“People are calling me that a lot these days. Word must be getting out.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do something like that?” Mitch demanded.

“I told you I was going to take down Jed and his daughters. Last I heard, you liked the idea. You wanted to help.” He touched his jaw. “I take it this means you’re not working for me anymore?” He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got my bases covered.”

Mitch clenched his fists. “I never worked for you.”

“I didn’t pay you,” Garth corrected. “That doesn’t mean you weren’t spying for me.”

“Whatever,” Mitch muttered, not sure why Garth was being so pointed. “You’re wrong about all of it. Take down Jed if you want, but his daughters aren’t a part of it.”

“They are for me. Besides, you only care about Skye. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late for that.”

Mitch didn’t know what he meant, at first. Then he heard a sound and knew.

Dammit all to hell, he thought as he turned and saw Skye standing behind him. She looked horrified and beyond hurt.

“You were working for him?” she asked, her eyes wide, her skin pale.

Mitch would have given his other leg to have the past five minutes to play over.

“Skye, no.”

She ignored him and ran. Ran hard and fast, probably knowing there was no way he could go after her.

“I’M FINE,” Skye insisted as Dana foamed milk at the espresso machine on the counter and Lexi and Izzy both hovered close by. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

She didn’t have to look up to know her sisters and Dana were exchanging looks of disbelief. It was her own fault, she thought grimly. All of this. Getting involved with Mitch. Believing him, trusting him. He’d shown her his true self the first day he’d come home. He’d made everything clear and she hadn’t listened. She’d wanted him to be more and he’d been willing to play along, but he hadn’t changed. He still resented her and wanted her punished. Now he was not only angry about the past, but about Erin. She’d brought this on herself and only she was to blame.

Dana poured the steamed milk into a mug and handed it to her. “Want some whiskey for that?” she asked.

Skye looked at the clock. It was barely noon. “No. I’ll be okay. I just need a minute.”

“What you need is Mitch’s head on a platter,” Izzy said, sounding furious.

They were in the big kitchen at Glory’s Gate. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday. Sunlight pooled on the floor. A warm breeze whispered. Normally that was enough to brighten Skye’s mood, but not today.

“I can’t believe it.” Lexi took the second mug Dana offered. “He seemed like he was really happy to be back. He was so…nice.”

“When did you talk to him?” Dana asked.

“Last night, at the party. I thought he still cared about you.” She looked at Skye. “I’m sorry.”

“He played us all,” Skye told her, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice. “We all fell for it. Me more than most. I was so worried about him, about how he was healing and fitting in. I felt awful when he thought Erin was his. I ached for him when he found out the truth. Now I think it was just more of Garth’s games. Mitch probably never thought anything about Erin. It was just one more way to suck me in.”

“Do you know how long he was working for Garth?” Izzy asked.

“Does it matter?”

“It might,” Lexi said. “If this is a recent development, then maybe it’s not so bad.”

Skye raised her eyebrows.

“At least he wasn’t lying before,” Dana added, then shook her head. “Sorry. I’m trying to be supportive, but I’m just too cynical. Mitch turned into a real jerk and I’m sorry about that. He used to be one of the good ones.”

Before, Skye thought angrily. She would bet that if they were to talk, Mitch would blame all this on her. He would say she’d earned it.

She could accept that he’d slept with her to lead her on and punish her. She could accept a lot of things. But she’d gone to him and asked for help. He’d agreed, the whole time knowing he was going to betray her. He’d set her up.

“He’s not the man I thought,” she whispered. “That’s what gets me the most. I was wrong about who he is on the inside.”

He used to be so honorable, she thought sadly. So earnest.

“I really don’t like this,” Izzy grumbled. “I had a crush on him and now he’s an asshole.”

“Because it’s all about you?” Dana asked.

“Well, yeah.”

Lexi chuckled. Skye tried to smile and failed. Then she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the ring she’d dug out of her jewelry box that morning. She tossed the ring onto the kitchen table.

The diamonds glittered in the overhead light. The gold still gleamed. All four women stared at the ring.