Oxygen (Romance, Completed)

Chapter 16

Tonight, Linc planned to get work done on the baseboards—he'd messaged earlier to let me know. Jansen, being bloody-minded, insisted on us practising through the screams of the power saw even when we could hardly hear ourselves play.

Eventually, Jude refused to go on, citing a migraine, and Jansen didn't try to argue with him.

"Same time tomorrow," he said. "We don't want more mistakes in the next recital, do we?"

He stared at me as he said that. Message received, loud and clear.

"I'll be here," I said through gritted teeth.

Linc had bits of wood stacked against the wall when I left, and I snuck him a smile. If only we didn't have to go through this stupid charade, I could go and talk to him, but while I'd risk my own position, I didn't want to jeopardise his job. He caught my eye, checked behind me for watching spies, then waggled his eyebrows and blew me a kiss before looking back at his tools as Jansen stepped out of the room.

My stomach flipped, and I had to refrain from fanning myself. How could Linc do that and act so nonchalant about it? Beyond frustrated, I stomped off, already composing a message to send to him in my head. No, not a message, a picture. Alone in the elevator, I blew my own kiss into the camera lens then sent it to him. Take that!

With the pressing business of winding Linc up out of the way, I called my driver once I got to the atrium.

"I'm afraid I'll be delayed, ma'am," he replied, and I heard the honk of a car horn in the background.

"What's happened? Are you okay?"

"Fine, ma'am, but I'm on the freeway, and there's been an accident up ahead. Traffic's at a standstill. If you prefer, I can call the control room and get them to send someone else."

"No, it's fine. I'll wait."

I was enough of a burden on Blackwood without monopolising another of their staff for the evening. Chill air from the AC washed over me as I settled onto one of the uncomfortable ornamental benches and stared at the phone screen. Should I have sent that photo? Was it too much?

"Still here?"

Linc's voice came from behind me, but when I turned, he maintained an appropriate distance. His eyes flicked to the right, and I knew why—the red eye of the watching camera blinked down at us, recording evidence of our interaction.

"My driver's stuck in traffic."

"On the freeway? I heard about a pile-up on the radio. An eighteen-wheeler jack-knifed and a bunch of cars crashed into the side of it."

"My gosh, those poor people. Was anyone badly hurt?"

"No deaths, that's what they said, but seven people got taken to the hospital."

"I hope they'll be okay." At least they weren't trapped in the wreckage. "Looks as though I'm stuck here for a while, then. And the irony is Jansen's gone home."

"How about calling a cab?"

"I don't like being around strangers." Plus, Emmy would go nuts if she found out. "I'd rather wait."

"You want me to come in the cab with you?"

"You'd do that?"

"Of course, but it'd have to pick me up farther down the block so nobody sees. Give me a second... I'll call the company I use on occasion."

A minute later, he hung up. "Well, it seems as if everyone else has had the same idea. They can't send anyone for at least half an hour, and apparently there's been a fire downtown and the city's in gridlock."