The Crystal Warrior

The Crystal Warrior (Chapter 14)

The Crystal Warrior

By Maree Anderson

Chapter Fourteen

"Hello?" Chalcey heard the faint shout over the water running in the shower.

Rats. The time must have gotten away on her. Cleaning bathrooms—her favorite thing in the world. Not. She'd been hoping to get them all done before Jai turned up to go through the new intermediate level routines. "Won't be a sec, Jai!" she yelled.

She gave the cubicle one last swipe with her cloth, ditched her spray-bottle, and headed into the studio. Where she did a classic double-take. Sooo not Jai.

"Sorry for the delay," she told the visitor. "And before I ask how I can help you, how the heck did you get in downstairs? Because this time, I definitely remember locking the street door." And she'd even used the security latch... once or twice.

He dangled a set of keys before her face. Huh. Like that explained everything. She couldn't help noticing his wristwatch. It probably cost more money than she would ever make in her entire life. Not that she'd swap her beloved Mickey Mouse watch for his in a million years, but that didn't stop her from breathing an envious little sigh.

He pocketed his keys and stuck out his hand. "William Sparling."

Chalcey made a move to shake his hand, and then realized she was still wearing pink rubber gloves. Ack. How embarrassing. She yanked them off and tucked them into the waistband of her shorts. "What can I do for you, William?"

He cocked his head to one side, eyebrows raised. "You don't remember me, do you?"

He was a corporate lawyer type, clean shaven, with prep-school haircut and handsome "of course you can trust me" features. His beautifully tailored suit screamed designer, as did his terribly shiny shoes. And given that he had a key to access her building, Chalcey figured she definitely should remember him. But she drew a big fat embarrassing blank.

She screwed up her nose and decided to get it over with. "Sorry. Have we met before?"

"I own the building."

"Shit!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. Ooops. Too late. "Jeez, sorry, Mr. Sparling. I have so many students coming and going, sometimes faces and names get to be a bit of a blur."

He appraised her, taking in her bare feet, disreputable t-shirt splotched with damp patches from the shower spray, and tatty shorts. His face split into a grin. "Call me Will. Have I caught you at a bad time?"

"Hey, anybody who gives me a valid excuse to quit scrubbing shower cubicles is more than welcome to interrupt. Can I get you a coffee?"

"No thanks. Can't stay long." He swiveled on his heel, doing a full three-sixty, his gaze darting about the studio. "I was seriously considering selling the building and cutting my losses before you showed an interest. You've done a great job with the space."

"Yeah. I like to think so."

His gaze lingered on the partially open sliding door leading to her private rooms. "I gather you've made use of the storage rooms and that ridiculously tiny kitchenette, too."

Uh oh. She made a noncommittal noise. If he was going to object to her living on the premises, she could be in trouble.

"Could I take a look at the bathrooms you put in?"

It was an innocuous enough request. She couldn't think of any reason to refuse. His affable manner didn't prevent her from wondering what was up, though. She led him through to the men's bathroom and stood back while he peered into the cubicles.