Page 1 of Wicked Desire

Prologue – Grace

Twenty years ago…

“Oh God, what isshedoing here?”

My friends Ariel and Maeve looked up from their trays and followed my gaze to the girl standing in the doorway of the cafeteria. Nicole Lowenthal looked around uncertainly, her fingers tugging on the navy blue uniform skirt that looked one size too big for her.

“Who is that?” Maeve asked.

“Her name is Nicole Lowenthal. Her family has a real estate development company, and they recently stole an important job from my father.”

“How?” Maeve asked.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know exactly but my dad got into an argument with her father in the parking lot at the country club. Dad said Mr. Lowenthal did something underhanded to get the job, something about stealing contractors.”

As I spoke Nicole walked to our table. She was really pretty. Her long brown hair looked recently blown out, falling in a cascade around her shoulders, and she’d done something to give herself a subtle smoky eye, a trick that I hadn’t mastered yet.

“Hey Grace,” she greeted me.

“Are you here to steal more jobs from my family?” I snapped.

Her eyes widened and a hurt expression crossed her face.

“I don’t know anything about the family business.”

That was fair, neither did I.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I just transferred. My mother thinks the math curriculum here is more suited to my abilities and potential.”

The way she said it made it clear she was quoting her mother here. Mrs. Lowenthal was a snob who thought she was better than everyone else. At least that’s what my mother always said.

“Well good luck beating me,” I said. “I’ve been top in mathletes every year.”

Nicole’s eyes burned with a sudden determination.

“Well I hope you enjoyed that, because you’re going down now.”

Maeve and Ariel burst out laughing.

“It’s on now,” Ariel said.

As Nicole flounced away I couldn’t help but think that she was going to be more trouble than I was expecting.

Grace

“Get me a drink, stat!”

My two best friends Ariel and Maeve looked up from their perch on Maeve’s couch. They’d been here for a little while already, given the amount of slices missing from the large pizza box on the coffee table. Then again, I was late to our planned movie night.

“What’s wrong?” Maeve asked.

I gave her a look that would make a grown man wither. Maeve was unaffected. That’s the problem with being friends with someone so long – they knew too much about you to take you seriously.

“Fine, what do you want to drink?”

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