Page 9 of She’ll Steal Your Heart
“Mia for the win!” Lauren exclaimed, bumping her shoulder against Mia’s. “She’s totally right. There’s at least one scene with Sam that we haven’t seen yet, so hopefully that means she’s going to be okay, but ugh, I hate the thought of her being shot. Why do shows feel like they have to cause characters so much pain just for ratings?”
“I think you just gave the reason,” Mia said. “Ratings.”
“Well, I certainly hope Claire will be there to nurse her back to health,” Sarah said.
Quinn went into the bathroom, and Mia headed for the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. Some of the women had started drinking already, but since it was just midafternoon, Mia was sticking with water for now. Lauren joined her in the kitchen. She poured her own glass of water before grabbing one of the remaining donut holes from the box Mia had brought.
She gave Mia a hesitant smile, but when Mia tried to return it, her face didn’t quite cooperate. She hated that Lauren was a thief, hatedknowingthat Lauren was a thief, hated that she would have to decide what to do about it tomorrow when the rest of the women went home. Mia wanted to believe that Lauren had only been trying to help her brother and that she was back in Brooklyn to make things right, but could she trust that Lauren had told her the truth?
“Come on, ladies,” Ash called from the living room. “Get your asses back in here so we can find out what happens to Sam.”
They piled back onto the couch and queued up episode six. Lauren’s legal troubles aside, Mia was surprised by how much fun she was having. She’d been afraid she would feel out of place this weekend, but she was on the edge of her seat as the episode began to play.
Fatima gripped her hand as the screen filled with an image of Sam on the floor, blood leaking from her mouth and gasping for breath. Claire dashed into the lobby and knelt beside her. She ripped open Sam’s shirt and pressed her hands against the gunshot wound, blood oozing between her fingers. Eyes wide and frantic, Sam lifted a hand and grasped at Claire’s blazer.
“Did she just grope Claire’s breast?” Sarah demanded, jumping to her feet. “Because I swear she just grabbed Claire’s boob!”
“Rewind,” Quinn said. “Because I saw it too.”
“Oh my God,” Lauren said softly, and when Mia looked at her, her expression was a mixture of worry and wonder. “This is the hottest gunshot ever.”
They replayed the scene, and everyone squealed when Sam indeed palmed Claire’s breast. It was surprisingly sexy to see them with their hands on each other’s chests, even if Sam was fighting for her life.
Over the next hour, they watched Sam recover from her gunshot wound—much too quickly to be realistic, according to Ashleigh, who was a nurse. After watching episodes seven and eight, they decided to break for dinner. Soon they were crowded around a table full of Chinese food and several open bottles of wine.
“Only two episodes left,” Sarah said. “I have a feeling all kinds of shit’s about to go down.”
“Sam, Sam, Sam,” Fatima said in a mock-serious voice. “Picking up random men in bars when we all know she really wants Claire.”
“Or Tony. The showrunners obviously want her to end up with him,” Quinn said with a shrug. “Although I almost never root for the couple that feels forced on me by the show itself. I think the best ships are the ones that happen organically from the chemistry between the actors, like Sam and Claire.”
“Preach!” Sarah held her wineglass in the air. “If only the showrunners could see what we do.”
The group was lively and in good spirits as they ate, and Mia felt a twinge of disappointment that the weekend was almost over. They had two more episodes to watch, and then she’d go back to her apartment. Would she see the women again tomorrow morning before they headed home?
Well, she needed to see Lauren, but that was a separate issue, one Mia hadn’t decided how to handle yet. Her gaze slid to Lauren, who was sitting on the floor with a plate of lo mein in her lap, giggling as Fatima showed her something on her phone. Lauren looked so young, so innocent, but she wasn’t innocent. She’d committed felony robbery.
Lauren looked up and caught Mia watching her, and the laughter faded from her lips. Her eyes lost their sparkle, as if she’d read Mia’s thoughts, and Mia didn’t like that either. She forced a smile, and Lauren returned it hesitantly.
Out of nowhere, Mia had the thought that Sam Whitaker would surely champion Lauren. The premise of the show was Sam and her partners defending women who’d been taken advantage of by the system, women who had nowhere else to turn. At the very least, Mia would call Josie and set up the meeting between her and Lauren.
And maybe…maybe Mia would dust off her courtroom skills and represent Lauren. She deserved a good lawyer, even if she’d lied about the motive for her crime, but Mia’s gut said Lauren was a decent person who’d made a bad decision in really shitty circumstances. Her love for her brother was obvious and heartbreaking.
After dinner, they gathered in front of the TV to watch the final two episodes of the new season. Mia sipped her wine, seated between Lauren and Sarah on the couch.
On the screen, one of Sam’s clients dropped her over a decision Claire made when she was covering for Sam while she was recuperating from her gunshot wound. Sam stormed into Claire’s office with the kind of fiery rage that, to Mia’s eyes, could only stem from suppressed feelings, but who knew what the show’s writers had intended.
“How dare you?” Sam’s voice was voice low and lethal, her blue eyes snapping.
“You weren’t here, Sam,” Claire said, remaining seated behind her desk. “She was always going back to her husband. It didn’t matter whether I included the clause or not.”
“You still should have tried!” Sam slammed her knuckles against the edge of Claire’s desk.
“I did try,” Claire said calmly. “I talked her through all her options, but ultimately I had to do what the client wanted, even if it wasn’t what I thought was best for her.”
“Your best wasn’t good enough.” Sam spun on her heel and stormed out of Claire’s office, causing several whoops from the women watching her on TV.
“Sam’s hot when she’s mad,” Quinn said.
