Page 143 of Save Me

“Too. Fucking. Long.” He punctuates each word with a kiss. Then he reaches over and undoes my seatbelt before helping me out of the car.

“Is that your secret work phone?” he asks after we enter the house.

I glance down, not even realizing I still had my burner phone in my hand.

“It is. I just got some good news,” I say before I can stop myself.

He raises an eyebrow as he undoes the tie around his neck. I get lost in watching the movement of his deft fingers while they undo the knot.

“The good news?” he asks.

“Another source. I’m meeting with them early tomorrow morning.” I head to the kitchen to grab two bottles of water from the fridge.

“What source?” Dae asks me from behind.

My body stiffens at his tone. Slowly, I spin to face him. He stares at me expectantly. I can’t figure out what’s brought on such an abrupt change in his demeanor.

“You know I can’t tell you that.” I slide one of the bottles of water in his direction, along the kitchen island, before opening my own. I watch him as I take my first sip. He doesn’t move.

“Who is this source?” he asks again, this time with less patience.

I straighten. “I can’t tell you that,” I say more forcefully.

“You’re meeting them tomorrow morning. At your office?”

“Why?”

“You know damn well why.”

I shake my head and brush past him toward the living room. “We’ve been over this,” I tell him when he follows me.

“For some reason, we have to keep going over this. Especially because you keep putting yourself in dangerous situations.”

I suck my teeth. “I don’t put myself in anything. I follow the investigation wherever it leads me. This is part of my job.”

“Part of your job is risking your damn life?”

“You’re being dramatic,” I insist.

“Am I?” He gestures to my burner phone, which I’ve left beside my cell on the living room table. “When you need secret phones, can’t talk about where you’re meeting sources you don’t even fucking know?”

I point at him. “Watch your tone.”

He grinds his teeth. “I will once you stop risking yourself over a fucking article.”

I jut my head back like he slapped me. Because that’s exactly what it felt like. “A fucking article? Is that all that my career is to you? Nothing more than words on paper?”

I start toward the living room’s exit. I don’t know where I’m going, but I need to be away from him.

Dae stops me by grabbing my arm and spinning me to face him. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you fucking mean it?” I rip my arm out of his grip.

“I want you to be safe,” he says. His voice is slightly more apologetic, but it still holds its hard edge.

“And I want to do my job to the best of my ability.”

“Regardless of the danger? Threatening your life?”

---