Page 45 of Bad Enough

He shrugged. “The truth.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“It won’t be news to my team, so the only one who might be shocked will be Kubrick. Waters will give her a demonstration.”

She refused to process that. “Why would your team know about us?”

“That conversation is for another time.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand and cut her off. “I promise. I will explain, but not now.” He crossed over to her seated form, his arms crossed over his chest. His entire body was tight with tension. “Start talking.”

Elbows to her knees and body hunched over, her fingertips massaged her temples. “Do we have to do this right now?” she asked. “I don’t feel well.”

“Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? I would have helped you.”

Okay, I guess we’re doing this now.

Did you really think he was going to let you avoid this?

No. But a girl can dream.

“How was I supposed to know you could help me? I didn’t even know what you did for a living. Still don’t. How could I possibly know that my research subject could help me when we weren’t sharing personal details per your request?”

“Why didn’t you at least go to the police?”

“You think I didn’t? How stupid do you think I am?” He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get a word out, she snapped at him. “Don’t answer that. I can guess.”

“You can read minds? Excellent. That will save us a helluva lot of time.”

“It’s written all over you like graffiti on the sides of train cars,” she muttered.

She watched his jaw muscle tic before he spoke, “I do not think you’re stupid. Don’t put words in my mouth. You have every right to be scared, and you can be as pissed at me as you want for our history, but it was an honest question.”

She felt herself getting angry, her body and mind equating his smart remarks with the police officers’ lack of sympathy for the whole situation. Her whole body tensed. “I went to the police,” she ground out. “They said he hadn’t done anything except talk to me, and while I maybe didn’t like what he said, he hadn’t actually made a threat of any kind. Apparently, a woman needs to wind up beaten in an alley or murdered in her own home before someone takes this kind of thing seriously.”

After another swig of water from the bottle, her fingers began plucking at the label on it. “And to top it all off, the one weasel even suggested that since I ‘write pornography’ for a living, I’d invited his attention, so I really didn’t have a reason to complain. Told me I was teasing the guy. Leading him on, so what did I expect? I mean, great gravy—” She looked up at him. “What?”

On the outside, his body hadn’t changed, nor his face, but something was definitely different.

“Go on. Let it out. Be pissed,” he rumbled. “I’m pissed, so you definitely should be. No one has the right to treat you as less than.”

She couldn’t hold back the bark of laughter. “No one, huh? Not even you?” She sighed, waved off the questions she had asked, then closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead like she was in pain. “Ignore that. Not even sure why I said it.”

When he replied, his voice was softer. Almost apologetic. “Nope. Not even me.” He turned and began walking away. “We’re not done here. For now, rest. Someone will be back in a bit to let you know what’s going on.” He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at her. “We’re not going to leave you stranded, little Flame. I promise we’re going to make sure we catch this asshole for you.”

With that, he exited. Sylvan lay back down on the couch, her hand back to shielding her eyes.

Only I can get myself out of a mess, think I’m safe, and then get myself into another mess. If it weren’t for bad luck…

15

JUNE 15TH

TB

What goes beyond the term “clusterfuck”?

He felt a headache coming on, and he didn’t get headaches. In fact, he couldn’t ever remember having one.

TB thought about returning to the conference room, but he needed a quiet place to think. His brain was in chaos trying to figure out how he was feeling, and it was a state he didn’t remember being in since that day in the Dizengoff Street diner when his entire world had been upended, never to be righted again.

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