Page 68 of Once Kissed

It’s the “Officer” that does me in. We’re long past this formal shit. I curse about a thousand times the minute the elevator doors shut, and all the way to Lu’s ride. As I reach the hood of her car, I glance up to the fifth floor, debating whether to return. But Tess doesn’t want me with her; she made that clear enough.

So instead of storming back up like I want to, I pound on my partner’s driver’s-side window.

Lu rolls it down, smiling. She keeps her focus ahead, even as she takes a sip from her bottled water. “So, her father showed,” she says.

“That he did,” I answer. I swipe my mouth. “The interior’s all clear.”

“So is the exterior.” Her shit-eatin’ grin widens. “I did a sweep about fifteen minutes ago.”

I don’t know what she thinks is so funny until she finally glances up. “By the way, excellent technique there by the window, O’Brien. You and the princess gave me some new moves to try with the old man.”

Chapter 16

Tess

“What happened to you last night?” Father demands.

His expression tightens to that look of loathing he’s often given me. The one that tells me I far exceeded his lowest expectations. I gather my robe around me and make my way into the kitchen.

He didn’t recognize Curran, but I’m not surprised. To him, Curran was an insignificant boy, one who defiled his daughter and was soon forgotten after the incident was taken care of.

I wash my hands at the sink, realizing that if Curran came from a prestigious line of well-bred tyrants, Father would have overlooked our encounter instead of strong-arming me into attending an all-women’s college the following year.

“I asked you a question, Contessa.”

I shut off the water and reach for a hand towel. “I had to leave. I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Unless you were soaked with your own blood or vomiting as you once so enjoyed, you should have stayed!”

His words strike me like a slap. “How dare you,” I snap. “I never ‘enjoyed’ what I did.” My eating disorder was my one attempt at control during my high school years and partway through college. Father manipulated everything in my world. I was certain my weight would be the one thing he couldn’t touch.

I learned the hard way that he could when my stepmother realized how much weight I’d lost following the incident with Curran. I spent my summer break at an eating disorder clinic, only for him to now restrict my calories and tell me that I’m getting fat.

“This was Spencer Woodworth—Philadelphia’s next mayor!”

It’s as if I didn’t even speak. “I don’t care who he is. He’s nothing more than a perverse bastard who fondled me despite my telling him to stop. Does that mean nothing to you?”

Father’s eyes widen, but it’s not because of Spencer’s wandering hands. It’s because of my tone. “You should have stayed and played the role of the lady I raised you to be,” he responds, gritting his teeth.

There’s no reasoning with a man this cold and heartless. No thread of kindness to work with or touch to give me comfort. So instead of wasting energy I don’t have, and breaths I desperately need, I revert to lies, just as I have all my life. “I told you. I wasn’t well.”

He regards me then. “Well, you look dreadful.”

Curran didn’t think so.

I move to the dining room table, arranging my law books and scribbled notes so he’ll take the hint that I have more important things to do than be insulted.

“Is it true, what that simpleton of a police officer said?”

It’s all I can do not to fling one of my texts at his face.Five more months,I remind myself, taking a full breath. “Yes. You probably passed the officer he was replacing.”

“I meant about you assisting with an important case.”

Okay. Now I see where he’s going. “Yes. But it’s a case I can’t discuss.”

“Even with me?” he challenges, his seedy grin firmly in place.

That may work on his flunkies, but following his obnoxious remark about Curran, I’m done playing nice. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the dealings within the DA’s office.”

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