Gerald had applauded when I told him I’d virtually stopped myrisky, promiscuous coping behaviorsas he liked to call them.
I called itgoing a little crazy,and I’d only stopped because the behavior stopped achieving the pay-off of soothing the itch. Of course, that also meant that life had become very… uneasy.
Hence, toying a little with Jeremy. And my search for Cain.
But now I was pacing my own house like I was caged, and that wasn’t fun at all. And it was only Tuesday. The first few hours had been fine, getting Nate’s help to clean my phone. I’d slept like a baby, with a smile on my face, knowing whatever Cain had been monitoring was now sadly lacking in access.
I’d been certain when he realized, he’d either come for me out of sheer rage, or at least message me so we could banter about it. Butnothing.
It was driving me nuts.
I bit my lip, staring at the computer screen that was still benignly staring back withzerocontact from Cain and I made the decision.
If he didn’t get in touch, or start a hunt today, I was going to have to find something else to distract me. And I couldn’t tell him about it because he’d think I was trying to draw him out.
And then I remembered.
Hurrying back to my desk, I yanked open the drawer where I threw stuff that wasn’t important, but I wanted to keep. I had to dig through a little to find it because I’d been looking for a pen the other day, but then I uncovered that little cream card under the pamphlet Gerald had given me aboutBorderline Antisocial Behaviorsand I relaxed a hair.
Sid Vicious
The Conductor
Invitation for One
Itwasonly Tuesday. And Ronald worked Saturday to Wednesday.
I smiled and grabbed my wallet, sliding the card into a slot for safe keeping. Not that I planned to use it. It might be a challenge to get into his den without it, but I had contacts, and testicular heft. If Cain didn’t show up today, I’d set myself a little challenge to get in and see Ronald work tonight.
That itch between my shoulder blades that had been making me squirm, eased off and I blew out a breath.
I had a plan.
Either way, tonight was going to be fun.
But then I deflated because that just meant that I had a lot of veryunfunhours to kill between now and then.
Reluctantly, I sat back down at the computer and opened the first email from Jeremy, biting my lip as I scanned the firstone quickly, which started as little more than his usual whining, but then at the end…
…if I can’t trust you to be in this with me, then I’m ending our arrangement. This isn’t what I signed up for, Bree. You’re making me look bad.
Shit.
I reallydidpanic then. I wanted to keep Jeremy close without actually having to touch him. I didn’t want him to find someone else!
I hurriedly clicked into the second email, my heart beginning to race. But he hadn’t put anything in the body of the email, just that subject line.
Answer me.
Muttering a curse, I clickedReplyand hammered something out in a rush.
--
FROM: Bridget
TO: Asshole (Jeremy Haines)
SUBJECT: RE: What the fuck are you up to?