Page 62 of Inception

I had no one to blame for that but myself. But I was done living in the dark.

“Why won’t you Pledge?” My voice was small, pleading.

He shook his head, his jaw clamped down hard to mark his resolve.

“They won’t give me a Handler until you do.”

“That’s not my problem,” he said icily.

I winced at his disregard and twisted for the door, afraid of what I might say or do next if I didn’t walk away right that second.

I heard him cuss under his breath as he reached out and caught my arm again. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”

“So you’ll Pledge?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, then you can go to hell.” I pulled my arm free and made a push for the door, refusing to look back even after he called out my name. The way I saw it, I was pretty much doomed—a dead girl walking. And Trace just loaded the gun.

I spent most of the day locked in a battle of patience with the clock, counting down the minutes until I could be free of this place—of Trace, and the constant reminder of a situation that appeared to be getting bleaker by the day. I felt hopeless, and restless, and angry that the seconds refused to tick by faster, like this day had been one big conspiracy, intended to drag out my misery to unfathomable proportions.

“Well? Let’s hear it,” said Zane when I sat down on one of the stools in front of his bar.

“Hear what?” I barely lifted my eyes.

“Whatever it is that has you in this funk.”

“It’s not a funk. And I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, picking apart a paper napkin.

“You know you can talk to me, right? I’m a bartender. This is pretty much what I do.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You do that,” he smiled, wiping down the counter in front of me. After a few wipes, he leaned in closer and whispered, “Who’s theT-D-Hat nine o’clock?”

My face contorted. “Huh?”

“Tall, dark and handsome—just walked in. He’s staring right at you,” he said, covertly ticking his head offside.

I peered over my shoulder to the door and saw Gabriel standing there by the threshold, not quite willing to come in all the way. He nodded to me, which I could only assume was his way of summoning me over.

“I’ll be right back,” I said and slipped off the stool.

“Famous last words.”

I had no idea what Gabriel was doing here, but from the look on his face, I could tell it wasn’t a casual call. Unfortunately, something inside of me was also speaking and it was telling me I didn’t want to know, that I should turn around right now and put as much distance between the two of us as humanly possible. I guess old habits really do die hard.

“Can I talk you outside for a minute?” he asked, holding the door open for me.

I nodded wearily and stepped outside, inhaling sharply as the crisp night air collided with my exposed skin.

“Is everything okay?”

“Dominic was here tonight,” he said matter-of-factly as he ushered me away from the front entrance.

I jerked at the mention of his name.

“He’s gone,” he assured. “Though not without difficulty.” He looked down at something in his hand and then raised it up to me. A single, long-stem black rose stared back at me dauntingly.

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