Page 75 of Exposé

He took the plastic and pocketed it. "And my payment?"

My eyes widened. "Payment? Aria didn't mention anything about that."

Alan puffed out a breath of air through pursed lips. "Of course she didn't."

"What did she promise you?"

"A date."

"A date? Aria is engaged. Why would she—"

"Not with her. With you."

"Me?" I pressed my hand to my chest. "But I..."Am going to kill her."She never said anything to me about this. I'm sorry, Dr. Kline. I didn’t know. I never would have gone through with it."

He laughed, his belly bouncing against his belt. "Stop. You're hurting my ego." Dr. Kline held up his left hand and pointed to the band. "Learn to take a joke."

My head tilted back as I stared at the gold ring around his finger. "A joke. Right. Need to get my sense of humor in for repairs. Got it." I held up my thumb.

"Give me a week or two. I'm slammed at the moment."

Two birds fluttered through the air and landed in the tree above as my shoulders slumped. "Can you make it three days? My boss is on my ass, and I may not survive the week."

"And you think mine will? I have deadlines too, Ava Thatcher." He opened the car door and sat inside. "I'll call you when I have anything."

I stepped back as he shut the door and started the car, a bead of sweat wetting the hair on my temples.

Dr. Kline backed out of his parking space with a little wave and left the parking lot with a smile and a slight shake of his head.

Great.

He's laughing at me.

I stood in the shade for a moment. The birds fighting in the tree sent leaves falling to the ground, their maddening chirps scrambling my brain of serious thought.

Hiking my hands on my hips, I glanced up into the tree and pinched my cheek between my teeth as I cocked my head.

One dull brown bird sat on a branch, still as stone. Not a flutter, not a twitch—nothing. The other identical bird hopped around it, pecking at its side and back as though it had invaded his territory.

Were birds territorial?

I squinted and moved my hand above my brow as it squawked and flapped its wings.

The first bird stood stark still as though life had been sucked from it.

Is that normal?

I stared at the bird.

Do birds blink?

The other bird bounced around as if on crack when the first bird twisted its head to the side and flapped his wing with a squawk.

Weird.

With a shake of my head, I walked back to my car and sat inside, the hairs on my neck standing on end.

Was that normal?

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