Page 35 of Attraction

“What? He’s got photos of Kat?”

“Yeah, some. Some of her running, talking—things from around the base, and then there areothers…from last night. There are a lot of photos of other girls, too. Some are ofthingshe’s done. You know what I mean? I doubt if these girls are even aware.” Zak shakes his head, the look on his face shows his disgust at what he’s seen. “Here take a look, but I warn you, it’s not good. You know, I don’t care what Darius said, but now I’ve seen this, I think we’ve gotta stop him—for good!”

“But can you deletethese,these photos of Kat and those other girls?” Digby frowns, rubbing his head as he swipes his finger across the phone, scrolling the contents. He shuts his eyes, blocking out the images, sickened as photo after photo flashes on the small screen, until the gist of Munroe’s habits is imprinted on his brain. He switches it off. “That fucker needs dealin’ with,” he says, taking a deep breath as he recognizes the ones of Kat. “Please tell me youcandelete these, right?”

“Yeah sure. I just needed to check that’s what you want me to do first. I need to get into his cloud drive, but that’s not an issue. It’ll just take a little time, that’s all. The asshole has everything backed up, online storage. I’ll just need a couple of hours to get past the securityproto…” He hushes his voice, breaking off the conversation. Digby quickly hands him the phone back—Zak slides it into his pocket, out of sight.

Kat’s now wrapped in Digby’s terry robe, her hair still wet from the shower. Standing watching them she frowns. “I hope you don’t mind I borrowed this?” She gestures to the soft gray hooded robe. It’s much too big for her, but comfortable and so cozy, and the plus side—it smells of Digby which for some reason helps her relax.

“Sure, it’s fine.” He kisses her forehead. “So, how are you feelin’ now?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’d like to say better, but my head feels like I’ve been hit with a breach-hammer.” She forces a smile which is more about making them feel okay than her. Deciding she needs a fresh coffee; she fills the machine with water then fumbles with the filter before adding the ground coffee. As she turns around she knocks the mug from the counter, smashing it on the floor. “Fuck…” she curses, “Oh, hell, I’m sorry!”

“Here, let me clear it up, you sit down.”

“No!” she snaps abruptly. “No, I’m fine, I can do it myself.” She bends picking up the broken pieces. Her head aches. “Fuck it!” She sighs as she cuts her thumb. Then nearly in tears she relents – slumping down—she just can’t find the energy to do it.

“Kat it’s okay, leave it. It’s fine. It’s just a damn mug … no big deal.”

“Yeah okay.” She sniffs, nodding as he helps her to her feet. She can’t look at either of them in the eye, and quickly brushes a solitary tear from her cheek. She just feels so vulnerable, and it’s not something she’s ready for. “Sorry, I just… oh God this… it’s not me. I don’t feel like me. I can’t focus, and I can’tdamnwell stop shaking.” She sighs, throwing up her hands in frustration. She takes a deep breath as another tear rolls down her cheek.

“Hey,” Zak says, smiling, attempting to ease some of the pressure he can see she’s feeling. “You know it’s fine to feel this way—helpless, and a little outta control. Someone hit me with a roofie once, for a joke, and I can’t tell you how shit I felt for a good couple of days. But you know that, right. I mean, you’re a goddamn medic so you’re gonna know the effect of those drugs better than me. All I’m sayin’ is go easy on ya’ self. No one here’s judgin’… Munroe did this, not you.” Pep-talk over, he smiles.

“Thanks, but, well I am—judging me,” she says. Calming herself, she nods, glancing up and she catches him with a quick smile. “Sorry… look, I know you mean well but I just can’t be feeling like this. It’s… oh you know what just forget it.” She takes a long slow breath in looking at Digby. “So, what’s going on with the cell-phone?”

“Cell? What d’ya mean?”

“You know, when I came into the room, you stopped talking and you handed Zak a phone. So, what’s going on?”

“Oh, that … oh, it’s nothin’. Well, nothin’ for you to worry about anyways.”

He tries to bluff, but she’s not buying it and frowns, watching their expressions—the side glances and non-verbal communication. “Okay Ryan. I’ve just been roofied. Please, stop this bullshit and tell me what the fuck’s going on.”

“Look it’s nothin’… oh hell,” he says. “It’s… well it’s embarrassingly dumb. I stupidly locked-out my phone. You know, too many password attempts and… boom! I’m locked out! I swear the damn thing hates me. Zak knows how much I can’t stand tech stuff. Hell, that’s his department, right? So, he’s gonna take a look and get me back in, it’s no biggie.”

She frowns, not believing the story he’s spinning. Something doesn’t feel right, and she can tell he’s lying by the subtle changes in the tone of his voice. “Ryan, you seriously want me to believe that you got locked out of your phone?”

“Yeah, cos that’s what happened.” He sighs—grinning. Giving her another of hiscome-play-with-melooks, hoping to divert her attention.

“Don’t do that!” She frowns. Watching as the two of them shift and shuffle, giving sideways looks to each other. “Okay, what is it? What’s really going on?” Folding her arms, she glances at them looking one-to-the-other. Not moving she waits for a more plausible explanation. It doesn’t come and they both just stand there—quiet.

“Okay, give me the damn phone. C’mon Zak, hand it over. I know you have it because I saw you put it in your pocket.” They both don’t move, and she asks again. “Zak, I saidgiveme the goddamn phone!”

Zak sighs, slowly dragging the cell from his back pocket, reluctantly handing it over. “Look Kat, I’m gonna fix this…” He stammers, getting ahead of any questions she might have.

“Fix what?” When he doesn’t answer, she raises her voice, though it makes her headache pulse. “I said, fix what? Well, I’m waiting, so one of you better tell me.” Frustrated, she focuses on looking at the screen. It’s unlocked—Zak took the password off, but right now he regrets doing that as he watches her scroll the messages and then the photo files.

At first, she only sees the other women. “What the hell is this?” She looks up quizzically. “Wait… are these women Munroe’s been with?” Zak shrugs, he doesn’t know, but he guesses they are and as she takes a breath, she’s almost afraid to ask anything else. “Oh… God… he’s got photos ofmeon here. When the hell did he take… oh no…” She rubs her head as a vague memory flashed in her mind.

Gripping tightly, she holds the phone as Digby tries to take it from her. “Kat give me the phone. You don’t need to worry about this because Zak will get them deleted—all of them! I promise, like him, they’ll be gone—erased.”

“Deleted?” She’s so angry and embarrassed. Hurt and humiliated, her nose wrinkles as she tries to hide it. Hitting the delete button, again and again, sending them to the trash file, frantically she tries to erase the evidence of last night’s assault. “No, I’ll take them off myself… I don’t want you… I don’t wantanyoneto see these.”

“Kat, just stop, alright!” Zak gently pries the phone from her grasp. “I need to get to the source, so it’ll take a bit of time, but I’ll fix it I promise you.”

She nods, taking a deep breath, trying desperately not to cry.Fuck…She sucks in air, looking away so they don’t see her.

“Hey, it’s okay. Just let it out and then you’ll feel better,” Digby says.

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