Page 68 of Attraction

“Secret? What secret?” She laughs. “You’re talking crazy. They’re gonna think you’re crazy and you know what? I’ll tell them you are! The team will back me up, or maybe I’ll just tell Digby and let the team deal with you.”

“Yeah, maybe they will. But will they do it before I tell the world your secret? Maybe I have a backup plan, just in case anything happens to me. Did you consider that,doctor?”

“You’ll be locked up in a psych-ward before you can say anything.”

“No… not if an anonymous source calls command and tells them you all take drugs.”

“What? No one’s gonna believe you.” She sneers. “You’ll have to try something better than that.”

“Yeah, but they will tox’ screen all of you—just to be sure. I know we had it with our unit. No more ‘in-house’testing. Doing your own thing… I know how Darius works—how he keeps everything secret.”

She hesitates, not answering as her eyes flicker back and forth nervously. “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. You knownothingabout me and I’d be careful if I were you. If Digby even finds out you’ve been anywhere near me then—”

“He’ll do what? Digby’s the least of my worries right now and I knoweverythingabout you—Katrina Morgan—or would you rather I revere you and call youLuna?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You’re a liar, you know nothing, and even if you did, what can you prove?”

“I know you’re very,very special, and I know people are looking for you.”

“You’re just making this shit up.” She laughs. “No one is looking for me and you don’t scare me. I see what you are. You’re the scared one.”

“I don’t care what you see. All this, everything that’s gone on, I’m done with it—I just want out. So, you get my phone and some money, and then you’ll never see or hear from me ever again. But I need it today.”

“I can’t get it today,” she says, still staring at him. “You’re scared, Patrick. You can’t do anything.”

“Oh, I can, and I will if you don’t get me what I want. Don’t test me, Kat, because really, I’ve got nothin’ to lose. While I’m still here, I’m as good as dead.”

“What the hell did you do? Who’s coming after you enough for you to risk this?” She looks at him and now she can see the face of a desperate man, and it worries her. “Look, you’ll have to give me a couple of days. I mean, I can’t just get that kind of money out of thin air… and anyway, someone else has the phone, so there’s no way I can get it back.”

“No. I need out today. I don’t care what you do to get it, but you need to get that phone and bring it to me this afternoon. You need to meet me back here with what I asked.” He lets his grip on her go and she pulls back, scrabbling away. The pain in her shoulders is slowing her down—holding her back from lashing out.

He stands up, towering over her as he stares. “I never wanted to hurt you—or those other girls, you must believe that. But I had no choice.” He frowns, watching the expression of anger on her face.

“Of course you had a choice. You didn’t have to do what you did.”

“Believe me, I didn’t—have a choice—and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. But trust me, if it hadn’t been me, then it would have been somebody else. Now, Ineedthat phone and money. Kat, you get me that and I swear, I’m gone and I won’t say a word.”

“What? No.” Her head drops into her hands as she gathers her thoughts. The shock of what’s just happened starts to sink in and as she works out what she should do, there’s a fierce inner growl—Luna desperate to get out and she struggles to contain her. “I don’t have…” She looks up and frowns. “Fuck!”

He’s gone.

She scans around, trying to see where he went. She fails to locate him, and standing up, her eyes frantically search. She groans, mostly from the pains in her muscles, but having hit her head as she fell, she can feel a small egg-shaped lump starting to form.

“Shit! Where the hell did he go?” A deep chesty howl builds in the back of her throat and she paces frantically, desperately trying to calm her angry inner self—Luna—clawing, forcing her to let her out.

You need to calm the hell down. She talks herself down, gritting her teeth as her steely green eyes search him out.Yes, yes we’ll find him. He can’t have gotten far.

She feels wildly savage about letting him catch her unawares like that. “Fuck,” she curses again, her anger only growing. “Where the hell are you?” She takes a long deep breath, cursing over and over as she smells the air. Her head’s throbbing and her shoulders feel like they’re on fire. Rubbing at her thigh muscle, which is taut and tight, she winces at the pain. As the hurt eases off, she rakes her fingers through her hair and pulls herself together. Then, rubbing her face, she looks up with a venomous snarl.

“You know Patrick, you really shouldn’t have done that.” She scans around the grass and across the park. “No point trying to hide—She’s going to find you.”

Chapter 20

Looking at her clothes covered in green grass marks and mud, Kat’s lip quivers in anger as suppressed memories of her assault come flooding back. As she continues to stare at herself in the mirror on the wall of her office, the captured phone images of the other girl’s faces imprint in her head.

What the hell do I do now? I can’t go back to the house, not like this. Digby will know; Munroe’s scent will be all over me.Just think.

She sighs loudly and rests her hands on her knees. She takes a deep breath, her heart beating doubly fast as she continues the conversation in her head. Then noticing blood on her shirt, she immediately strips it and her shorts off. Standing just in her underwear, she washes her face and hands in the sink. Once she’s cleaned the mud and blood from her arms, she pulls up the cart filled with medical supplies from under the counter. Searching the trays for wadding and antiseptic, she cleans the cut on the side of her head before checking the mirror again to make sure her hair covers it.

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