Page 66 of Prey for You

I had no misconceptions about their motives. They were covering their asses in case I ran off and killed myself.

Look, we did what we could!

But it also meant that I got free healthcare and sessions with Gerald thatweren’tabout my work, so I put up with it.

Of course, now Gerald was looking at me like he didn’t even know me, and somehow that was worse than Jeremy’s anger.

“Hi G.”

“Hello, Bridget.” The uncertainty in his voice shocked me a little. I watched him as he crossed the room towards me.

He wore his usual khakis and white shirt with a tie, but he’d loosened the tie—which Ineversaw in his office—and those wisps of hair were sticking out in erratic directions.

Clearly either Jeremy or the media had filled him in on the revelations of the day.

With a file and notebook under his arm, he walked across the room to the chair that squatted on the other side of the coffee table, all of which were supposed to make this room look like a living room, instead of an interrogation room.

When he’d settled down and gotten his pen out of his top pocket and clicked it, I figured out what was wrong.

Gerald always faced me. Always looked right at me. Like he was looking for the lie. Or maybe feeding on my soul, it was hard to tell sometimes.

But now…

He stared at the notebook in front of him anddidn’t talk.

I sighed. “I guess Jeremy told you my news?”

Gerald nodded, but still didn’t look up. His forehead pinched into stress lines.

I waited. He clicked his pen a few times and cleared his throat once, but didn’t speak.

What the hell?

“Wow, dramatic much?” I said, not as strongly as I wanted to.

Then he finally looked up. I braced, expecting disapproval, or anger, or… something. But nothurt.

Our eyes locked and I sat there, waiting for the tirade to begin. But Gerald looked at me like he wasn’t sure who I was. Like I’dwounded him.

I suddenly felt five years old and shamefaced for wetting my bed because my father found out.

And thatpissed me off.

But before I could tell him so, he finally talked.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I almost laughed. It would have been ugly. Good thing I caught it. “If I told you, you’d tell Jeremy, and he’d tell the lawyers.”

Gerald’s eyes pinched like that hurt even more. He shook his head and looked down at his notebook again, his fingers tightening on the pen. But he didn’t use it.

My breath was getting short. “G, why are youhurt?”

His head snapped up and he gaped at me. “You… you really don’t know?”

“No, Gerald. I’m clueless.”

He blew out a breath and clicked his pen again. “Well, first I was hurt because you didn’t trust me to… to hold that for you. Which means you went into a situation that could have beenreallydangerous and didn’t let me help you. And now you’re telling me you think I would have gone running to Jeremy? Against every assurance I’ve ever given you, and every agreement—”

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