Page 34 of In You
She tucks her hair behind her ear and then glances down at his hand, making no move to touch him. Her eyes slide to mine for a second, then back to his before turning wary. "How do I know you're a doctor?"
Something clicks; Tamryn is extremely mistrustful of her medical health it seems like. She wouldn't take her pills unless it had her name, and she wouldn't let Dr. Riviera x-ray her until she saw all the equipment laid out.
Alexander puts his hand down and then looks at me. "Can you pull up a streaming service?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I want you to pull up my last conference, please." He sits in a leather chair, crossing his legs, seemingly patient as hell.
I grab the TV remote and settle on the couch across from Tamryn who's refusing to stop staring at me. It only takes less than a minute to find what I'm looking for as the conference in question pops right on up when I type his name in the search bar. He's that prolific.
Tamryn's eyes go wide, and her lips part at the sight of Alexander speaking in front of thousands of people in a packed stadium. Sporting that same confident swagger. The clip plays for a couple seconds, but it's long enough for me to know that this man is something more elevated than your regular psychiatrist. But I guess that's why he's speaking to a packed stadium.
And I also guess Tamryn's thoughts mirror mine, because she tenses up. "I can't afford you!" she squeaks, putting terrified eyes to him.
I clear my throat. "Uh no, sweetheart. It's on me."
Tamryn looks at me with a baffled expression. "You can't afford him either!" She gives me wide eyes, tilting her head towards him but points to the television."Look at him,"she whispers.
My brow raises as a disbelieving snort sounds out through my nose. Leaning forward, I wink at her. "I see him, sweetheart. I just want to know, when you were able to snoop and look at my bank account, did you like all the zeros you saw?"
She flushes almost beet red and then turns her face from mine, rolling her lips. At first I think I've greatly offended her, but when her eyes cut back to mine, I see a hint of life in them. A clearer hint of Tamryn the woman, not Camilla the victim.
"I'm being rude, I'm sorry. I'll go get you a glass of water, and give you two time to talk." Rising off the couch, I step into the kitchen right as he's getting her basic information, and spend a hilariously long time making a cucumber infused water. I grabthree glasses and the pitcher, coming back into the living room right as they're finishing intake.
Alexander's speaking softly to her, so I stay quiet when I put the glasses down on the wooden table and begin pouring.
"So, Tamryn," Alexander says, tapping a spot on his electronic notebook. "Tell me about your childhood."
"My name isCamilla."
My heart freezes, and my eyes squeeze shut with pity.
Fuck.
I hand her glass first, then turn to Alexander, seeing a soft look on his face as he stays single-mindedly focused on Tamryn.
"Alright," he says in an easy tone. Not the least perturbed about the personality switch. "Tell me about your childhood, Camilla."
13
Brief Touches
Tamryn
A Year Ago
"You'regoingtodowhat I asked you."
I swallow thickly, my throat burning and mouth dry and scratchy.
"I won't!"I rasp, my eyes flashing angrily at him; a spark in the desolate cave of fear he'd been inching me into so slowly that I hadn't realized the pinprick of light behind him getting smaller and smaller as his presence loomed dangerous and large before me. Using my want for love to kill my spirit. Crushing me into a weak, whimpering shell of what I once was. But that pinprick of light is still there. It'ssmall,and fading, but it's there. I turn in my seat, narrowing my eyes as I bite back. "You can't make me, you sick, dementedfuck."
Calvin's arm shoots out, backhanding me so hard across the face that my head snaps to the side.
I cry out as I go flying out of the kitchen chair, landing hard on the tile floor on my side. Shocks of pain shoot up my arm and across my shoulder. Stunned, I turn my head to see his foot encased in a perfectly shined black dress shoe that I cleaned myself, my gaze traveling slowly up the leg of his perfectly ironed pants until it lands on his gray eyes. They're narrowed down at me in anger, and displeasure.
Disappointment.
