Page 55 of Lovely Violent Things

And I know he’s going to kill him.

Desperation scrapes my insides. I try to enter the fray to prevent what’s about to happen, and arms bracket my waist. Agent Hernandez pulls me away from the scuffle as an officer rushes the scene.

“Kallum.Stop.”

Blood-stained fist held aloft, Kallum’s eyes find mine past the haze of fury long enough for me to reach him. Then a handcuff is latched around his wrist. Kallum is hauled to his feet and thrown against the wall, where the officer shackles his wrists.

I watch in detached shock as Alister staggers on his way to his feet, then spits a trail of blood to the floor. He turns enraged eyes on Kallum, sending his fist into Kallum’s stomach. Then he looks at Hernandez. “Put him in holding,” he commands the agent.

Face stained and swollen in patches of red, Alister locates me next. “I will have you removed from the case. I’ll make damn sure.”

I lift my chin in defiance, barely containing the rage within that wants to finish what Kallum started.

Alister pins me with a challenging glare that translates:my word against yours.

I shrug out of Hernandez’s hold. Then, bypassing Alister, I push close to Kallum. “I’ll call your lawyer. Don’t say anything in there.”

“I know my rights. Not my first time, sweetness,” he says. The smile he forces clashes against the brutality I still see simmering in his depths. “Do not trust anyone, Halen. No one. Go to the hotel and stay there. I’ll be out by morning.”

“I think you’re overly confident on that,” I say.

“We’ll see.”

Agent Hernandez escorts Kallum out of the room, first sending me a guarded look over his shoulder.

“Get her the fuck out of this office,” Alister orders the local cop before he grabs his gun harness and follows after Agent Hernandez.

A chill envelops me, adrenaline still rampaging my system. I shove my hair out of my face, my breath sawing my lungs. Amid the chaos, something was unlocked inside me. I saw more. Ifeltmore.

And the only person who can answer my questions has just been apprehended for assaulting a federal agent.

The officer in uniform lays a gentle hand on my shoulder, propelling me out of my thoughts. I flinch away. He’s the same cop I saw patrolling the hallway earlier. “Sorry,” he says. “Are you all right?”

Shaken, I glance over my disheveled clothes. The torn hem of my shirt. My unsnapped jeans. I fight down the noxious mix of shame and anger that rises up to strangle my voice.

“I think I need a second to…” I tug at the clasp of my pants. The zipper is broken.

Mouth rimmed tight, the officer nods. As he turns to offer me privacy, I quickly snap my jeans and drop down to palm the keys on the floor.

“If you need to make an incident report or something…” He trails off, tone unsure.

I slip Alister’s keys into my pocket. “No. Not right now,” I say. “But I do need a restroom. To collect myself.”

He looks relieved not to have to be the one to issue a report against a federal agent.

Once the officer has me escorted outside the restroom, I look down the hallway to see Kallum being taken to holding.

“Thank you.” I cross my arms over my midsection, pausing in front of the door.

Wariness draws the cop’s features tight. He glances around the empty department, as if questioning whether or not to leave me alone.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassure him.

He again inspects the condition of my clothes. His instincts tell him something more than a fight between a consultant and agent went down, and I’m that something, but there’s nothing he can do now.

I wait to see him push through the double doors before I exhale an aching breath.

I touch my stomach, feeling the tender bruising now that the adrenaline has started to ebb. Before this is over, I will have the final say with Agent Wren Alister.

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