Page 29 of Hard Limits

Couldn’t shower if I couldn’t get inside my apartment.

The keys…

Had I dropped them?

No.

No, they were on my desk.

I’d used them to score open the tape on a package earlier when I couldn’t find the scissors.

Which meant…

Which meant I’d have to go back to the office.

Maybe I could just sleep there tonight? There was a couch. A bathroom. Four kinds of toothpaste I’d bought for Mr. Vale because that tight-lipped jackass found it too difficult to simply tell me which brand he liked to use.

But that would be weird.

No, I couldn’t sleep in the office like a dishevelled Goldilocks, and I wasn’t even fond of porridge.

I’d get my key, and then I’d get an Uber, and then I’d go home.

The bar’s side door was wedged open, probably to let some air in or let smokers out. There was a group of them standing in the alley, puffing away. The doctor in me wanted to give them a lecture on lung cancer, but I had to deal with my own…situation first. Alcohol poisoning…alcohol poisoning… I checked off the symptoms in my head, the ones I was able to remember, anyway. Yup, had most of those.

Boy, did my feet hurt. I kicked off my shoes, and ooh, that was better. The office… The big, fancy building… I had to turn right. No, the other right.

“Hey, do you need a ride?” a guy asked. Was he with Uber?

“Uh, yes, but not yet.”

“My car’s just over there.”

“No, I have to go this way.”

One foot in front of the other. You can do it, Indi.

The man fell into step alongside me. “Are you okay? You look a little unsteady.”

“I’m fine.”

“A pretty lady like you shouldn’t be walking home alone.”

“I’m not… I’m not…”

“That’s right. I’ll keep you company.”

Really? That was nice of him, but Alfie had told me not to talk to strangers outside bars. I distinctly remembered him saying that one night in Boston, right after I talked to a stranger outside a bar. I stumbled over a bump in the sidewalk, and my new friend caught me. Wow, I’d almost ended up on my ass.

“Easy, babe.”

His arm wrapped around my waist, and I wasn’t sure I liked that. Being touched in that manner. I tried to push his hand away, but he gripped me tighter.

“I just don’t want you to fall, babe. Look, my car’s right here. I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go.”

Everything was dark. So dark. The old station wagon, the quiet street, the man’s eyes. Eyes that weren’t so friendly anymore. I didn’t want to go with him, but he opened the rear door and tried to push me inside. This…this was bad. Very bad. I grabbed the edge of the door and hung on as he unpeeled my fingers, and this was why Alfie had warned me, wasn’t it?

“No, no, no. Get off me!”

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