She gulps, then steps back. I follow. “Did you get off on touching a scared, underaged boy? Did you feel powerful?”
“Zach!” Harrison says, looking around nervously. “Let’s go.”
“Just wait in the fucking car if you’re uncomfortable,” I reply. “I’m not leaving until she’s answered the question.”
“Fuck,” Harrison mutters, but he stays where he is.
I cock my head at her. “Answer the question.”
“I’m not answering any of your fucking questions,” she snaps, looking uncomfortable, and I enjoy that.
I like that she’s trying to back away, her gaze darting around when I grab her bony wrist. “Careful,” I warn. “It would be a shame if you broke your parole conditions.”
She yanks free. “Are you threatening me?”
I’m full on stalking her now. “I would never do such a thing to a kind woman like you. I’m not a monster.”
Sweet, sweet sarcasm.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m a friend of Arkin’s.”
Her eyes widen, and for a second fear flickers in the gray, but then she turns around and runs.
“Oh, fuck no,” Harrison growls when I sprint after her.
I catch up around the corner, blocking her path, causing her to crash into my chest. She bounces back, but Harrison is there to stop any further escape attempts.
“There’s nowhere to run,” I point out.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to answer the question.”
She looks back at Harrison, then at me. “What question?”
“Did you get off on touching Arkin? Did you feel powerful?”
She makes a disgusted sound. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I step closer. “Answer. The. Question.”
Her nostrils flare. How she has the audacity to give me an attitude is beyond me. “Life with my husband wasn’t exactly easy,” she says.
“That’s not what I fucking asked, is it?”
“Zach…” Harrison warns. “Calm down, mate.”
“Fine. Yes. Happy now?” she asks. She pulls a packet of crumpled cigarettes from her pocket and lights another one up, puffing on it as though she needs the nicotine to ease her nerves. “What are you going to do? Hurt me?”
“We’re just here to talk,” I say.
She scoffs and then takes another drag.
What did I think I’d solve by coming here? A restless part of me wouldn’t let me sleep at night until I’d seen Arkin’s demons in the flesh. But now that I’m here watching this pathetic bitch suck on a cigarette as if it’ll somehow erase her sins, it seems stupid to think it would make me feel better.
I lean in close. “You’re lucky you don’t have a dick, or this would have ended differently.”
