Page 65 of Bonds of Shame, Bonds of Lust

I was three-quarters through, moving into the implementation timeline, when I heard his voice for the first time.

"Come on, Bonds."

He was half-smiling.

"You've been up there for twenty minutes. Give us the part where you tell us it'll change the world."

The room went quiet. It seemed nobody was sure where Derek was going with this.

Bully.

The word arrived in my head with certainty, and right behind it came the heat. I didn't stop it.

"I'm trying to convince you to help save children's lives, Derek. I'm not here to entertain you."

The silence lasted about two seconds.

Then came the gasps. Time went strange, each sound arriving separately and too clearly.

I stood at the presentation screen and did not move.

One beat.

Two beats.

Where did that come from?

The words were already in the air. My hands were very still at my sides and my face was hot.

Did I just completely blow this?

One of the board members spoke, the beginning of an apology.

"No." Derek cut him off.

The board member stopped speaking mid-syllable.

He hadn't moved, except now he was looking at me differently. His head had tilted, like something caught his attention and he was working out what to do with it. The left corner of his mouth lifted while the right stayed flat, a crooked almost-smile.

"Let her finish," he said. "Go ahead, Lacey. You have my attention."

I took a breath.

I turned back to the screen, found my place and finished.

The remaining minutes were the cleanest I'd ever presented anything.

Derek asked three more questions. Each time I answered directly, and he listened without expression before moving to the next.

When I finished, he said nothing. He leaned back and looked at Allison, and gave a small nod that made her straighten in her chair.

"Thank you, Dr. Bonds," she said with almost a smirk.

I gathered my laptop and thanked the board. I walked out the door with my shoulders back and my face composed without looking at the end of the table.

The corridor outside the boardroom was empty.

I stood in it for a moment, laptop case against my chest, and listened to my own heartbeat, which was going considerably faster than was strictly necessary for a woman who'd been standing still for the past forty-five minutes.