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As he mixes the nasty-smelling chemicals, I watch carefully. “Are you sure you’re doing that right?”
He looks about ready to snap, but I can’t find it in me to care. I’m the one getting that crap put on my head. “Yes.”
“But like, you read the directions correctly? Followed them to a T?” I pester. “Because this shit has never touched my head before. What if I go bald?”
“You won’t. I watched my sister do this a million times when she was a teenager.”
“You have a sister?” I’m temporarily distracted by this bit of personal information about him, and I close my eyes tightly as he slathers the concoction on my head.
“Yes.”
“What’s her name?” I breathe through my mouth.
“Lyla.”
I look up and see his eyes are watering. Dammit. Now mine are too because I opened them. “Is she…” I let a breath out of my mouth again. Damn, this is rank. “Is she older or younger?”
“Older. Has a family and all that.”
“Really? Do you see her often?”
“Nah, my job doesn’t allow for that. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“What? You haven’t seen your own sister in years?”
He continues to wipe the bleachy crap on my head as he answers. “That’s just how it works. I can’t exactly be undercover and have real relationships.”
“Is that why you were on that app?”
“Mm-hmm. Can’t have a girlfriend—not that I want one. It’s just easier.”
I sit silently for a bit, not because I don’t have a million questions but because this is quite possibly the most uncomfortable thing my head has ever felt. “So, do they know what you do?”
“Kind of. They know I work for the government, but they’re not exactly privy to the particulars of my job.”
“Wow. I can’t imagine that.” I’m not exactly proud to tell my parents dealing with disgruntled customers day in and day out is the hardest part of my job, but at least they know what I do.
“Eh, you get used to it.” He stops, rips off the gloves he was wearing, and throws them away. “Okay, wait like fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes?” I squeak. It’s starting to burn, and I don’t know if that’s normal, but it can’t be, can it?
“Let’s keep talking, keep your mind off of it.”
“Okay.”
We enter a silence that is the opposite of what we were supposed to be doing, and I giggle a little at the thought that that’s what happens when anyone tries to fill a silence. “Oh, I know.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“It’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask but I keep getting distracted.” He waves his hand like, Carry on. “Why can’t you just go to the FBI to get help with this? I mean, won’t they help you? Isn’t that their job?”
He sighs and looks away, as if weighing his answer. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated how? Like you’re actually a bad guy and not good and they figured that out and now you’re running from two sides?”
Dan looks at me like I just figured it out, and I feel like crying. Is it the chemicals or the fact that a bad guy is in this bathroom with me that’s bothering me? Did I just stick my foot in my mouth?
“You are suspiciously close. However…” I hold out for what comes next. Please God don’t let him be a murderer. “I’m not a bad guy. I just had to step back from the FBI a little once I got in deeper with the crew I’m trying to track down.”
