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“Yeah, sure,” he answered, hardly listening.
His friend could have alerted him that the bar was burning down and it wouldn’t have registered with Dayton. His sights, his thoughts, his soul were locked and loaded on mending the rift jeopardizing his acquisition of Kenna.
Most Thursdays, a pen had no hope of keeping pace with Liam’s brain as he scrawled the answer to the halftime bonus. Three whole minutes had elapsed and he was still cogitating on which five ‘90s films had the most Oscar wins. Kenna had to restrain herself from signing the cross as he dotted the i’s on his final entry,Titanic.
“I’ll take it,” she said.
Liam glared at her, surrendering the paper. “Alright.”
Her pulse picked up speed with the index card in hand. She and Dr. Merino would be alone together, outside, under the shadowy moonlit night in the alleyways of downtown. Not another soul would be around, save for the stray smoker.
Why, after everything Alex said, had she agreed to this? She hadn’t, technically, but she assumed he read her lack of response as agreement.
As Kenna headed toward the host’s table, she heard Will’s steadily fading voice, “And this is why you shouldn’t fraternize with your trivia teammates.”
She slipped Michael the paper and wandered down the hallway that housed the bathrooms. Her steps seemed to slow, feet reluctant to carry her away from the safety of the bar. Kenna emerged into the breezy darkness, slumping against the brick. Waiting. Watching. Wondering.
The conversation with Alex had affected her more than she let on. Brandi and Erin were a few years older, and had involved themselves with Dr. Merino on their own accord. But Alex had been a freshman, a terrified girl getting her grip on college life. No familial support. What he’d done to her had been sinister.
Every time Kenna looked at her birthday bouquet as she was getting ready earlier that evening, she thought of the repentance prayer, the manipulation, the trauma and string of heartache for which he was responsible. She should have chucked the flowers into the trash, but she left them on the dresser, untouched.
The way she stood little chance to remain.
Paranoia had her in its chokehold as the backdoor shut with a snick. Dr. Merino approached, placing a hand on the brick and leering over her. “You’re ignoring me.”
“I talked to Alex.”
Had Kenna uttered those words in a deserted alleyway, while the man she accused pinned her against a wall? Or had it been a nightmarish slip of consciousness?
“Whatever Alex told you, it’s all true.” A haunted look crossed his face. “I was in a weird place when I was seeing her. I’m not proud of it.”
His ownership of the situation took her by surprise and left her unsure of how to proceed. A change in subject seemed like the logical route.
“Thanks for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
He cracked a wide smile, the widest his lips could stretch without baring teeth. Dr. Merino’s hand slipped to her waist and her stomach turned to cement.
For whatever reason, she craved his touch, despite the arrest, despite his potential psychological instability. He was an intelligent, unconventionally attractive man. A licensed psychiatrist. And she was just his understudy, a student.
But with his fingertips pressing into her skin, the insistence that their connection was something unique and set apart from his reprehensible history fired on all cylinders. Kenna had peeked behind the curtain and caught a glimpse of his real life in the hospital. On the darkest days, when she thought her mission was futile, she held onto the version of Dr. Merino confined to Owens-Adair.
He’d been alone, sick. Human.
That flicker of humanity buried within him attracted her far more than his credentials, than his looks.
The pad of his thumb outlined the right side of her jaw, to her chin, and around to the left before sliding up to stroke her cheek. He brought his lips close to hers, hovering so near it felt as though they were touching. “Happy birthday.”
The hardly detectable, stinging odor of vodka and a hint of lime seeped from his breath, and Kenna turned her head as he motioned to meet her lips, causing his to collide with her ear. Dr. Merino either did not mind the misdirection or was too plastered to notice. Something hot and wet met the helix of her ear. A chill crested like a wave throughout her body when she realized it was his tongue and she shut her eyes, breathing in the moment of pleasure. His mouth dragged from her earlobe down to her neck and left a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
“I want you so badly, Kenna. My need for you, it’s terrifying.”
His speech broke her spell. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the filthy alley, the broken glass glinting on the ground, the man towering above her who reeked of alcohol and temptation.
“You’re drunk.” Kenna shook her head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He straightened. “I shouldn’t have put my hands on you, I’m—”
“Don’t apologize. I want this, but notlikethis, not when you’re out of it and won’t remember.”
