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“I’m not surprised,” he says. “She probably wants things to feel as normal as possible.”
“That’s a good guess, but how can things feel normal with the two of them around?”
He sighs. “You’re right,” he says, his eyes closing tightly. He pinches the bridge of his nose. “We can’t predict what her reaction will be, either. We can only hope that Rei has prepared her to walk away from Malon.”
“But you’re not hopeful?” I ask. I don’t know why we’re talking about this, I can tell he’s not. I guess there’s a part of me that wants him to reassure me since I feel so desperately hopeless. The closer we get to Trine’s apartment complex, the more worried I get. It’s not a nice feeling, knowing that we’re about to have a serious, difficult conversation with someone who might still reject us.
I want her to understand that we’re just trying to help her, but even with all the facts at her disposal, Trine might turn us down.
This is something that’s happening to her body. It’s not happening to us. I keep telling myself that all we can do is give her information and then, if we’re really lucky, maybe she’ll let us do an exorcism again.
I’m getting lost in my thoughts when Salinas finally answers me.
“No,” he says, so quietly I have to strain to hear him. “I keep trying to figure out what to do here, but it doesn’t matter how much I pray or look for guidance, I’m lost. Something about this has me completely adrift, in a way I’ve never experienced before.”
“Yeah, but you’ve never fucked a client before,” I hear myself say before I can stop myself.
I really need to start thinking before I speak. I’m just…nervous, and stressed, and when that happens, I tend to speak before I think. I expect Salinas to be annoyed, but he laughs quietly instead.
“Right,” he says. “Well, she’s the first client you’re having sex with too.”
“We probably shouldn’t do that.”
“You’re the boss, Misha,” he replies. “You’re the one who sets the rules.”
He’s right, of course, and one of our unspoken rules has always been not getting involved with clients. I guess I had to live with the consequences myself to realize just how bad an idea this was.
But I didn’t expect to catch feelings for Trine and I have to admit to myself that it’s hard not to care for her. I love spending time around her, and the more time we spend together, the harder it is not to feel like I’m falling deeper for her.
If this was anyone else, I’d probably be angry that she's spending time with my employees, but when it comes to Trine, I just want her to be happy.
Happy and safe.
If this is how she’s happy, then I guess I’m just going to have to learn to live with that. But first, I need to make sure that she’s okay.
Salinas sighs. I can feel his gaze on me. “We’ll try our best,” he says. “That’s all we can do.”
“I know,” I reply. We’ve spent most of the trip in silence. Neither one of us has even turned the radio on. Now that we’re pulling into Trine’s apartment complex, a heavy silence settles over us, both of us getting more and more tense as time passes.
I pull into a visitor’s spot, then kill the engine. Neither one of us wants to get out of the car. It’s Salinas who opens the passenger door first. I grab the door handle and look up at the wraparound balcony right in front of her door. I’m not sure why, but something about this is giving me a bad feeling.
Everything about this is giving me a bad feeling.
I steel myself before we go upstairs. Salinas walks up ahead of me, turning his head over his shoulder for a second as he narrows his eyes. “C’mon,” he says. “What are you waiting for?”
I don’t have a good answer for him, so I just shrug my shoulders and follow him toward the sidewalk. He walks slowly, too, so I think he also has a bad feeling.
“Are you okay?” he asks before we go upstairs.
“Yeah,” I reply. “I’ll be fine.”
REI
We’re sitting around the round dining room table, drinking water and making small talk, when I hear a knock on the door.
Bryony looks at Trine, her eyes narrowing. “Are you waiting for someone?”
Trine shrugs, getting to her feet. She’s wearing flimsy pajama shorts that show off her ass, and this sleeveless, practically see-through baby blue top. I have to force myself to look away from her body. We might’ve just had sex half an hour ago, but if she dragged me back into the bedroom right now, I wouldn’t mind at all.
