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She swallowed, trying to keep control of herself when all she wanted to do was try to duck around him and run for the shop.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice sounded far away.
“Just to chat. You know… I seem to have the most difficult time getting you alone, don’t I?” His smile was cold and somehow showed nearly all of his teeth.
She didn’t respond, so he continued.
“I got here when you start your shift and then imagine my surprise when you weren’t here? I sent Michelle and Hannah in to let me know when you got here, and by the time you did, I had to wait until the end of your shift to come touch base.”
He wasn’t standing close to her, but Teagan couldn’t help but think he was too close anyway.
“I need to go home,” she began. “Britt knows I’m out here.”
“Fucks, Teagan! What do you think I’m going to do to you?” His eyes flickered over towards the dumpster for a moment before he laughed in a loud, maniacal way. “I’m out here all alone, even, didn’t bring anyone with me. I just have to show you something. They’re for your eyes only. Yours and mine for now. Won’t take but a moment.”
She inhaled and exhaled again.
Her blood ran icy in her veins. Freezing cold that somehow drenched her in sweat at the same time.
“I’m not going to explain my sources,” Eric began. “But I came into quite an interesting set of photographs as of late.” Bile rose in her throat.Fuck.“I wanted to let you know I had them. In the spirit of full disclosure. But don’t worry, I’ve got them locked away at home. For safekeeping. It’d be a shame if they got into the wrong hands.”
He swiped through them. About four or five images. Bad quality from being taken years before on an old mobile. Teagan knew just the model of phone that had taken them.
She snapped her head up, eyes narrowing. “How did you get these?”
He swiped through them again. “This last one’s my favorite. The others are just a bit of a tease, aren’t they? I’m not one for being titillated.”
All at once, she was seventeen again. Her innermost secrets on display for disgusting people she hadn’t ever meant to be on exhibition for.
How did Eric have them? She’d been assured that every last one had been destroyed. But here they were. This wasn’t for his eyes. None of it was. She wanted to snatch every one of them and scrub them out of existence. If it would only erase the fact that Eric had seen them.
“Where did you get them?” she asked again, wanting to slap the stupid grin off his face.
“I have contactseverywhere. I’ll give you a hint. He’s an old friend of Joshua Dwight.”
She swallowed down the urge to vomit. “Delete them.”
He laughed at that. “No, I don’t think I will. I think you need to go to someone who’s more equipped to help you. Maybe your boyfriend? Jaxon will help, surely.”
She narrowed her eyes. “He already knows about them. You’re not going to break us up or anything.”
He chuckled. “Oh, this won’t, I’m sure.”
She wasn’t a huge fan of how he said that.
Teagan wasn’t sure what made her do it. A burst of courage, perhaps? Or maybe stupidity. But it had to do with Eric mentioning Jaxon.
She reached out and smacked the mobile from his hand. It fell to the ground with a clatter and she kicked it beneath the dumpster, her gaze never faltering as Eric’s turned into one of pure rage.
His mouth fell open and closed. He looked like a great angry fish with a hook in his mouth. Being pulled into the boat and flopping around, gasping in the air. Gaping maw and all. “You’ll be sorry you did that.”
“I doubt it. It was jolly good fun, Eric.”
His eyes narrowed, and she fought to keep her features still. Neutral. Even though she felt like she could vomit at any second. He was standing too close now. His cologne was choking her, seeping into the fibers of her blouse and staying there.
“Climb under that dumpster, slither on the ground, and get that back for me,” he seethed.
“No, I don’t think I will.”
