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Groaning deeply, I glance over my shoulder at the broken sheetrock that lies cracked and dusty in the hallway. “And that’s how we ended up with a huge hole in the wall?”
“Kael’s head must be made of stone. I don’t know how we’re going to explain any of this to the board.”
“This is a nightmare,” I mumble, rubbing a hand across my forehead. “Leave it with me, Chad. I’ll go and speak with Kael now. Can you let me know when Devon gets back to his room? I’d like to speak to him, too. I’ll be surprised if we don’t have a lawsuit on our hands after this. Devon’s father isn’t going to take this lightly. What was Kael thinking?”
“Will do. And no idea.”
Swiping Kael’s thick file up off the counter, my eyes scan over the case notes, shaking my head softly as I read through them. I can’t believe he did this. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after how far we’ve come.
Or, how far Ithoughtwe’d come.
I need to get to the bottom of things, though, and soon, so I clutch the file tightly in my hands and march down the corridor, headed straight for Kael’s room.
Something tells me my already sucky evening is about to get a whole lot worse, if that’s at all possible.
I’m on the warpath.
I don’t even bother knocking. “I swear to Christ, I cannot believe you just—”
Halting mid sentence, the words stick in my throat as I burst through the door, and I freeze like a deer in the headlights when I find Kael standing on the opposite side of the darkened room wearing nothing but the bottom half of his scrubs.
He has his back to me, both hands gripping the window frame so tightly his knuckles are white. Actually no, they’re red. Bleeding. He’s breathing heavily, a wild lion returned to his den after a kill.
“Kael?”
He doesn’t move, doesn’t respond to my voice at all.
“Kael,” I say, a little louder this time. He still doesn’t acknowledge me. I don’t like to be ignored. “Kael. Look at me!”
Slowly, he half turns away from the window so that his face is still lost in the shadows of the night sky behind him, dropping his hands to his hips, before changing his mind and linking his fingers behind his neck.
“Don’t you fucking start with me, Jonesy,” he says with a short, sharp shake of his head. “Don’t you dare.”
He’s still not making eye contact with me. The floor, apparently, is so much more appealing.
He grits his teeth, and then his eyes lift suddenly.
At first I don’t recognize the deep, dark orbs staring back at me. They aren’t his usual warm brown, but instead they’re filled with torment and despair, and beneath those broken parts of him, I see a frightened man who doesn’t know how to fight his way out from the darkness.
“You owe me some kind of explanation.”
“I don’t owe you anything.” The sharp cut of his cheekbones is menacing. “Isn’t that the way you want it? You live your life, and I live mine.” He takes a step toward me, seeming much taller than normal, but then suddenly he stops, hesitates. “Your eyes are puffy. Have you been crying?”
I shake my headno, but I’m sure my red eyes and splotchy skin tell him everything he needs to know. I ugly-cried the entire way over here in the cab, the effects of which are long and lasting.
I step farther into the room, closing the door behind me. “Tell me what happened.”
He shrugs. That’s it. That’s all he does, he shrugs.Lord, give me strength.He might think that evasive shit is cute, and it’s probably gotten him places in the past, but it sure ain’t going to cut it with me tonight.
“Answer my question.”
He swallows hard, his eyes fixed on my face. “Did that fucker hurt you?”
“No, of course he didn’t…” I glance over his shoulder at the painting on the wall behind him, my mind scrambling for a plausible explanation as to why I’m dressed up to the nines in a silky red dress and killer heels, and yet still I look like roadkill, slammed by the events of the evening. “Well, yes he did, but not in the way you mean.”
“Inwhatway?” he demands roughly.
I don’t answer him.
