Empath (The Secret Hotel #1)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

The sun was bright in Elle's office when she left me to get some work done. Her desk space was a disaster, and I swore the papers I needed weren't even in the mix. The open document on the computer was waiting. The cursor blinked like a ticking clock as I tried to organize and reorganize, looking for the numbers to plug in properly.

Had she not given them to me?

Was I just dumb?

"Hey."

I looked up. I shouldn't have been surprised anymore when that single word led to Sky—though I was surprised to see the door open. Had I left it open?

He stood in the doorway, arms folded as he leaned against the frame. His crooked smirk promised a whole slew of teasing that he didn't voice. Instead, his eyes sheepishly slid to the side. "Busy, huh?"

I stopped and narrowed my eyes. "Maybe. What's that face for?"

"What?" He gave me nothing but question marks. "What face?"

"That face. Or maybe it's just the way your face is." I leaned my elbows on the chaotic desktop and looked at him. I felt strange, like I'd been waiting for him. Like it'd been awhile since I'd seen him.

"Maybe. I don't know. I'm—okay, I'm fumbling this." He spoke to the floor as he said, "I'm, uh...I'm sorry. For scaring you before. I guess strangling a man sort of constitutes as frightening."

Oh.

Oh, that had been the last time I'd seen him.

My mouth opened before I had words to actually speak. I had to press my lips together and consider the truth, my truth, and everything involved. "I was scared. I've never really had to see something like that before. I was plenty afraid even before the strangling happened. But, ah." I looked down, tapping my fingers together. "I guess I can't really blame you. I felt everything you did, after all."

He shrugged one shoulder. "I don't actually have the strength to strangle him fully. I mean, I might, but I'd probably evaporate on the spot." His lips puckered, index finger tapping at his upper arm before he offered me a wry smile. "I guess that's not helping my case really, is it?"

Despite myself, I smiled as well. "I don't know, Sky. I was just...scared. Not of you. Just of...everything. Of what I was seeing. I don't think there's any kind of study aids or cramming that can prepare someone for that. Mostly, I think Jazz was the one who deserved to have the thumb's up or down decision on what happened, and she took it, so."

His gaze dropped to the carpet again, finger tapping away against the flannel of his shirt. "People like that shit stain are the real scary people. I might be able to stop someone from breathing for a few seconds, but men like him?" He rubbed at his nose. "He's the one having an affair, without his wife knowing, and he's gross enough to say Jazz's in the wrong. Guys like him need to hurry up and go away already."

He wasn't really going to apologize for trying to strangle a man. Just sorry that it had scared me.

I could deal with that. I wasn't going to apologize for being scared, either.

"I guess it made a lot of things real," I said. "For the first few days it was mostly cute supermodel girlfriends and nice couples and women who laugh with me and men who are awkward but nice. I sort of forgot about the bottom of the cesspool that's bound to come with this kind of work. He was scary. All of his yelling, all of his demanding and name-calling. He was a lot scarier than anything else at that moment." I looked down. "Even you. Because I'm still kind of afraid of what he's going to do."