“Of course you’re not fine. Seeing things like that sticks with you. It’s my job. I see it often enough that it probably shouldn’t stay with me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t see it every time I close my eyes, anyway.”
Tears tracked down my cheeks, but my breathing settled into a calmer rhythm. “How do you stop seeing it?”
He shrugged. “I guess I haven’t figured that out yet.” He glanced down at me and cringed a little. “Sorry to do this, but I really have to pee.”
I snorted and stepped out of his arms, waving him towards the bathroom as I dried my eyes with the bottom of my shirt.
I climbed onto the sofa and scrolled through the texts on my phone. One from Scarlette, letting me know she had made it home. Another from Blake, asking how I was holding up after hearing the news about Cheryl. I wondered if they’d called Scarlette yet and if I should call and see how she was since she’d been the one to find Cheryl.
Brian sank down onto the couch next to me, smelling like soap and toothpaste. “I have to work tonight.”
“I know.” I closed my eyes. If Olivia hadn’t been on her flight home from her honeymoon right now, I’d call her to come have a girls’ night.
“Do you want me to see if David can come hang out with you so that you don’t have to be alone?”
I shook my head slightly. I didn’t think David would be much help to me. He asked questions and made me think too hard about things. Thinking was the last thing I wanted to be doing tonight.
What I needed was a distraction.
“Are you going to call Ben, then?” Brian asked, cocking a brow knowingly.
I snorted. “No.”
He crossed his arms. “We’ll see about that.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Brian.”
“Of course, you don’t. I’m going to hop in the shower. Call Ben,” he called over his shoulder as he closed the door.
“Not a chance,” I muttered.
Too Easy
Ithadallbeenalmost too easy. Everyone thought it was an accident. That thechef who made her meals daily had forgotten she had an allergy. That her Epi-pen had simply been misplaced.
No one had suspected a thing, and I planned to keep it that way. There might be some lingering questions the police would need to ask, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
A flicker of remorse stirred in my gut if I thought too hard about how she’d looked in her last moments, face puffed up and skin a dark, sickly purple.
I snuffed it out.
It was a dog-eat-dog world in this business. If I had to choose between her career or mine, her life or my own, I’d choose my own every single time. And I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.
Dickstraction
Ben
Ben: You’re hot.
Eve: Did Brian tell you to text me?
Ben: You think Brian wanted me to text you to say you’re hot?
Eve: Maybe...?
Ben: I don’t want to wait another two days to see you.
Eve: Brian definitely texted you.
