Reggie frowned. “And when were you going to tell us?”
“I...” Luka glanced at me nervously, and in a flash of understanding that only came from knowing him, I realized he was afraid. His job was on the line, and he was afraid that whatever he said might get me in trouble but would free him.
That at least solidified my plan to make sure he got through this with his job and reputation intact.
“He only discovered the pills last night,” I explained before Luka made up his mind what he was going to say. “Up until then, he had no idea they existed. If anything, Reggie, you should be proud.”
Reggie raised a brow. “And why is that?”
“Because his first reaction was to confront me, talk to me, and understand what they were for and why I had them. There was no condemnation or judgment, just acceptance and an attempt to understand. He not only conducted himself with the grace and compassion you want out of a Guide, but also, at least in my view, was unwilling to allow me to wiggle out of the explanation he was asking for. I cannot think of how else someone in his position is supposed to react.”
He considered that before looking at Luka. “And why didn’t you alert me right away? From the sounds of it, you waited.”
Luka looked down at his hands in his lap. “I was waiting until today, in the morning or the afternoon, that’s all. I wanted him to... Well, I wanted him included, okay? I wanted him to stand beside me when we told you. I promise.”
“Why wait?” Reggie asked, his expression set in a stern frown, but the tone of his voice was one I’d heard before. It wasthe voice of a man who was unhappy with what he had found, disappointed by what he suspected, and desperately hoping to be proven wrong, but who wanted to give the other person a chance to prove themselves.
“What was I supposed to do, Reggie?” Luka asked, and I ducked my head at the sudden flare of anger that made Reggie lean back in surprise. “Go running to tell on him immediately? Should I have called you immediately after putting him on lockdown like some criminal?”
Reggie recovered quickly. “You know the protocols, Luka. You went through the training, and you had it drilled into your head. For something like this, you knew full well that they were nothisprescription medications, and that comes under the illegal or illicit substances rule we have in place.”
“And you were the one who emphasized in my training that if there’s something we need to report, we don’t have to drop everything and come running to you unless it presents a clear threat to the guest or anyone around them,” Luka shot back. “And considering the only threat to him at the time was a bunch of pills, and he didn’t go running to down them the minute I discovered them, I decided to hold off. Like you said, sometimes the spirit is more important than the letter, so don’t you dare get mad at me for taking the lesson you taught me and applying it in a situation where I had to make a judgment call on my own.”
Reggie stared at him before clearing his throat. “Fine, then what were you hoping to achieve by holding off?”
“Exactly what I said,” Luka huffed, and I was glad to see he had found his spine and his fire. At the very least, it meant he was no longer acting like he had arrived at his own execution. “One of the key things we emphasize around here is taking control of your life, and the first step to taking control is to own up to mistakes. You acknowledge the problem, acknowledge your part in it, and then step up to own it; that way, you can havea measure of control over your life. I wanted him to talk to me first, for me to understand how this happened, and then, when he had done that, and I had tried to be there for him in a moment of vulnerability, I was going to ask him to step up and confess to you at least part of what he had confessed to me.”
“Part?”
“Yes, part. You are not his Guide; you’re not his friend; Iam. So I don’t expect him to tell you the full truth as he told me; that’s his prerogative. I’m not going to tell you what he told me, not all of it.”
Mr. Shepherd had been quietly sipping his coffee, glancing between Luka and Reggie with a look that was almost...amused. I couldn’t see why, but it might have something to do with the conflicted look on Reggie’s face when Luka finally stopped talking and stared at him, not quite defiant, but not backing down either. It was obvious that this conversation wasn’t going the way Reggie had pictured, but he didn’t seem upset. I wasn’t going to presume to know what was going on in his head, but I had the distinct feeling he was almost impressed by Luka, or at least giving him respect.
“Did you know about the selling?” Reggie asked softly.
I stiffened, but Luka spoke up first. “Selling, what selling?”
Reggie raised a brow. “Did you think I was going to random rooms for the fun of it? Someone has been handing out those same pills. Maybe not selling, as there isn’t exactly a currency around here that’s worth anything, but there’s certainly been distribution.”
I scowled. “That’s impossible.”
Reggie snorted. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I said with a shake of my head. “I would never have given those pills away.”
“Normally, I would give the benefit of the doubt, but that went out the window the moment you were discovered with prescription meds that were not prescribed to you.”
“Look,” I said evenly. “I knew how long I was going to be here. I calculated how many pills I was going to need, with a few extra in case I had bad days. Whatever you might think about me, those are not there for me to get high. They are there to moderate the extreme pain I go through if I don’t have painkillers on hand. So I know exactly how many are there.”
“Do you?” Reggie asked, raising a brow. “Then what were your calculations?”
“Eighty-two,” I told him. “And I know how many I’ve taken since I’ve been here. As a matter of fact, there would be more than I planned on having at this point because I’ve been having an unusually good couple of weeks.”
“So that would leave you with?”
“It should be thirty-two.”
Mr. Shepherd looked at Reggie, who held the bag and dropped it on the desk. The two of them dumped them out, and I immediately frowned because, even without counting, I could tell there were far fewer than there should have been. After a moment, Reggie looked up. “Seems to be sixteen; far less than you said.”
