Page 90 of Hades

I reach over and grab her hand, taking it in mine. “There are plenty of reasons for me to stay. All that matters is that I am. Staying, I mean.”

Sighing, she begins to play with my fingers. “That’s pretty boring.”

“I can be boring.”

“Hate to break it to you, bud, but there is nothing boring about you.”

I wince at her term of endearment. Something about it doesn’t sit right.

“Let’s not call me bud.”

Her eyes light up. “Buttercup?”

“Absolutely not.” I scoff.

“Pookie bear?”

“I will suffocate you.”

“Sounds kinky. I’ll try anything once.” She shrugs.

“You’re a fucking menace.”

“A menace you like to fuck,” she says, the smile on her face growing.

“Touché,” I say, raising my glass.

I take a sip of my drink and set it back down.

“Should we head out?” she asks as she moves her napkin from her lap to the table.

“Sure. Do you want the leftovers?”

Evelyn winces. “Usually I would say yes, but since it’s a salad, it will just get soggy and gross.”

“Reason enough not to eat that rabbit food. We can always pick you up something else later.”

“Did you know that they only eat the dark leafy green types? They can’t have iceberg because it messes with their stomachs.”

Pausing, I can’t help but stare at her. “Do I even want to ask how you know that?”

She slips her hand in mine. “Because I watched a kid when I was in high school, and he had a rabbit. Now come on, if we don’t get the show on the road, I’m going to be late.”

“And here I thought you didn’t care about going,” I tease as I walk us out of the restaurant, the bill already settled before the food was delivered.

Evelyn scoffs. “I might think this is a giant waste of time, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a dick and waste theirs.”

Fair enough.

Evelyn

This guy is a fucking idiot. So much so I wonder if he’s actually a lawyer at all. He’s leaned back in his chair, feet on his desk, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that has armpit stains, and eating a bag of chips. Besides all that, his name is Benny Robinson. Like who goes by Benny?

“Did you request the footage showing what happened?” I grit out.

He gives me a pitying look. “Dude, what’s the point? You admitted yourself that you gave the shot. In the hospital’s eyes, you should not give medication that you didn’t pull yourself. The only thing we can do is wait it out and then issue an apology to the family.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “One, she didn’t have any family. Two, it was a code blue. All hands on deck. We were all doing what we could to save her.”