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She doesn’t even look up. Damn. Wasted wink.
“Hard pass on your favors.” She scoffs.
“Not—not that kind of favor.”
The voices are louder now, just down the hall. I take a step closer to her chair, close enough that she has to look at me.
“I just mean—pretty please. Please help me. I really need it.” Begrudgingly, I sound desperate.
She holds my eye for a second. How old is she? She looks about twenty-two maybe, just a little younger than me. I wonder if she’s single?
“Fine.” She relents, distracting me from my thoughts.
“Thank you.” Fuck me. I sound worse than desperate now. Unbelievably grateful.
She doesn’t move to help. Just keeps typing. One more line. Then another. Calm, deliberate, like I’m not standing here on the verge of being hunted for sport. I bite my lip to avoid pressing her. That’s what she wants. I won’t succumb to it. I’ve already begged.
“Any time today would be—”
“I’m getting up!” She hits enter. Finally, she pushes her chair back and stands.
I step back automatically. She’s smaller than I expected. But basically everyone is compared to my just over 6 foot frame. The top of her head is somewhere around my collarbone, coat swinging as she moves. She doesn’t look at me as she walks straight past, opens the door a fraction, slips through, pulls it mostly shut behind her.
And just like that, I’m alone. Eavesdropping at a door I hid behind. Really living the dream.
“Oh my god, we literally saw him come in here. He’s gotta be in one of these—”
“Hi,” her voice cuts in.
“Um—sorry, we’re just looking for someone.”
“This lab’s closed,” she says. “You can’t be in here.”
“We’re not—we’re just—Callum Fox came in this building. We’ve checked nearly every room—”
“Then you should probably go look in the next building. He’s not here.”
“He definitely came in here. We have it on video.”
“Well, he’s not anymore,” she says, dry as anything.
“Can we just look inside? Like, really quick?”
“Nope.”
“But—”
“If you’re filming people and following them around campus,” she accuses, and I wish I could high five her, “you might want to think about how that looks before you do it again.” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “It’s really fucking creepy.”
I nearly laugh and blow the whole operation.
“We’re not—”
The door clicks.
Did she just shut it in their faces? She shut it in their faces.
“They’re gone,” she says in my general direction, and sits back down, and goes back to work. Just like that. Fastest security detail I’ve ever had, and I’ve had guys the size of vending machines. Who knew this 5 foot something cute girl in a lab coat would be the more intimidating of the two.
