Wicked Torture by J. Kenner

Author:J. Kenner [KENNER, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472246950
Publisher: Headline Eternal
Published: 2017-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

13

“I flirted with him,” I tell Ares the next morning, as we sit on the back porch, sharing the Sunday paper. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

He glances at me over the comics page, which he habitually reads first before diving into the actual news. “Why not?”

“Why not?” I repeat, my voicing rising with incredulity. Because, hello. Most obvious thing in the universe. “Because we’re not together. Because it’s a bad idea. Because therein lies the path to madness.”

He studies me for a minute, then folds the paper and puts it on the small wooden table that sits between us. “You’re serious.”

“Don’t I sound serious?” But he just shakes his head, and I sigh. “We talked. We both acknowledged that things have changed. We’re different people now. And the whole idea of spending some time together yesterday was to just get to know each other again.”

“Right. Still not seeing the problem.”

I take a sip of my coffee, then sigh loudly. “Never mind.” Clearly, I’ll have to deal with my angsty, post-date remorse by myself. I glance at my watch. Only eight. Which means it’s six in LA. Which means Celia will kill me if I call her for some BFF handholding.

“I’m going to get a fresh cup and a donut,” I say. Donuts are Ares’ Sunday morning vice, and being at my house isn’t sufficient to change his routine. He actually got up this morning, jogged to the donut store a few blocks down on Brodie, then jogged back with a dozen warm, assorted donuts. I would call him out on the irony, but I’m afraid he’d banish me from Donutlandia.

I return with a fresh coffee and the entire box. I figure it’s my duty to help him eat them, thus saving him from one of his vices.

“I thought you used to be so in love with this guy that the world stopped turning,” Ares says, plucking a chocolate-covered donut from the box.

I grab a glazed. “I was.”

“Then why are you fighting it now?”

“I—”

I pause, the donut not quite to my mouth. Because he’ll hurt me. Because he’ll leave. Because we don’t even really know each other anymore.

Because I’m scared.

A million familiar reasons rattle around in my head, and each one is real and true. But for some reason, after yesterday, none of them are quite as scary as they used to be.

But that’s a problem, too. Because I need to be smart. I know what happens when you let your guard down, after all.

“Because we’re working together,” I finally say, then shove half the donut into my mouth so that he can’t interrogate me anymore.

“Uh-huh.” He manages to convey worlds of disbelief in just his tone. So much, that I regret stuffing my mouth.

“Es nofa goo dea,” I say.

“Not a good idea?” he translates.

I nod and swallow. “Really not. We’re going to be working close together on this one, and with the compressed time frame, we’ll be working late hours, too.”

“Interesting,” he says, then reaches for another donut.

I frown. “What is?”

He’s chewing, so he simply shrugs.

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