Page 83

Aisha jumped up the second she saw me. “Well?” she demanded.

I blinked at her, still a little dazed. “I think,” I said, “I didn’t completely embarrass myself.”

Aisha gasped. “Oh my God, that means you were amazing.”

“That’s an optimistic interpretation,” I protested.

I let out a small laugh, shaking my head as we walked.

But when we left the building, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling settling in my chest.

For once, it didn’t feel like pretending.

It felt like finding something.

And I wasn’t sure yet what it meant, but the feeling scared me…

Because I knew I wanted more of it.

Selena

“Selena,look, if you’re going to do all the filing so fast, you can just get out of here now,” Rich snapped at me.

I blinked at him from my position on the floor of the filing room. Files were divided into piles around me, and I was working through putting them away.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to be given more and more work? Keep expectations low, or damage my quality of life. I won’t stand for it if you do.” He sniffed and headed toward the door. He peered at me. “I’ll come and check on you in an hour, and you better not have done too much. Play around on your phone, or take a nap or something.”

He shut the door behind him and left me sitting alone on the floor.

Okay, well. I didn’t exactly want to make enemies at my new internship, but I also didn’t want it getting back to Brody that I was a lazy, bad worker.

Who cares what he thinks?

I sat with my back to the shelves behind me and pulled my phone out, scrolling for a few minutes. He’d been gone only a day or so, and I was already feeling like my life was too quiet without his constant commands and control. Being locked in a house with my enemy had clearly done something to my brain.

Though, honestly, I’d missed our run this morning. The fact was damning. As much as I pushed back against him, running every morning had started to feel like the highlight of my day. God, I hoped it was the endorphins and fresh air and not the company. If it was the latter, I was so fucked. Brody Sinclair couldn’t have been more off-limits. Plus, he was absolutely infuriating. Those should be enough reasons to kick him out of my head, but he was stubborn. Even just the thought of him was able to drive me up the wall. He didn’t even have to be present to make me crazy.

To claw back my sanity, I called Cici. It rang for so long, I started to think she wouldn’t answer, but she picked up just before it went to voicemail.

We chatted, and I relaxed at hearing her voice, her positive mood, her happiness with her classes. Cici’s school and well-being were worth any amount of bending over backward to keep Brody happy. More than worth it.

“Oh my God, I didn’t say don’t do anything!” Rich hissed from the door, gesturing wildly at the files still piled around me. “Be quick, you have to catch up before Doris comes to check on you!”

Doris, the supervisor who had given me a list of jobs to do.

Damn it, Rich.

I hung up with Cici and scrambled to put the files away.

It took forever to finish filing at the office and then catch the two buses I needed to get to the exclusive part of town where the Sinclairs lived. I ended up walking into the silent house after nine p.m. There was a note on the counter from the housekeeper about dinner, which was covered and waiting in the oven. Otherwise, it was quiet. Luxuriating in the solitude, I reached for the restrictive pants that were part of the “work-appropriate attire” Brody had forced on me. God, they’d been cutting my circulation off the entire way home on the bus. I peeled them off and took a deep breath. So much better.

It felt odd not to have at least Brody or Cal home somewhere in the huge rambling house. I was completely alone. I set the fancy alarm system, and as I did, the memory of that fucking cop played in my mind. Did he have the codes? What would he do with them?

Stop, you’re being paranoid.

I’d asked Arthur about those codes and how they were shared with the police, and he’d explained that the police didn’t hold the actual codes. Only the authorization to enter them if they were requested to by John Sinclair or his security team, or something.