Face of Fury (Zoe Prime #5) - Blake Pierce Page 0,37
eyes open, Zoe winced at the light coming in around the curtains. Damn motels—they were always inadequate. Zoe had been waking with the light of the dawn for a while now, but she hadn’t also been running all over the place trying to solve a crime—more like napping with her cats in the afternoon. And her head hadn’t hurt quite so bad before.
With a groan, she began to move, lifting her head to first look down at herself. What had happened last night? She was still wearing her clothes, she realized—everything down to her shoes, still firmly tied on her feet. Come to think of it, she didn’t remember getting into bed. She didn’t even remember driving back to the motel room. They’d been coming back from the engineer’s house, and then…?
Zoe looked up, far too quickly, the movement rattling her brain inside her skull. She winced, then froze: what was that, on the sofa? Squinting, she realized that she was looking at the prone body of a man, lying across the thin sofa in the room. Absurdly, his feet were dangling off the edge of the cushions, far too long to fit on it properly.
The rookie. It was the rookie, she realized, and he was looking right back at her.
What the hell had happened last night?
“Agent Prime,” Flynn said stiffly. He sat up, cracking his neck, the bone clicking loudly. “Got a headache this morning?”
“Yes,” Zoe admitted, hoping he was going to offer her some kind of painkiller, maybe a glass of water.
“Good,” Flynn snapped. Zoe was getting the feeling that he wasn’t happy with her. Not that that was anything new. Was it still about the interrogation with the engineer? He’d been out of line. What had happened after that? “You deserve it. I’ve got a sore head of my own, after sitting here watching over you half the night.”
“Watching over me?” Zoe repeated. She felt like she was playing catch-up. Talking about a film she hadn’t seen.
“After your little party last night.”
Party… that rang a bell. With an internal groan, it came back to her: the frat house. They’d gone inside, and it had all been too much, and then she’d staggered into the kitchen…
The pills. She must have had some kind of reaction from mixing the alcohol with the pills.
“Oh,” she said, dimly, trying to process it all. Had she done something embarrassing? Wait, but Flynn probably thought she’d only been drunk—he didn’t know about the pills—didn’t realize it was a mistake. Didn’t know about the numbers that had caused her to need all of this in the first place.
“Oh is right,” Flynn said, gathering himself up and stretching out his arms. “I didn’t want to leave you alone all night in case you choked on your own vomit or something. So I had to sleep here, on this sofa, which I can assure you is much less comfortable than the frankly low-standard beds this so-called motel has to offer.”
“I am sorry about that,” Zoe said, trying to get her thoughts in order. She felt the heat of a slow blush traveling across her face, outside of her control. “I mean, thank you. For watching over me. Getting me back here.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Flynn said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what your other partners have let you get away with, but you jeopardized the case and acted in an unprofessional manner. I’m not cool with that.”
“I am sorry,” Zoe started again, a little taken aback by his reaction. He hadn’t exactly been the most professional agent himself, always undermining her and making her look bad in front of other people. Sure, she’d messed up—badly, actually, but… well, she’d wanted to tear a strip out of him herself, and she’d held back. It seemed he wouldn’t do her the same courtesy, even when she was clearly humiliated by what had happened.
“It doesn’t matter,” Flynn said, shaking his head viciously. “You were drinking on the case. Tricked me into going into that frat house just so you could get yourself trashed. I had to haul you out of there in front of all of the potential interviewees—kids we aren’t going to be able to get any respect out of now. When this thing is solved and we get back to base, I’m going to be reporting your conduct to SAIC Maitland and putting in for a different partner.”
There was so much he didn’t know. Maybe it would be better that he did whatever he