asked for more than that. “If that’s all, I’d like to get a head start on my weekend?”
I’m heading for the door before half my question leaves my mouth, my brisk strides only stopping when Mr. McGee’s hand shoots out to seize my elbow. “Where do you think you’re going? I’ve not yet finished speaking with you.”
On instinct, I respond to his somewhat aggressive hold and statement with the same amount of edginess he used to deliver it. The breath that vacates Mr. McGee’s lungs when I ram my elbow into his ribs fans my nape. When I lower my elbow ten or so inches, the remaining air in his lungs expels with numerous curse words. I saw him mutter them multiple times in my childhood, but the disdain they are delivered with this time around is nothing like I imagined. They’re full of hate and disgust. Furthermore, I’ve been assaulted by a McGee once before. I refuse to let it happen again.
As I tear away from him, a scream peels from my throat. I bolt out of the Resources Office so fast anyone would swear I’m outrunning the Grim Reaper. Partway down, I crash into someone coming from the other end.
“Mel? What’s going on? Why are you running?”
Although I recognize both the voice and the scent of the person gripping my shoulders, I break out of his hold with the determination I wish I had showcased seven years ago. I need fresh air, and no amount of reassurance that I’m safe can take that away from me.
“Mel? Melody?” Julian continues to shout until the fire alarm on the emergency door I burst through gobbles up most of his words. It’s for the best because from the menace of his words, and the threat they arrive with, I don’t think they were for me. He has his sights set on one man—the one I’m sprinting away from like my life is in danger.
I stop twisting the hem of my skirt around my fingers when a pair of polished black dress shoes pop into my peripheral vision. I don’t need to glance up to know who they belong to. The designer price tag is indicating enough, much less the reflection of his face gleaming in the shiny black material.
“Am I fired?”
Leo, my boss, plants his backside on the grimy step outside of our office building, acting as if his pricy suit isn’t worth the coat hanger his dry cleaner hangs it on at the end of each week. The contents pooling in my nose almost spills when he hands me his embossed handkerchief. It’s his compassion that makes him such a good DA. He understands what the victims have been through as he too is a victim. I don’t know what he’s been through, or how he overcame it, but I know he’s been through something. Victims of crime have a way of recognizing each other. He saw the pain in my eyes as readily as I noticed his. I guess that could be the reason he went against protocol to hire me on the spot. I always thought it was because he’s friends with Julian, but I’m doubtful now.
The sleeve of Leo’s rolled-up dress shirt tickles my arm when he leans in close to my side to whisper, “Why would you be fired, Melody?”
I pull a duh face. “I hit the Governor.”
Dark hair falls into Leo’s eyes when he shakes his head. “You defended yourself when you were touched without permission. Much to Vincent McGee’s disgrace, that isn’t an offendable crime.” His dark blue irises glisten in the streetlight when he slants his head to hide the curve of his lips. “If your second hit had been a little to the left, our conversation might have been starkly different.”
Certain I’m reading the humor in his eyes right, I mumble, “I’ll put more thought into my aim next time.”
“I most certainly hope you do.” When he stands to his feet, I attempt to hand him back his unused handkerchief. “Keep it. It’ll do me great pleasure for Julian to find it in your underwear drawer.”
He grazes his knee against my shoulder before signaling to someone across the street. My heart leaps into my throat when I spot who curls out the back-passenger door of a heavily tinted SUV. Julian’s knuckles are still red and swollen from when he roughed-up Mr. McGee, but the fury on his face when he was marched out of the DA’s office in handcuffs is nothing like