wanted, I wouldn’t have gotten in her way. I’m supposed to stay out of her way as much as I can. If I’m supposed to keep her from getting with a guy, I will, but right now, that seems counter to my instructions.”
Donnie cocked his head, and Alex thought he saw a quirk of a smile on that strange mouth. “Fair enough,” he said.
With that, sixty percent of Alex’s anxiety gusted out of his chest with a breath. The sigh was loud and obvious, and Donnie’s smile grew up the unscarred side of his face. “You’re not in trouble, Alex. Did you think you were?”
All the rest of his fear—well, most of the rest of it—left on the next, quieter breath, and Alex allowed his spine to relax a bit. “I felt like I’d done right, I’ve been over it a thousand times just today, and can’t see anything I did wrong, but I was worried maybe I’d missed something.”
“No. You’re here because you did well. But Jackson Crenville comes from a powerful family, his father is someone we’ve had dealings with, and the aftermath … well. We need to understand the situation completely. Finish your story.”
Now that Alex could relax into it a little, he was able to add details and make it a story. “They talked for a few minutes, and it looked harmless. Lia was obviously into it. Then she said something and he pointed to the hallway, where the bathrooms are. Lia set her beer down on the table—they’d been standing beside the booze table—and went off that way.”
“Did you follow her?”
“I could see the hallway all the way to the bathrooms, and I wanted to keep my eye on him, so I stayed put.” Donnie nodded, and Alex breathed again. “He took her cup to the keg and refilled it. Then, when he had it back where she’d left it, he put his hand in his pocket. That’s when I moved. I sent a code as I crossed the room. When he pulled the vial out, I was there. I put my knife to his side and took the vial from him, made him walk out calm and easy through the back, to the alley, where Tony was waiting. Then I went back and got eyes on Lia again. I went to her and said we had to go. When she didn’t want to, I told her why.”
“So there were no eyes on her for all the time you had Crenville. How long was that?” Donnie asked. His voice was calm and quiet as ever, but Alex was worried yet again.
That was the one hole he could fall into, but how could he have avoided it?
“Five minutes at the absolute outside.”
“A lot can happen in five minutes. You know that.”
Rather than defend his actions, Alex asked, “What should I have done instead?”
And that was obviously the right thing to say. Donnie sat forward and put his arms on his desk. “You could have stayed on Lia. Maybe you should have. But that would have meant letting Crenville walk and maybe a scene getting Lia out. There was no good choice. What you did saved Lia from him, and got him served justice. It wasn’t a bad call—but the only reason it wasn’t a bad call is nothing happened while she was out of your sight. Frat boys are not who we have you there to guard against.”
“But a frat boy’s the only danger that’s showed up so far.”
“I know. Friday night exposed a problem with our system. We haven’t been prepared to protect her from college itself. Her father wants her home.”
“Lia would hate being called back. She’d be miserable.”
Again, Donnie cocked his head. “Careful, kid. Watch where you step.”
“I don’t mean to overstep, and I know for sure nobody cares what I think, but I spend a lot of time with her these days. I see her when she’s in the world and when she’s by herself. She likes college. She wants it. I’m just sayin’—”
“Enough. You’ve said enough.”
Alex snapped his stupid mouth shut and locked it that way.
Donnie stood up. Alex stood up, too, and used the act of buttoning his suitcoat to give his eyes a place to be that wasn’t Donnie.
“You’ve given me what I need,” Donnie said. “You did well, Alex. Go back to Providence and keep doing well. But keep Lia away from parties like that. When we have a new plan, you’ll hear of it.”