her feet. That’s the only reason she lets me ease her toward my bed, like you’d do for a frightened child. I deposit her against the pillows, where she hugs her knees to her chest and grips them, white knuckled.
“Hey, you’re trembling,” I whisper, climbing onto the bed beside her. She doesn’t even protest when I wrap an arm around her. She actually leans in. That’s how I know things are bad.
“Okay, who’s your violent friend?” I manage to ask the question casually. But I’m not fooling anyone. That kind of brazen threat can only come from some kind of psycho.
The world is full of terrible people. I know this. It’s just that I can usually make it through a Friday night without talking to any of them.
“He’s my…” She shudders, and I pull her a little closer. “I guess you’d call him my ex. Reardon Halsey. And if the name sounds familiar, he’s the son of Senator Mitchell Halsey.”
Does that name sound familiar? Each time I hear a name these days I hold it up to the white mist of my memory and ask myself why it’s not more familiar. Did I once know it and then lose it? Or did I never know it at all?
Fun times with my brain.
“He was part of my graduate program,” she says dully. “A transfer from your school, actually.”
Goose bumps rise up all over my flesh. “From the Academy?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t that weird?” I ask. Because I think it is. Any mention of my former school puts me on high alert.
“Not really?” She shrugs. “There are several joint science programs between Harkness and other schools. There’s one in bioengineering, and one in biochem. But the Harkness joint BS/MS program is fairly novel, so we get a lot of transfer students.”
Nonetheless, my pulse has notched up to a higher setting. “And you dated this guy?”
“Yes. I guess. Dating makes it sound so civilized. It was more like a secret fling. Nobody knew. It was a huge mistake.”
“Why is that?”
She props her head in her hands and takes a deep, shaky breath. “We were working on a project together. I was really flattered that he wanted to hang out with me. He was a year older than I was. Rich, powerful family.”
“And he was super attractive,” I add drily.
She lifts her face out of her hands. “You know who he is?”
“Nope. But girl, that guy sounds like the worst sort of human, and you are as smart as they come. So he must have a face like Adonis and a nine-inch cock for you to see past his attitude.”
Daphne pushes a fist against her mouth and laughs, even as her eyes get damp. “He was really pretty, I guess.”
“His face? Or his cock?”
“We are not talking about his—" She laughs and cries at the same time. I didn’t know that was humanly possible.
“About his dipstick? Fine. I’m a fan of cocks, though.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Pansexual but heteroromantic. It’s not a secret.”
“Oh.” She hiccups. “We’re still not talking about it. I’d like to forget I ever saw it.”
“So it ended badly, huh?” Of course it did. Because exes don’t usually call you on your birthday to threaten physical harm. He sounded like evil in a human form, and I’m not likely to forget the ice-cold tone of his voice anytime soon.
“It never should have started,” she says, leaning back against the headboard and closing her eyes. “He flattered me. Just little things at first. You have the prettiest eyes.” She groans. “I ate it up. I’m not used to men showering me with compliments. And then one night he invited me up to his apartment for a drink…” She shakes her head. “I went for it. We started, um, seeing each other even though it was against the rules.”
“Wait, why? Two students hooking up isn’t very newsworthy.”
“Technically, I was his boss,” she whispers. “He was assigned to my unit of the research project. And even though he’s a year older than I am, and we’re both students, it was still against the rules.”
“Okay,” I say slowly.
“My writeup on his work would become part of his file.” Her voice is so soft that I can barely hear her. “So after a month or so of…”
“Hanky spanky?” I offer.
“He broke it off. I was almost relieved, because I’m not the kind of girl who’s comfortable breaking rules.”
“You? A good girl complex? You don’t say.”
She gives me a weary glance. “If only my good girl instinct had been stronger, I wouldn’t be