Page 39 of Nothing to Fear

“Oh, you don’t want me for that. You know nothing about me.”

“You have no criminal record and no negative notations in your Breckenridge file.” That Alice even knew that was leery enough. “You have heart, I see it. That’s what we have to nurture.”

Like maybe she was the side project. “I don’t need to be saved, I can look after myself.”

“I apologize for implying otherwise. Perhaps I can appeal to your sense of duty. I will invest my time and expertise, as will my closest friend, but this venture is a young woman’s game. Those at the head of this project have tenacity and ambition, it will benefit Lighting Darkness to have someone able to keep up.”

“Mrs. Breckenridge—”

“Call me Alice.”

“Okay.” Though it didn’t feel right. “I appreciate your sympathy and the offer, I don’t have experience running anything. It wouldn’t be right to—”

“Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

“Dinner?”

“Yes, I’ll have a car sent to your apartment. We’ll eat, talk, and get to know each other. No pressure. You’ll see this is a genuine request. Your input will be invaluable.”

No one says no to Alice Breckenridge.

Guess that made the decision for her.

TWELVE

“I’M SORRY IT’S late,” she whispered into the phone. “Did I wake you?”

“No,” Jacob said, though there was a rasp in his voice that suggested otherwise. “Are you okay?”

“There’s no rule that says you have to answer the phone, is there? I thought if you were off duty it wouldn’t connect. Can you turn it off? Your Lighting Darkness phone?”

Or however it worked.

“If I wanted to, I could block any number. I answer because I want to.”

“Because you’re so sure you can fix me.”

“You’re not broken, Anna,” he said, soothing in his certainty. “No one should go through what you went through. And I know there are things you still haven’t told me.”

She frowned into the darkness of her bedroom. “How do you know that?”

“We all have secrets. Not everyone has this opportunity to share.”

“In anonymity? I admit that does make calling easier. I think about you… a lot.”

“Because I can be anyone, anything you want me to be. I understand, even when I don’t. I reassure, though I have no power. Supporting you is what I want to do, tell me how I can. Why did you call tonight?”

“I missed your voice.” That was honest. “Though there’s something weird about it I haven’t—”

“The Lighting Darkness lines run through a distorter automatically. It skews our voices, just a little.”

“So they can’t be recognized,” she said. “That protects you, your people. I suppose that means Jacob isn’t your real name.”

“No, it isn’t.” A few seconds of silence until ever-patient, he came back. “Is that a problem? Does it hurt you? Upset you?”

“No,” she said, briefly closing her eyes. “Maybe a little, in the times I’m thinking of your voice in the dark… How your breath might feel against my skin if…”

“We were closer?”

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