Page 4 of Pen Me

I swiped it green, and he roared long before I got the phone to my ear.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Wh–?” The word died in my mouth.

“You gave my name to Medical? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Wh– what the fuck was I supposed to do, Parker?”

“I don’t know. Not tell the clinic where my wife is a nurse that you gave me some shit!”

I nearly choked on my own breath. So many things collided on the tip of my tongue that I couldn’t spit any of them out!

Wife?

Fucking wife!?

Gavehimsome shit?

I gave him my virginity!

“Congratulations, dumb ass. She’s taking us both for formal fraternizing charges. She’s divorcing me and setting fire to both our military careers. We’re fuckin’ done.”

Tears stung my eyes and I have no idea how I managed to hurl the question past the lump in my throat, but I squeaked out, “Me? You never said you were married, asshole!”

“Well, as I said– I’m not going to be for much longer. Thanks.”

He hung up on me, and I flinched like I’d been slapped.

Chapter Three

The Smallest Cell

Menace

The weather outside the police cruiser matched my mood. It was dark, drizzling, and lightning crackled in the distance every now and then. The windshield was wet, but not enough to require the wipers to flash back and forth over it at the rate they were. It made a rubbing noise that grated my nerves and interrupted my thoughts every so often.

There was only one thing churning in my mind. How could there be anything but that golden question?

Who the fuck did I get?

The uniformed officer drove in silence, but his radio chattered endlessly. I winced against the sound and closed my eyes as we pulled into the parking garage of the local police department. The car stopped near a set of manned double doors and an officer walked toward the car to assist with my intake.

I’d done it a time or two and wasn’t looking forward to what awaited me. It wasn’t the fingerprints, or even the interrogation that drained me. It was the maddening sound of a hundred chaotic souls being locked on one unit that was already making me wince inside.

It was hell for an introvert.

The noise. The inability to shut yourself off from it all was maddening.

“No. No, here.” An officer in a white shirt indicated, and the other officers steered me toward an interrogation room before I was even processed and printed.

I laughed and shook my head.

“You’re fuckin’ wasting your time, boss.” I planted both feet at the door and stared at the man in white.

Anyone who had been inside knew he was the rank in the room.

“Get. In,” he ground out, his grey eyes tightened making the wrinkles at the edge flutter a bit.

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