Page 34 of Edge of Darkness

Had someone been stalking him?

KIT DIDN’T sleep well that night, and when his alarm went off Monday morning, he debated chunking it across the bedroom. Seriously. He still had to get up, but maybe a little violence to start his day off would make him feel better.

Instead, he settled for slamming his hand down on the sleep button. He could not adequately put into words how much he didnotwant to get up and go to work today.

“Gah.” Rolling to his back, he stared up at the ceiling. He still had a slight headache from yesterday, and his mood was circling the drain. It was going to be a very long Monday indeed.

Flinging the sheet off, he dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. Coffee. He needed several gallons of the stuff to make him safe for human consumption.

Of course he bumped his big toe against the bed frame on the way to the bathroom. Then he dropped the bottle of shampoo on the other big toe.Thenhe dropped the soap, and when he bent over to pick it up, he almost fell over and hit his head.

Good God, maybe itwouldbe safer if he did go back to bed. Concerned with the way things were going, he decided to skip shaving. He’d probably slit his throat if he tried.

After he showered, he wrapped a towel around his waist and wandered into the kitchen. Morning sunlight streamed through the windows at the other end of his apartment, and he promptly flipped the sunlight off.

Yeah. It was going to be that kind of day.

The sooner he got the coffee maker going, the sooner he’d stop growling at everything. Once he had a cup, he trudged back to the bathroom and dried his hair.

He loved having long hair, but he could already tell today was going to be one of those days where he was tempted to hack at it with a pair of scissors. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with it, so he dried it and piled it on top of his head.

Even though he felt like a bear with a sore paw, he still did his makeup, because nobody wanted to see the horror show he looked like thanks to yetanothersleepless night.

He stood in front of his closet, staring. Since his mood seemed to demand it, he grabbed his slim-fit black pants that ended well above his ankles, a sleeveless, cropped, black turtleneck, and a long, sheer black cardigan that had a deep-red embroidery on the lapel and cuffs.

He added several deep-red bracelets to one wrist, a black bangle to another, a ring with a big black stone, and deep-red earrings, and… why the hell not? He picked up a black belly chain and fastened it around his waist.

Slipping on black dress shoes, he looked at himself in the full-length mirror. Yeah, his makeup wasn’t working. He definitely needed cat eyes, and his makeup needed to be sultry overall.

After he redid that, he debated what to do with his lips—black or a deep red? Since he was heading to work, maybe the deep red was a better choice. Or he could just say screw it. Wasn’t like he had to worry what the boss would say.

Black it was.

Once he applied the lipstick, he studied his image in the mirror. Yeah. Yeah, he liked this. He wasn’t one to wear black a lot, but when he did, he rocked it. And really, it did fit his mood this morning.

Fuck Monday.

THE DRIVE to his bookstore was insane, but that was the cost of living in such a big city. No biggie.

Okay, it was a massive pain in his ass thanks to the mood he was in, but he only side-eyed a few people on the drive in. Coffee was probably the only thing keeping him out of jail at this point.

Speaking of which, he sucked some more down.

He arrived at his store, parked, and pulled down the visor so he could see himself in the mirror. “Okay, you want to buy trendy clothes? Buy stupid, expensive coffees? Pay your employees? Buy books? Food? Shoes? You gotta work, bitch.”

Satisfied with his little pep talk, he got out, travel mug of coffee in hand, and model-walked to the bookstore. Waving to his staff, he beelined to his office.

His ass had barely hit the seat when there was a knock at his door. Instead of banging his head against his desk as he was tempted to do, he instead called out for whoever it was to come on in.

“Hey. Listen, that shipment we were supposed to get this morning? It’s been….” Beckett stopped halfway into the office, his head tilted to the side. “Kit?”

“Yeah?” Coffee. He needed more coffee if Beckett was already in his office this early in the morning. “What about the shipment?”

“Who died?” Beckett asked.

“What?” Seriously, what? “No one died. The hell?”

“Oh.” Beckett pursed his lips. “Huh. Ah. Well then, are you… okay?”

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