Page 184 of Hunters and Prey

She paused, as if waiting to see if I would refute that.

When I didn’t, she went on, her voice growing lighter.

“He went on and on about how he held us all equally responsible for you going to that meeting with Brick, alone. Said obviously you felt you couldn’t confide in anyone, or get anyone to listen to you, or you wouldn’t have done it behind our backs. He said he held himself even more responsible, given what you’d been through over the past few months.”

When I grimaced, reaching over the bar to grab my coffee, she batted my hand away.

“No,” she said. “Eat first. The coffee was a bad idea. I should have brought you tea.”

“I hate tea,” I reminded her.

She laughed, the sound coming out of her in a burst, like my words startled her.

“Well, you can’t have coffee until you eat,” she scolded, still smiling. “Or wine. Or tequila. Or whatever the hell else you’re thinking of having that you shouldn’t have.”

Frowning a little, I walked around the counter and slumped down the bar stool next to her, plopping my arms down on the marble bar. Reaching for the first box of food, I began to open the cardboard top, even as I gave her a sideways look.

“I’m fine, Angel.”

Her smile faded. “Bullshit you’re fine. You’d have to be lobotomized to be fine right now, Miriam.”

Looking at her, I considered arguing.

Instead, I frowned, thinking about Black.

“He shouldn’t have said all that,” I said. “It’s not really true anyway. I do trust them. I just knew how I’d view it, if I was on the other side of things.”

Angel shrugged.

I could tell from her shrug she didn’t agree with me, though.

“Did he send you, then?” I said. “Black?”

She grunted. “No. He wanted to come… of course. I told him to stay where he was. I told him he just fed you to the wolves, and he didn’t get to play savior now. That shut him up.” Her lips firmed, turning into a real frown when she added, “He shouldn’t have done that, Miri. That was fucked up, treating you like some misbehaving kid in front of everyone.”

I clicked at her absently.

I’d finally gotten the first box open. Inside was a cheeseburger and French fries, and I took a few fries and popped them into my mouth. Chewing, I glanced at her.

“He wasn’t wrong, Angel,” I said. “He treated me like any other employee. I’ve asked him to do that. To not treat me any different than the rest of them.”

“Really?” she retorted. Leaning back on the stool, she folded her muscular arms. “So he would have done that to Kiko, after what Nick did to her?”

Waiting a beat while I grimaced, stuffing more fries into my mouth, she let her voice turn hard, her anger coming through as genuine that time.

“Bullshit,Miri. He’s way harder on you than he is on his employees. I suspect that’s fear, but you still give him too damned many free passes.”

I clicked at her again, but rather than argue with her, I stuffed more fries into my mouth, chewing as I stared sightlessly down at the marble counter.

“I heard he yelled at you most of the morning,” she added, clearly unable to let it go.

Thinking about that, I let out a half-amused snort, turning my head to look at her.

“I drugged him, Ange,” I said. “I stuck a syringe in his neck while he was sleeping and pumped him full of horse tranquilizer.” Thinking about that, I shook my head. “Do you really think he was ‘overreacting’? Because I’m pretty sure he’s right, and I would have tried to stab him, if he did that to me.”

Angel didn’t answer that.

Looking over at her, I tried to change the subject.

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