Page 98 of Arrogant Bastard

But again, God wasn’t listening. Only I don’t realize it until it’s too late.

Mellow from my awesome night with Killian and fully steeped in the belief that we can overcome our challenges, I sail into Fallhurst the next morning with a spring in my step and tolerance in my attitude. Lisa Channing can bring it on. And she attempts to.

I stop shy of telling her Killian and I fucked our brains out the night before and then twice this morning before we left the house. I may be feeling smug and confident, but I’m above rubbing the poor woman’s face in it. With any luck, after today, I won’t need to see her again, and neither will Killian.

It occurs to me then that my future, after this nightmare is behind us, is wide open. Unless Killian wants to relocate to New York, I’m most likely done with the Punishment Club. Axel won’t be happy, but what the hell…

Which means I have to find another vocation. I have enough money to open another nightclub here in LA. Or if not…

“Miss Carson…”

The job of wife sounds great.

“Miss Carson?”

Except I haven’t been asked yet. But…Killian loves me. Right?

“Miss Carson!”

I blink and focus on Lisa. “Please,” I say with a smile, “call me Faith.”

A bolt of shock charges through me. It’s the first time I’ve said my own name in years. It’s the first time I’ve acknowledged it without feeling a little sick inside. I’m not the same person I used to be. But, through Killian’s eyes, I’m beginning to accept that I’m not the total monster I thought myself to be either.

Sure, I’ve done things that I’ll have to live with. Taking a life, no matter how vile that life was, has eroded a part of my soul I’ll never get back. As for Matt, I’ve accepted that he threw me away long before I met Killian. That I lusted after Killian before I was technically free is something else I’ll have to live with. The only hurdle to face that fills me with fear is confessing my carelessness with the one precious life I should’ve protected with everything I had.

“…So unless there’s anything else you want to talk about, I think we’re done here.”

I swallow, grab my purse, and rise from the chair. I need to find Killian and tell him every last secret in my soul. No time like the present. “No, I can’t think of a single thing.”

Lisa Channing nods and closes her file. “I’ll make my final report and hand it in next week. You’ll be contacted after that.”

I’m sure I won’t be, but who cares. “Great. Thanks.”

“Would you like me to get someone to take you back upstairs, or is Mr. Knight coming to get you?” She says his name without the interest I’ve heard previously.

Either she’s accepted that she has no chance with Killian, or the come-on I witnessed was all in my head when I was feeling on less stable ground.

Whatever. I can’t wait to put everyone and everything to do with the Fallhurst Institute behind me.

I glance at the clock in Lisa’s office and notice I’ve only been here an hour. Killian and I thought I would be longer, so we made plans to meet at midday. I can’t call him because cell phones aren’t allowed past reception.

“No need. I’ll see myself out,” I say to Lisa.

She walks me to the door but hangs back when I pull it open. “Goodbye, Miss Carson.”

I nod and leave the room.

The man walking toward me isn’t Scot Scarsdale. But he’s a clone from the same army of analysts. His badge clearly says so, as does his pasty smile and wire-rimmed glasses.

“Miss Carson, Mr. Knight asked me to come check on you. He wants you to know he’ll be a while.”

“Well, I’m done now.”

“Okay, I can either escort you to the seventeenth floor or you can go up and wait in reception for him.”

“Can you take me to him, please?”

“Of course. If you’d like to come with me?”

---