Page 29 of Filthy Liar

I hear heavy footsteps and glance back over my shoulder. Jason has returned, but he hasn’t come back to do battle. He’s holding a blanket, which I gratefully take. Caroline lies down and curls up in it, closing her eyes, and I stand there for a minute, just looking at her.

“We’ll need to take this with us to the hospital,” she mumbles.

Jason clears his throat. “Yep, we know.”

Then he catches my eye.

I raise one eyebrow. “Yes?”

He tips his head toward the hall. Right, outside would be better. I lead the way, and when I stop just outside the door, his hand lands in the small of my back. No ghosting of a touch this time, it’s solid contact—warm, startling, and familiar in the same way his scent was. He propels me forward and I twist away from him, a protest rising to my lips. “Caroline…”

“She’s safe. Maybe she needs a minute to herself more than she needs you hovering.” He drags the words out like I’m a five-year-old, and it pisses me off. I don’t need much. I’m a bundle of dry kindling, rough on all sides, begging for a match.

“You have no idea what she needs,” I spit out as we reach his office at the end of the hall.

“Yes, I do. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you didn’t go to anyone else, or try to do this yourself. Because you know that Idoget it, that Icanguide her through what is going to be an agonizing journey, and you hate that as much as you’re thankful for it, too.”

He clicks the door shut behind us and I freeze at the sudden intimacy of being alone together. That ridiculous thought doesn’t last long, though.

From behind me, he takes a deep breath, and I can hear the freight train of conflict approaching. “I need to search you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve all but admitted one of my clients is the subject of a story you’re working on.”

“Not if he’s not guilty.”

“Guilty of what?”

I shake my finger at him. “Nope. We’re not doing this. I escorted Caroline here because she needs you. I don’t need you. Feel free to walk me out.”

He doesn’t move. “Why us? Knowing that I would be suspicious of your motives to get inside these offices.”

I unclench my jaw. “Because you’re the best.” It’s not a lie. But the truth is that I didn’t know where else to go. Despite our clashes, when I saw Caroline on the bathroom floor, I was deeply grateful that calling Cole was an option.

Jason watches me, his expression unreadable, then he nods. “This is what we do. We’ll keep her safe. Is there anything else I need to know? Why aren’t her parents here, for real?”

Tension crawls up my back, stealing any diplomatic answer I might have been able to offer. This time, it’s the unvarnished truth that Jason gets, whether he believes it or not. “Because they would kill this story and make her keep it a secret forever.”

I don’t think it’s possible for his lips to pull any tighter, to get any more pinched, but they do. The curve of his top lip turns white as he fights to hold back whatever he wants to say next. Fuck him.

“By cutting them out of this, you’re inviting more drama. Unnecessary drama.”

“Thanks for the lesson in family dynamics, but it wasn’t my call, it was hers.”

“You said you didn’t want them to kill your story.”

“That’s not what I said. I would never write about Caroline’s assault. I’m not a journalist here.”

“This is your beat.”

“Herstory is not my beat.”

“Sexual assault at the highest levels.”

I want to throw something at his head. My fists, maybe, or reality. “You have no idea why I write the stories I write.”

His eyes glittered as he thought about what he was going to say next. I should have seen it coming, really. He leads with a quote I recognize. “For a six-figure retainer fee—and probably a hefty slice of your soul, as well—The Horus Group will be on anyone’s side.I think I have a good idea about why you wrotethat.”

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