Page 91 of Fourth Point Of Contact

I nodded slowly, then narrowed my eyes at him. “Let go of what?”

“Look, man. I get it. We all do. We’ve been there. You don’t have to keep it locked inside.”

I still wasn’t following. Whatever he thought was going on, it didn’t make any sense to me. “Trust me, there is absolutely nothing locked inside.”

“Because you’re not a vault.”

“What are we talking about?”

“I’ve seen it a million times before. Listen, you want to look into that shit, it’s fine. I get it. You need a release. Go for it, but focus on work.”

I glanced at the screen and then back to him.You need a release…He thought I was looking at porn? On the work computer? That was slightly ironic, considering what my mom walked in on. I was just about to correct him when I realized he’d given me the perfect excuse to cover my tracks.

“Yeah, sometimes I can’t help myself.”

“You’re gonna have to try. It’s not healthy.”

“That’s taking it a little far. Everyone needs it from time to time.”

“True,” he nodded. “I remember what it was like for me. Try as I might, it was impossible to let go. Even now, I wonder what might have happened.”

That far-off look in his eyes had me questioning why he was looking at so much porn when he had a knockout like Juliette. What kind of man chose naked strangers over his wife? Why the fuck even get married?

“Uh…you know, I think you might want to see someone about that.”

He snorted in agreement. “You might be right. That feeling still gets to me. It’s like getting electrocuted. You know what I mean?”

“Not really,” I answered, eyeing him closely. “Are you okay, man? Everything good with you and Juliette?”

“Us? Yeah, we’re great.”

Then why the fuck did he miss porn so much? That was just unhealthy. I was all for porn, but if you were married, it hardly seemed like the ideal way to live. “And Juliette is okay with this?”

“Okay? She says it’s good to remember what it was like.”

“She…agrees with you?”

“All the time. Can’t get enough of it.” He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Sometimes, we reenact it.”

That did it. Bile surged in my throat and into my mouth just a little. “Man, I really don’t need to know what you and Juliette do. Especially…” I pointed to the computer and back to him. “That.”

“There’s no shame in it,” he said defensively. “Remember that shit is what keeps a marriage strong.”

“Wow. Dude, I’m not saying you’re sick, but…you’re fucking sick if you think porn keeps a marriage together.”

He reared back and stared at me in horror. “Porn? Where the fuck are you getting that from?”

“From what you were just implying. Seriously, is Juliette really not enough for you? She’s fucking beautiful, and any man would be damn lucky to have a woman like her, but you’re too busy watching porn and reenacting it to notice the woman right in front of you!”

He shoved to his feet and glared at me. “I wasn’t talking about porn, asshole.”

“Really? Then what the fuck were you saying? Because it sure as shit wasn’t anything about flowers and candy. Jesus, I don’t know what Eva was thinking when she put you in charge!”

“Listen, asshole, I was referring to the fact that you’re looking into the woman you rescued.”

I opened my mouth to yell at him when everything fell into place. He’d walked in on me doing a search, and he assumed I was looking for Piper. Logical, considering everything that had happened.

“Oh.” And again, it also covered my real search, so I went with it. “Yeah, well…she had a real effect on me.”

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