Page 25 of Pride and Protest
“You let your first impression be your only one. It’s incredibly shallow and intellectually lazy,” he told her.
“Oh, so now I’m lazy.” Liza rolled her eyes. “Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, that’s right—the cotton field.”There, that’ll sting him.
Dorsey’s eyes tightened around the edges, and he scowled. “You are willfully misunderstanding me.” He carefully pronounced every syllable. Liza was glad he looked pissed. How dare he turn off like a faucet. Why would he pull her along to the edge like that and drop her like a sack of potatoes? Her hands werestillshaking. She knew there was no mistaking that look from the stairwell. It was the look of a man who absolutely knew what he wanted to do to her.
“Add that to your list.”
Then the room went black. In the windows, Liza saw the city go dark block by block.
“Ah hell,” David slurred.
“Surely this place has a generator,” Jennifer said.
“Only certain federal buildings get emergency generators. Besides, they evacuated this building at two p.m. for that very reason. Do you both remember when I suggested four times that we should leave if they decided to close the building?” Dorsey sounded like a bureaucrat nearing retirement.
“Thank you, Dorsey. We remember it and won’t be allowed to forget it,” David said.
“We should have listened to you,” Jennifer simpered.
Liza wanted to barf. Did anyone ever tell him anything he didn’t want to hear?
Liza turned to face everyone.Someoneneeded to herd these cats. “Congratulations on being right. Is that gonna keep us from freezing our butts off?” Jennifer’s head snapped in Liza’s direction. “It’s twenty-eight degrees outside. With no generator, it’s going to be twenty-eight degrees in this office soon. What are our choices?”
Dorsey’s turn to look at her; he nodded. “We need to scout the building for blankets.” He disappeared into the darkness with his cell phone light.
Liza paced the room like a drill sergeant. “The floor is going to be cold.”
“The floor is not happening,” Jennifer agreed.
Dorsey returned to the common space with a few decorative throws. “We should really spring for basic office furniture. All of this furniture disguised as modern art was a mistake.”
Liza took the folded throws from Dorsey. “Okay, the floor is not an option to sleep, and neither is the modern art, so maybe we can use tables?”
“Too unstable,” he said.
“Hey, when I went to the eighth floor, their offices had—”
Liza and Dorsey spoke in unison. “Nap pods.”
Liza turned back to the center of the room and addressed the others. “There are nap pods downstairs. We don’t have a ton of blankets, but we should generate enough heat if we keep the lids closed.”
“No, I don’t think heat will be a problem.”
Liza’s eyebrow rose. Was he flirting or agreeing? He delivered everything in that flat, arrogant-ass tone. It was impossible to know the difference. The five of them gathered their belongings and made the quick trip downstairs. Liza rushed past the spot of thealmostkiss, then made the sign of the cross over her body to protect herself. That spot had bad juju.
When they got to the common area of the tech start-up, Jennifer stated the obvious. “There are five of us and only three pods. This won’t work.”
“The pods are roomy but not huge. If we sleep on our side, two people could comfortably fit in there,” Dorsey said.
Liza inched toward the middle pod. “I think since it was my idea,Ishould get first dibs on the solo one.” It made sense. The couples would share, and she’d have her own.
A huge hand clamped down on her shoulder. “That’s ridiculous. It should be two siblings to a pod and I get the solo one.” Dorsey said this as ifthatmade perfect sense.
David and Janae shouted their disapproval. Janae sounded like she was being interrogated by a tough cop. “Liza’s a night snuggler—and open-mouth breathes right on top of you. She’s going to make me sweat my hair out. I won’t do it,” Janae said.
“Janae!” Liza exclaimed. She would betray her sister to protect her dang roller set?
“And Jennifer sleep-toots,” David blurted out. Jennifer elbowed her brother in the ribs as her face exploded in shades of deep pink and a strangled cry of anger escaped her throat. David clung to Janae, using her as a shield against his sister’s wrath. “The worst little farts you’ll ever smell. Silent too, so they take you by surprise. So we’ll make this easy for you all. Janae and I claim this pod.” He held Janae’s hand as she climbed into the pod, then climbed in himself. “Good night.” He slid the hatch over his head, and they all rolled their eyes at the sounds of giggles and squeaks. As if they gave a damn about sleeping.
