Page 85 of Provocation
‘I’m going to check on Daisy.’
I leave the office, frowning when I hear the side door click. I’m sure I closed it when I came in. I go to it and open it, finding Daisy beside it, outside looking out at the alley.
‘Daisy?’
She glances over at me, face tellingly blank, and I open the door wider, growling audibly as I see Detective Black standing not more than three feet from her.
‘Eric Blake. I was just asking your girl here if she wouldn’t mind letting me inside to take a look around.’ He sneers at Daisyas he looks at her. ‘Or is she someone else’s girl? I keep hearing conflicting reports.’
‘Daisy belongs to herself,’ I hear myself grate out.
Black lets out a dry laugh. ‘How progressive for a bottom-feeder like you.’
I don’t let him get to me, but I see Daisy looking outraged in my periphery. I put my hand in hers and squeeze gently so she doesn’t say anything.
‘I’m afraid we don’t actually open for a few more hours, Detective. So, unless you have a warrant, I suggest you try your luck later. I’d get here early though, you know how crowded it gets.’
I don’t wait for an answer, I just usher Daisy inside and close the door.
‘What were you doing out there?’ I ask, drawing her close.
‘I just went to get some air,’ she says, expression still noticeably shuttered. ‘But that detective came out of nowhere. He kept asking me things like where you all were, and did I know what things you were into?’
Her arms hug herself.
‘You’re scared of him,’ I say, realizing when her eyes drift to the floor that I’m right.
‘Why? Did he do something?’
‘Nothing really,’ she answers. ‘Just that he cornered me in the storage room the night I made the first batch of Envy. I don’t like… people like that. They have power and they think they’re good.’ She shivers a little. ‘They can do bad things, and they tell themselves they’re not bad because they think they’re good.’ She looks up at me. ‘Do you know what I mean?’
‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I know what you mean.’
‘I need to check on the lab,’ she mutters, walking past me.
I follow her to the basement, messaging Shade as I go to put in another harassment complaint about Black.
‘I saw my father today,’ I blurt.
She glances back at me, giving me an assessing look. ‘It didn’t go well?’
I give her a wan smile. ‘It went fine. As well as could be expected, I guess. He just… He asked me if my mom had been in touch. I guess it pissed me off a little. He always asks me about her when I see him, like she’s going to contact me, like she gives a shit enough to. I guess it just reminds me that she doesn’t, you know?’
She nods. ‘Yeah.’
She gets to the door to the lab, but before she opens it, she turns around and hugs me.
‘You and the others…Shade said we’re a family and he’s right. It doesn’t matter who came before. We love each other and that’s what matters.’
She moves back just as quickly and turns away, not looking at me.
God, I want to believe her, but my dad’s words have opened a wound I thought was closed. Even my own mother couldn’t love me. Why would Daisy? But I pull her back and return the embrace. I kiss her cheek, all the while wondering when this is going to be over, when she’s going to abandon me just like my mom did.
She pulls back and turns away again, not looking at me. I know that really it’s because she’s uncomfortable, but an insidious part of me wonders if it’s because she doesn’t truly believe what she’s saying.
She opens the door, and I realize she’s talking again. I try to put these doubts and fears out of my mind, at least for now.
‘What was that?’ I ask.
