Chapter 0105

Kent doesn’t wait for me to climb the steps up to the house. Instead, he goes in ahead of me, leaving

me to follow dutifully behind.

I feel my stomach turn over for the second time today, though this time for totally different reasons. I

would feel better, frankly – understand it more – if Kent were freaking out at me. Yelling at me, losing

his temper, giving me commands.

But this Kent? The quiet, controlled, considered Kent?

He’s the one I’m afraid of.

I look down at my feet as I climb the steps, feeling every bit the naughty schoolgirl about to get yelled at

for breaking the rules. The pleasant buzz that the tequila built in my mind gets wiped away by my

anxiety, my adrenaline. It’s as if my body knows that I have to be focused right now to face him.

When I walk into the house I see that his office door is open, a silent demand for me to enter. I take a

deep breath, steeling myself, obeying that command and then walking into the office, stopping just as I

cross the threshold.

“Close the door,” Kent demands, his back to me as he leans his arm against the mantle of the fireplace,

staring down into the fire. I don’t do anything for a moment, staring at the fire myself. Why did he light

it? It’s warm out – a fire, so late in the season –

“Fay,” Kent snaps, turning to glare at me. “The door.”

“Oh!” I gasp, scurrying into action and pushing the door shut behind me. Then, not knowing what else

to do, I lean back against it, staring at him, waiting for him to deliver his judgement.

Kent just stares at me for a long moment. Then, he begins. “What the hell,” he demands, “did you think

you were doing today?”

I shrug one shoulder, not really knowing what to say. Honestly, I should have spent the time in the car

planning my response to this very question. And because I don’t have a practiced answer, I just tell him

the truth.

“I…acted on instinct,” I say, my voice a whisper. “Ivan was there, all of a sudden, his car across the

road – and I got out because Jerome was going shoot at him and get himself killed. So I went to tell

Ivan not to come any further, and he said he wouldn’t if I went out with him for the day and…”

I run out of words, out of ideas, out of breath under the force of Kent’s furious glare. But it doesn’t

matter. Kent knows how it ends.

“A date, Fay?” Kent asks condescendingly, putting his hands in his pockets and slowly walking over to

my place by the door. “You thought that a great response to my enemy blocking your path to the

stables was to go on a date with him?”

I blush as he comes to stand before me, his feet spread wide in a powerful stance.

“It wasn’t a date,” I murmur, looking down at my feet, feeling the redness on my cheeks deepen. “It was

just…”

He laughs at me then, a low, disdainful thing.

“Drinking all day at a bar, laughing, kissing,” he chides, leaning forward towards me. “It sounds like a

date to me, girl.”

I whip up my head at that, glaring at him. “We didn’t kiss,” I blurt out, defiant. Then, I blush harder when

he laughs at me again.

“So, you understand now,” Kent continues. “What you’ve done. How you’ve embarrassed me. How

you’ve embarrassed Daniel, of all people. About whom I actually thought you cared.”

Frowning, ashamed of myself, I meet Kent’s eyes, a little angry at that. “I do care about Daniel,” I spit

out. “I – I’m sorry. I didn’t know that we’d be seen.”

“Haven’t you learned enough, Fay?” Kent bites out, his voice sharp. “To know that you can’t trust your

instincts in this world? That it’s always one step ahead of you?”