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He gave her a trace of a s with the rest of the crackers and peanut butter While he was in there, he opened a couple of other cabinets, apparently looking for a second course Which wasn’t there, Bryn al to s He must have decided that the saltshaker didn’t have an to walk around the apart the view out the s

"I’ll take the couch," he said, still not looking directly at her "It’d be nice if you had an extra pillow, but it’s not required"

"I’m not that bad I have an extra pillow And a blanket"

"One the dog hasn’t slept on?"

She blushed "Colanced in her direction and, for the first tier It was al from you, that’s nearly a co the pressure of tears growing behind her eyes "I’ but horrible lately Like an alien in someone else’s skin"

"I can understand that," he said He hadn’t looked away from her, and she felt that spark of warh … But you’re still an attractive woman, Bryn, if you have any doubt of that"

"That was definitely a compliment"

He senuine amusement "I hoped you’d take it that way I didn’t only ask you out for a drink to pass on information, you know"

"Could have fooled me," she said "You’re very … professional"

"Never off the clock," he agreed, and turned back to the s "Especially not tonight"

Great

Bryn walked into the kitchen, opened a cabinet, and pulled down a bottle of wine It was cheap, because that was all she could afford, but it was decent And open She poured half of the contents into a jelly jar without asking whether he ht want any, drank some way too fast, and then moved into the bedroom She came out with a pillow (the extra from her bed) and a blanket, which she put on the couch McCallister watched this in silence, leaning against the wall, and as she finished off the giant glass of wine and poured the rest he said, "Don’t you think you ht want to slon on that?"

"Why? It’s not like I haven’t had a fucking awful day Week Month Life Death"

"Because of that," he said "You’ll get reckless, and we don’t need that"

"No, we sure don’t want that," she said She felt better noith the wine Glowing inside Belatedly, she thought he was probably right; she’d had a cosoing to help her keep her head together But she wanted to be out from under the tension and fear, at least for now Let McCallister be responsible for keeping her alive It was all his fault, anyway

She reached for the glass again

Bryn hadn’t seen hi the drink fro to the sink, where he poured the rest of it out "Hey!" she blurted, but it was too late by then, and he was running the water to swirl the last purple stains down the drain "You jerk, that was "

"I doubt I’ll ever have any reason to thank you!" Rage ignited inside her, sudden and shocking and utterly beyond her control "You left ht?"

He turned on her, and suddenly he was that Patrick McCallister again, the one who’d burst into that white fire of anger on the street and put a man doith two scientific strokes of a riot baton

The scary one

"Sit Down," he said It was quiet, but she had no doubt that there was an or else clause attached to it But it was the phrasing that triggered so inside her--an almost compulsive wish to do as he said

And it ed

"Or What?" she spat back, taking a step toward him, not away "You think you can invoke your creepy protocol anddoll? She walks, she talks, she does whatever the hell you want? No Never going to happen!"

The thought seeer, and McCallister’s eyes opened wide "That’s not what I--" He stopped himself and took in a deep breath "That’s not what I meant," he said "I would never do that to you I wouldn’t take away your choices"