Page 44 of Lau Ahi
He only grinned as the doors to the elevator opened and he put his hand in the void to allow me to step out.
“Maybe not yet, but soon.”
Instead of elaborating I felt his hand hovering behind my upper back. Not touching but close enough to let me know he was there. Almost protectively but high up enough so that I wouldn’t misconstrue his intentions. I snuck a peek at him again and his face was now more impassive. We had to be getting closer to where I was going to be introduced to everyone and Iknew that meant we were tucking away the pleasantries, at least for now.
His retrenching from his typically jovial nature alerted me that I was about to walk into a war zone. One where he was going to be standing between me and bullshit. Which again, I appreciated. The hall could’ve belong in any office building in the country except for the photos of people lining the walls. The directors of each unit and others of importance were framed and given their places of honor.
My brain was doing everything I could to not wonder wherehewas. I had glanced around waiting to catch a view of him but none came. We reached a door and instead of him allowing me to walk in before him; he stepped through the door and held it open enough for me to walk in at his side.
I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this room of random-looking people clustered together in cliques around a table.
A man with dark brown hair looked up from the table and then did a double take, seeing that I was standing next to Alec. That immediately had me ready to cuss him out but the eager way he bounded up from his seat solidified it.
“Introduce me to your friend here, Alex.”
My eyes narrowed at the way he’d purposefully called AlecAlex. It was one version of the way to shorten his name but not the one he chose so that shit felt like a microaggression. Judging from the way Alec laughed to keep from punching this man in the face I could only assume I was right.
“This is—”
“Agent Anderson, pleased to meet you.”
When my skin connected to his my soul recoiled from his, and I snatched my hand away. He frowned at the motion and Alec moved closer to me almost instinctively. Anderson was slightly taller than me in my heels and kept straightening up likehe wasn’t used to having to look women in the eye. I was even more thankful that I’d worn So Kates for the extra height. I’d done it so I didn’t look like a child standing near Ori and Alec but the ability to intimidate some faux alpha male was a bonus.
“Charmed. Dr. Avery.”
Alec glanced at me confused and I had to bite back my smile. I’d turned off my accent again and I’m sure he was trying to understand where the hell it had gone.
“We’ve been hearing good things about your work. Hopefully, this is something that will propel your book to the bestseller list. This type of publicity would be vital to the success of your work.”
Alec’s posture sharpened his distaste at Anderson’s words matching mine. It sounded like a bribe or a veiled threat and either way it was disturbing.
“You think I’d hinge the success of my publication on the untimely death of someone? I’m not into that type of marketing. You know using death as a means to drive sales. I think that type of outrage marketing is vile.”
Anderson stared at me attempting to suss out the validity of my words and I stood tall under his scrutiny. Everything I’d said was valid and I refused to use this collaboration with the FBI as a way to boost my professional prestige off a tragedy.
Sensing I was nearing the end of my patience, Alec spoke up to run interference. “Cochran has already said—”
“Come on, you can’t think that she’s going to work solely with you. How is that even fair?” Petulant. That was the only way to describe his reaction.
I smiled sweetly at the frown on his face relishing how I was already ruining his day. “Contrary to what you might seem to believe I’m not a tool that’s going to be passed around to whomever wants a turn. I’m a person with autonomy and Imight have been directed to assist but I still have the free will to refuse.”
“You think that you have the type of pull that will allow you to tell the government no? Who do you think you are?”
Alec was now more in front of me getting closer to the other man and I battled my initial reaction to get in between them. “Anderson!”
“Who she is isn’t important to you but you’ll be a lump of flesh on the carpet once I pull your spine out of your neck for getting in her face like that.”
I’d thought the tingle I’d felt wash over me was rage at how Anderson was speaking to me but clearly it was becausehewas near. Hearing the way his voice seemed to move from the soles of his feet and echoed from where they were trapped in the depths of his chest I was too afraid to even look at Ori. My fear was that if he saw even the smallest measure of discomfort that he would want to step in and that would ruin his professional career.
No way in hell would I continue to work on this if I didn’t have these two to use as shields.
“Of course you and your partner think you run shit here so I’m not surprised that you believe you can monopolize her time.”
“Her time is her own as are the conclusions that she might draw based on what we discuss. Right now she works with all of us even though you clearly feel like you’re somehow entitled to access her exclusively. Those are not the terms in which she agreed to work with us and that’s not how we work. The fuck is wrong with you?”
He’d started walking up on Anderson by the time he got done speaking and instinctively I’d reached out to grab his arm to prevent him from doing something crazy. His anger had his muscles tense and they didn’t relax even when I touched him.
“Of course you’re the one here causing trouble, Ori. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
