Page 55 of Stay Scared

“Why?”

Owen pushes away from the desk by less than an inch before catching himself. “Because you’re doing it for me this time.”

“You knew what I was doing in my apartment.”

“I knew what you did.” His voice lowers. “I didn’t know what you would ever choose to show me.”

I glance toward the wall. “Which do you prefer?”

His laugh is quiet and humorless. “This.”

“Why?”

“You already know.”

“Say it.”

He keeps looking exactly where I told him to. “Because you know I’m looking.”

Metal shifts beyond the equipment racks.

Owen waits one second too long before turning.

Ash enters through the rear maintenance passage without his glowing mask. A scrape marks the side of his neck, and he stops after one step.

Owen is still backed against the cabinets. I am standing close enough to touch him, and the torn shoulder of my jacket hasn’t settled completely back into place.

Ash takes in the distance between us before looking at me. “Report.”

“Owen showed me his archive.”

Ash looks at the wall, then back at Owen. He stays at the threshold, though the doorway behind him suddenly seems narrower.

“How much did you retain?”

Owen folds his arms.

I answer instead. “More than you saw.”

Ash looks at me. “This material was used to build the protocol.”

“You used what Owen supplied.”

“You never saw the rest.”

“I did not.”

Owen shifts away from the cabinets at last. “You hate that.”

Ash turns his head. “Choose your next sentence carefully.”

“That I saw her before you did.”

Ash takes one step into the room.

Owen holds his ground.

“You watched her through windows,” Ash says, his voice quiet. “Do not recast that as patience.”