Page 172 of Hunt for You
I blinked out of the memory of Sam squatting in front of me, begging me to understand, to find Jeremy sitting in the chair across from me, leaning closer, his elbows on his knees, and his fingers twined, watching me warily.
“I’m not putting you back in his hands, Bridget,” he said firmly. “I’m sorry. It’s too risky.”
I wanted to scream. “Are you fucking kidding me—you’ll let me walk into the dark with aserialkiller, but talking to agood manin a cell is too risky? That’s bullshit!”
He pointed at me. “I’ve donenothingbut run around after you since you were a kid. Protecting you from yourself as much as these assholes. And this whole arrangement wasyouridea, let’s just remember that!”
“So let me talk to him and—”
“No,” Jeremy snapped. “You’re a loose cannon, Bridget. And it’s getting worse. We’re not doing any more pick ups until you’ve had some… treatment.”
My blood ran cold. “Treatment? You just told me I did good! Now I’m getting punished for doingexactlywhat I said I would do?!”
“By thebare fucking minimum.The boss won’t know the difference, so we’re clean, thank God. But fuck, Bridget. I’m not an idiot. I know what you were doing. I’m just glad you made the right decision in the end.”
I scoffed. “Therightdecision—to give you what you want.”
“No, Bridget—to fucking live! You think I put up with any of this shit from my other informants? You think I monitor your dad’s associates just for kicks? No, I do that to keepyousafe. But you’re getting more reckless, not less. I’m not going to stand by and watch you get yourself killed when I could have stopped it. We’re done with this. No more. Not until adoctortells me you can do this without… going dark.”
“That is such bullshit.”
“Yeah, B, such bullshit that I care about what happens to you,” he muttered, picking up his files and phone, slapping them all together, then tucking the stack under his arm as he got out of his chair and started for the door. The other two followed him without a word.
I sighed, muttering curses under my breath as I got to my feet to follow them out, but my head was still spinning with theories on how to convince them to let me see Sam. HoweverJeremy reached the door and saw me coming and turned to face me.
“Not you, you’re staying here,” he said quietly, moving aside so the other two could get out.
“The fuck I am,” I snapped, hurrying closer. “You arenotcaging me, Jeremy! I did my job!”
“And we need to make sure you didn’t get even more unhinged in the process.”
“What the—”
“You’re going to stay here, have a cup of decaffeinated coffee, and a chat. If he says you can go home, you can go home. But until then—”
“What the fuck are youtalkingabout?”
“Sit your ass down and breathe, Bridget. Just… fucking breathe for a few minutes,” he muttered, then stalked out, shutting the door too hard behind him.
And I heard it latch andclick.Which meant they’d locked me in.
“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!”I screamed at the door. I pounded on the door with a fist, screaming at him—throwing curses and rude gestures at the security cameras where I knew they’d be watching.“FUCK YOU! FUCK ALL OF YOU!”
I whirled from the door and started across the room, uncertain what I was going to do, but needing to move.
But then I heard the door click again and I whirled… to find Gerald stepping inside with a folder under his arm and a grim look on his face.
He closed the door—it clicked again,dammit—then looked at me, his expression sad.
My entire body deflated.
FuckingGerald?
“Seriously?” I hissed.
“I’ll talk to him, Bridget. I’ll tell him that’s not how to handle this kind of—"
“I’m not doing this with you now,” I said, turning on my heel and storming back to the couch.