Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (31 page)

He stood by his chair a moment before sitting down. He looked her over, before turning to Danato. “She says she shot Belus.”

“Yes.” Danato nodded looking at her with the same mixed emotions that kept him from deciding her fate. “She didn’t mean to of course. We had an incident with her, the time bubble, and everybody’s favorite bug zapper, Efrat.”

“The time bubble?” Ethan asked.

“Cori was jumping around in her own timeline yesterday. She also had a few skewed timelines. Suffice it to say she’s a little shaken up by everything. Efrat bolted her next to the time bubble. Her reaction was to shoot him, and rightly so, but the reaction actually took place outside of that time and space. She ended up shooting Belus three hours later in a different area.”

Ethan leaned back in his chair and cussed. “He’s okay though, right?”

“Yes, he is awake and recovering. I’ve explained the bulk of the story to him, which by the way, Cori, he’s requested to see you.”

Cori shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Cori, I’m not entirely sure you can say no to that request,” Danato said firmly.

She nodded. “Right.”

“Do you want to tell your side first, or mine?”

“Yours, I want to be the closing argument for my own trial.” She smiled, but it fell away when Danato started right into the first 8:05 morning. The only morning he knew.

From his perspective she seemed distant, surreptitious, and out of control. Ethan listened to the summarized story, not taken his eyes off Danato until he got to the end, where Efrat used her for mouth-to-mouth practice. The sidelong gaze he gave her was not just in objection to that kiss, but the fact that he had just taken her to see him.

When Danato finished Cori began to explain her side. She explained her efforts to include Belus and Danato in this mystery. The details of her incarceration in the infirmary made Danato shift his gaze away from her. He wasn’t any happier with that part of her story than Ethan was with the kissing part. She revealed her debate about letting Efrat die, or risking Belus.

She skipped over the subtle details of the conversation. She didn’t mention the hard smack that Efrat had given her. It wasn’t likely to appease anyone’s doubts about her saving him. She didn’t even go over the kiss again since that had already been established, and she certainly didn’t mention the key he slipped into her mouth during that kiss.

In the end, Ethan took her hand and squeezed it firmly. He didn’t seem to know what to say. His best consoling was usually done in private, so she wasn’t surprised he didn’t say much.

“Cori is on a temporary leave of absence,” Danato explained. “I don’t exactly know what to do in a situation like this.”

Ethan cleared his throat and took his hand away. “Danato, Cori told me you wanted to see me when I came in, but I think it only fair to mention that we didn’t come straight here.” Ethan glanced and her, and she nodded. She never intended to keep her rendezvous with Efrat a secret. “If I had known all this before, we wouldn’t have gone, but Cori asked to speak with Efrat.”

“Excuse me.” Danato stared slack jawed at her.

“I was with her. She just gave him some antistatic gloves.”

“You were never to go near him again.” Danato rose from his chair.

“I took her. I will take the responsibility.” Ethan rose as well.

“The hell you will. She has no business up there. That’s why she doesn’t have a code. I didn’t want her up there before this. I sure as hell don’t want her up there now. You had no right to take her up there.” Danato turned back to Ethan.

“I…” Ethan rubbed his face before turning to her. “Cori, why don’t you go see Belus, now. Danato and I need to have a little discussion about boundaries.”

Cori looked between her husband and the man who had taken the place of her father. The similarity in their aggressive stares would have been amusing if she wasn’t certain they might be at each other’s necks as soon as she left the room.

She froze between them, unsure if she should interject to stop the argument. “It’s alright sweetheart,” Danato finally said. “I think Ethan’s right. We should talk.”

She headed out, but stopped at the door and looked back at them both of them. She hated that she was causing them to argue. She also hated that even though they were both fighting to protect her, the outcome on each side meant very different things to two very different relationships.

53

Cori didn’t want to be anywhere near the infirmary right now. She had hoped to wait out Belus’s recovery and endure an awkward meeting over coffee in Danato’s office while they talked about anything other than her shooting him.

She had hoped against hope that he would be asleep when she arrived so she could just go home and say she would try another time, but no such luck. The nurse ushered her into his room and announced her presence. His eyes fluttered open and he took her in.

She stood in the doorway by the nurse who hadn’t left yet. The nurse was grinning at Belus like a smitten teenager. Cori frowned at her and she snapped out of her trance. She concluded her business with an offer to help Belus with anything he needed, whenever he needed it. Cori didn’t question the behavior, but made a mental note to ask him about it when he wasn’t lying in bed with a bullet wound from her gun.

“Hi,” he said when nothing had been said in nearly a minute.

“Hi,” she whispered nearly inaudibly to him.

“Pull up a chair kid, you look a little flush. Don’t need you passing out on me.” She looked around dumbfounded until she saw the plastic school chair in the corner. She pulled it over and started to sit down. “Little closer,” he said. She gave him a questioning look, but brought the chair close to his bed. She waited for his approval and he nodded.

She sat down beside him and waited for the conversation to start, but it didn’t. He laid his head back on the bed and closed his eyes. “Danato said you wanted to see me,” she said.

“Danato misunderstood,” he said.

“You don’t want me here?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions you don’t have enough evidence for. I told Danato that
you
would want to see me.”

“Actually, I was hoping to bury my head in the sand outside until the permafrost came back.”

“Oh, chickening out then.”

“No, ostriching out, but the same principle I guess.”

“Mmm-hmm. Danato gave me the gist of the story. So, you finally start listening to me, and I get shot for it. Huh, that seems like a pretty cruel irony.”

Cori shrugged. She still didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to apologize, not because she wasn’t sorry, but because she wanted Belus to understand that it wasn’t an accident, she chose that path for the bullet. “Why did you tell Danato that I would want to see you?”

“Because I figured he was keeping you away. I half expected you to be beating down my door this morning begging for my forgiveness. That didn’t happen though.” He eyed her and she tried her best not to evade him.

“I was at home…”

“Ostriching, I remember. So, no groveling, no confessions, no crying, no declarations of love.”

Cori’s eyes flickered between his. He sounded almost disappointed by her lack of drama, but he hated her drama. He could barely stand to look at her when she was in a state of break down. “No, sir,” she whispered.

He raised an eyebrow. “Sir even? I haven’t heard that from you in a while. Good to know I can get some benefit from this incident.”

“Are you okay?” She said breaking her cold demeanor in frustration.

“Of course, you’re a terrible shot.” He chuckled.

“It’s not funny. I could have killed you.”

“Oh, stop, I don’t want to listen to you pout about it. I’m jacked up on pain meds and I don’t want you spoiling my mood.”

“Why did you want me here?”

“I didn’t, you wanted to be here,” Belus specified again.

“I told you I didn’t. Do you want me to leave?”

“Do you want to leave?”

“Belus!” Cori screeched in frustration.

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to grovel and cry!” She shouted.

“Go ahead.”

“You hate that!”

“Then hold my hand and shut the hell up so I can go back to sleep.”

Cori scooted her chair over, clamped on to his hand, and huffed into her silence. He gripped her hand and laid his head back on his pillow. She waited a few moments, allowing the connection in their hands to sink in. Belus was far from a touchy-feely guy. The fact that he was giving this affection to her was more than generous. It was probably his way of forgiving her, even though she hadn’t technically apologized.

“Belus,” she whispered.

“Don’t ruin it,” he mumbled.

“I hate you,” she whined at the deprivation of marking the moment. He squeezed her hand, and she saw a smile on his face. After that, she didn’t say a word. She waited for him to fall asleep and tucked his hand under his blankets before leaving.

She wasn’t sure a session of handholding was enough to cure her guilt, or earn back Belus’s trust, but at least that next coffee meeting wouldn’t be quite as awkward.

54

As soon as Cori left, the gloves were off. Danato hadn’t anticipated Cori going to see Efrat again, and that was his mistake, but the fact that Ethan took her there without his permission was sending him through the roof.

“Let me get this straight.” Ethan started in where they left off. “You don’t think I have the right to take Cori to the upper level.”

“No, of course not. Not without my permission. You know that level is restricted.”

“Yes, to personnel, but I’m not personnel, I’m the fucking warden.”

“Successor!” Danato clarified.

“You left for two months, Danato! I was in charge. Your back, so suddenly that authority goes out the window. I’m your damn successor, but you still expect me to check in like an underling. I’ve been running the guard schedules and rotations for the last six months.”

“You have full reign over the men.”

“The men, but not Cori?”

“No, not Cori. Cori is my responsibility.”

“She is my wife, Danato.”

“Don’t bring that into this!” Danato yelled.

“Why because your interests in this are strictly professional?”

“Watch it!”

“Watch what Danato? You are still coddling her! You chastise me for taking her up there outside of your express permission, but I doubt she will have any consequences for talking me into it.”

“I thought you two were over the jealous competition crap.”

“That jealous competition crap was never dealt with. Cori and I have come to terms with our butting egos. You and I still have one area of conflict and that’s her. You can’t expect me to take on the bulk of your duties, but stand back when it comes to dealing with her.”

“Do you really want to be the one responsible for slapping her hand when she’s done something wrong?”

“When will this hand slapping begin, Danato? You left me to confront her about Cleos on our honeymoon! I had to tell my wife on the cusp of our life as husband and wife that she couldn’t see her friend anymore because you told me to!”

“You agreed to that!”

“Of course I agreed to it! I’m your fucking successor! You told me to jump, I jumped! I ripped her heart in two for you!” Ethan threw out his finger at him, as he leaned over the desk. “She left me that night in a rage, and the consequences were her getting trapped in a transmorph!”

“Don’t you blame me for that. You should have gone after her!”

“THERE!” Ethan turned around and kicked his chair over before returning with another teeth bared accusation. “Right there! That’s what I’m talking about!” Ethan pointed both fingers this time. “You make demands on me that hurt her, but then you turn around and blame me for not protecting her.” Ethan’s voice was shaking with the anger. Danato was glad the desk was between them. He had never once raised his hands to harm Ethan, but he wasn’t entirely sure that it wouldn’t stay that way if this topic continued. “You just said she is your responsibility, but that isn’t true. You aren’t making the same demands on her that you are me, and that isn’t petty jealousy. I am more than willing to follow your instructions, but if you expect me to be the asshole just so you can maintain your father figure image you’ve got another thing coming.”

The desk became a nonissue after it flew across the room and slammed into the far wall. Danato didn’t actually remember doing it, but he was face to face with Ethan, staring at him with the same shaky adrenaline high in his blood stream that caused the dent in the desk.

It took a moment for him to realize that Ethan didn’t normally stand eye to eye with him. The red strain entering his face was another warning sign that he should take a moment to look over this situation.