“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I hiss at him.
“Don’t be like that…”
My purse is flung over my shoulder. I’ve got a bottle of pepper spray in there, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to it with him restraining me. “You need to let go of me.”
“Brooke…”
“Let go of me or I’ll scream!”
Hunt’s eyes widen as he finally gets it in his head that he needs to let go of me. He releases my arm and holds his hands up in the air. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want to talk.”
He didn’t mean to scare me? Does he have a clue how scary he is? I can’t imagine what it’s like for Shane to deal with this guy every single day of his life.
“Please, Brooke.” He takes a step back, his hands still in the air. “I just need to talk to you.”
I don’t want to talk to Hunt. I want to go home, have dinner and possibly a bubble bath. But I need to work with this guy—I can’t be his enemy. And I’m admittedly curious about what he has to say.
“Fine,” I say. “What is it?”
“Brooke.” His forehead crinkles. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened with Nelson today. It wasn’t like I meant to hurt him.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I didn’t.” He shakes his shaved head. “But you know what, even if I did, he deserves it. Do you have any idea what that guy did to land himself in here?”
I have some idea. “All these men have committed crimes…”
“This is different. Nelson is different. He’s… he’s really manipulative.”
It’s the same thing Elise wrote in his chart. And she underlined it. “I haven’t seen him act that way.”
“Right, because he’s manipulating you. He’s making you trust him, but you shouldn’t.”
I crane my neck to look up at Hunt’s face. Whatever else I can say, I don’t think he’s making this up. He seems to really believe it. But the question is, do I believe it?
“I’m not going to let him manipulate me,” I say.
“That’s what Elise said. Now she’s probably going to prison herself. Or at the least, she’ll lose her license.”
What is he saying? That Shane tricked Elise, and that’s the reason she got in trouble? I find that hard to believe, especially after what she wrote in his chart. And Shane hasn’t manipulated me. I even offered him pain medication last week, and he refused. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I am worried.” He glances over my shoulder at my Toyota. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this in the parking lot. Why don’t we go get a drink together and we can, you know, talk about this more?”
Oh. I get it now.
“No, thanks.” I adjust the strap of my handbag on my shoulder. “I have to get home. The babysitter is waiting.”
“Another night then?”
The concern on his face has vanished, and now he has a hopeful expression. So this is his game. He’s torturing Shane to impress me and get a date. It’s despicable, but I don’t want to outright humiliate him. I do have to work with him, and I’m also counting on him to protect me if I’m ever in a dangerous situation.
“Maybe sometime next month,” I say vaguely. “I’m just really busy now. And my sitter can’t stay late.”
“Oh, right, sure.” Hunt rubs his shaved head. “Yeah, I have a busy month this month too. We’ll have to do it next month. Or the month after. Whatever. No big deal.”