Page 8 of Death is Familiar

But Todd’s phone rang before he had a chance to reply. His dark eyes trained on me as he brought the phone to his ear and grunted. His gaze locked as he replied to whoever was on the other end of the call with a series of rumbling acknowledgements. It was situations like this where I was reminded that he was no longer in possession of his tongue.

With a final “mhm” Todd hung up. “Jack knows you’re alive.” My heart clenched like a fist. I wasn’t prepared to face Jack yet. I needed to figure out how I felt, to know what I wanted to do, before I could even consider broaching the subject with him. If I was going to broach the subject with him. “Told him you answered the door. And I gave you a lecture for not answering your phone.”

What? Why would Todd lie for me?

But maybe it wasn’t for me. Maybe it was for Jack. So, Jack wouldn’t worry about the person released into his custody.

“He got that from your grunts?”

“I texted him before he called.” Todd tucked his phone away, his concern renewed. “Did you really not hear me knocking?”

“You’re not going to yell at me for not answering my phone?”

In my shorts and t-shirt, the aged and fading bruises on my arms and legs were on display. Todd made quick work of sizing up how well they were healing. Fortunately, they were almost gone. Except for the bruising aggravated by the Muffin Man, but the evidence of that was hiding beneath my shirt.

“I think you learned your lesson.” Todd took a step closer, forcing me to look up. It might have been intimidating if I were just about anyone else. “Answer the question. Please.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. I was typically a light sleeper. Admitting that I’d slept through the knocking would no doubt set off alarm bells. But I didn’t have an excuse. My mind felt… slower. “I’d think having a pen thrown at your head would answer that.”

Out of nowhere, a familiar drop in my stomach hollowed out my insides. I needed to eat something, preferably candy, before the nausea set in.

To be honest, I couldn’t remember how pregnancy was calculated, so I didn’t know how ‘far along’ I—my passenger—was. Despite being a woman, I never really paid much attention to that sort of thing, and I didn’t want any evidence of my search on my FBI-monitored devices. Though I suspected I was probably more nauseous than was typical at this stage thanks to my sensitivity to hormones.

I spun, padding across the parquet floor to the kitchen and started rooting around in the pantry. If I couldn’t see Todd, he couldn’t lecture me. Not until I had something to eat. Fortunately, there was an entire unopened pack of cherry licorice.

I pulled out three strips, immediately tucking one between my teeth. When I turned, I found Todd blocking the path out of the kitchen. “Delilah, can you stop avoiding? I⁠—”

“Want one?” I proffered the remaining semi-upright red sticks.

“It’s not even lunch.” Still, I held out the vines, wagging them back and forth. Todd exhaled forcefully, as he relented, taking one. It looked ridiculously small in his hand.

I made to pass, but Todd moved with me. “Delilah, I think I made a mistake.” That caught my attention.

I swallowed the bit of licorice in my mouth. “What do you mean, a mistake with what?”

“You haven’t left the apartment since you got back. Nothing ordered in. You weren’t answering your phone… I think I missed something assessing you in the field. I should have made sure you saw a doctor. Someone who could run full tests. Maybe there is something we couldn’t see.” My blood went cold. Did he already know? I tried to hide my nerves by starting on my second licorice strip, doing my best to look disinterested. “I also should have come to check on you earlier… People like us might not like attention, but we shouldn’t be left alone with our thoughts. Not after a case like that. What you went through with the Almeidas… if you are anything like me, it’s eating you alive.” Okay good. There was a chance he thought I was depressed. Though it sounded a lot like he was blaming himself.

I could live with that. It was better than the alternative. But I needed to get him to stop digging into my health and well-being. He was clever and observant, with enough clues he’d figure it out, and I needed him off the trail. I also needed to avoid medical appointments like the plague. Being a woman meant I had the privilege of every assessment beginning with me peeing in a cup. And I wasn’t ready for my situation to become public. Possibly ever.

“So, either I slept through the messages, and your knocking, because you should have made me see a doctor? Or because I’ve been too hard on myself after working with the Almeidas, and you should have been here to keep me company?” Oh god, I hoped this sounded believable. I sure as hell wasn’t buying it. “Not because I’d been sleep and food deprived for nearly a month?”

Todd shrugged. “Maybe you’d be more comfortable speaking to someone who isn’t me.”

“Can you go back to being grumpy? I know how to handle that better.” I made to pass on the other side but Todd stuck his arm out. I stared daggers at him as I slipped underneath, finishing my licorice. If we were having this conversation, I was going to do it from the comfort of my couch.

Todd followed me. “You’re avoiding. You only do that when there is something you don’t want me to know.” Crap. He wasn’t buying it. “I’ll ask one more time, then I’ll leave it alone… anything happen that I should know about?”

Yes, Todd, I’m currently carrying around a little passenger that belongs in part to your best friend. And it is making me tired, and nauseous, and grumpy, and I am fucking scared because I don’t know what to do about it. And none of this, none of it, should be happening!

I didn’t even want to think of what it could possibly mean to the Seal.

“If there was something I wanted you to know, I’d tell you.” I flopped down on the couch and covered my legs with a blanket. “But if what you are really asking is whether or not I lied about how warm and fuzzy things got with Almeida One⁠—”

“I didn’t say you were lying.”

“We shared a bed. He liked to cuddle and occasionally stick his tongue down my throat, but that’s it.”

“I’m sorry. And I’m sorry you went through that. I just…” He huffed.