“No, that’s harassment,” I said, nodding at the camera.
He frowned. “I don’t understand why you’re turning down free publicity.”
“I’d like to hold on to the last bit of anonymity I have,” I said. I was going to lose it soon enough when I showed up on C-SPAN.
Bradley handed back the camera. His expression was smug, so I was confident the purge had been a success.
Stockton backed away. “We’ll talk again. Tomorrow.”
The bodyguard and I made it out of the building without any other interruptions.
I gave a tired sigh. “I think I owe you one.”
“Not to worry,” he said. “It was my pleasure.”
Only after a couple minutes did I realize that he’d been on his way to meet me after the hearings finished, to escort me to the car, as if I couldn’t be trusted to make it to the curb without getting into trouble. Maybe I couldn’t. It still annoyed me.
“Shotgun,” I called as we neared the sedan in the parking garage.
He glared. He’d been heading for the rear door, preparing to be all chauffeur-y.
“I can see better out the front,” I explained. He sighed in what I thought was an overly dramatic manner, but he opened the front passenger door for me.
As he pulled out of the garage and into the bright sunshine of the daytime street, I asked, “Can we make a detour? Just a tiny little stop. You can even leave the motor running.”
I faced him, eyes wide and pleading. Even in broad daylight, he managed to look as foreboding as he had the night I first saw him, with his dark, nondescript suit and stony features. As we emerged into daylight, he put on a pair of sunglasses, completing the Man In Black image.
“You are an awful lot of trouble, you know that?”
“It’s not on purpose, honest.” The trouble I caused was almost always a direct result of speaking without thinking first. This, for example: a rational person would do whatever she could to avoid annoying Bradley. Not me. “Please? Just a tiny little errand, I promise.”
“Where?”
I cringed. “The Crescent?”
“No, absolutely not!”
“I just want to run in and leave a message for Luis, that’s all, I promise.”
“No. No way.”
“Please?” I wasn’t above begging. “We wouldn’t have to tell Alette.”
“Do you really think I wouldn’t tell her?”
He would, he absolutely would. For a moment, his sincerity almost made me back off. This genuine, seemingly uncoerced loyalty Alette inspired in her people was daunting. I set my elbow on the door and leaned my head on my hand.
Bradley pursed his lips, his gaze flickering at me. “She has your best interests in mind. She’s only looking out for your safety.”
“She thinks a wolf needs an alpha, does she? Doesn’t want me running around without a leash?”
He didn’t answer. As altruistic as he made Alette out to be, there was a core of truth to what I’d said. I stared out the window as we passed yet another neoclassical building. I wondered what that one was.
“All right,” he said. “A minute. That’s all. If you duck out on me, Alette may never let you out of the house again.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “All right.”
He waited at the curb, with the motor running. Just so I knew the clock was ticking. I ran.