"𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬"

𝟏𝟒𝟖. "𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞"

I stomped over to the front door of the manor and banged on it. I was completely soaking wet thanks to Bats and his babysitter. A few seconds went by, and Alfred opened the door for me. Then he immediately shoved a black robe in my hands.

"I'm afraid I can't let you dribble on everything." He declared with a shrug. My mouth gaped.

"I am not taking off my clothes just so that you two can-"

"Good to see you, Jerome." Bruce butted in and joined Alfred's side.

"Just put on the robe." He ordered me calmly. My face contorted with anger.

"I am not-"

"Pickle." He used Grace's and my safe word. I frowned with absolute confusion.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Grace and I tell each other everything. I even know where your tickle spot is. Get dressed in the robe before I put that knowledge to good use." He threatened. Alfred stifled a laugh, disguised with a cough and paced away.

"If you touch me, I will shoot you." I growled and started undressing.

"Unlikely." He retorted and closed the door behind me.

"You don't know everything. You probably don't even know why that's our safe word."

"Because only a guy with a willy as small as a pickle would ignore it." He quoted Grey with a small smile. I chuckled at her words. Then we both came to our senses and glared at each other again.

"Why the fuck are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be out there searching for her, Batboob?" I cocked my eyebrows at him, grabbed my gun and kicked my wet clothes away from me.

He shook his head with defeat, picked them up and headed somewhere. I rolled my eyes and followed him. I've never really seen anything but the living room at the manor, and surprise, surprise, the rest of it looked exactly the same.

"I won't accomplish anything by pointlessly running around. Tetch needs something from us, and he figured it would be easier to take her than me. I-"

"Yeah, because you're like a stack of bricks." I scoffed. He sighed and started walking upstairs.

"I see you're just as worried about her as I am." He snarked. I glared at him.

"I'm way more worried. And what about you? You left me in the rain for twenty minutes."

"Because you're useless to me. I'm only letting you stay here because that's what Grace would want."

"I'll give you useless, you fucking brat." I hissed and pressed my gun to his temple. He instantly stopped.

"Jerome, what do you think Grace will do to you if I tell her you held a gun to my head?" He posed. My face started twitching.

"What makes you so sure you'll be able to tell her anything?" I grinned viciously and cocked the gun.

"If you kill me, you'll lose her forever. Give me the gun and focus so that we can find her while she's hopefully still alive." He commanded and moved my wet clothes closer to me. I exhaled shakily through my nose.

"Fine." I snarled and plopped the weapon on the fabrics.

"Great. Now, pull that string." He requested and pointed with his face to a twine hanging from the ceiling.

"Is this her room?"

"Yes, and I know you've been there, so stop play-acting."

"Whatever." I grumbled and yanked the string. The wooden staircase moved down, and he immediately started climbing it.