Twisted Hate

2

"Don't say it." I cracked open my beer, ignoring Clara's

amused expression. The cute female bartender she'd been

flirting with had left to deal with the happy hour rush, and

she'd been watching me with a knowing smile ever since.

"Fine. I won't." Clara crossed her legs and took a demure

sip of her drink.

She was an ER nurse at Thayer University Hospital, where

I was a third-year resident specializing in Emergency

Medicine, so our paths crossed often. We'd been friends

since my first year of residency, when we bonded over our

mutual love for action sports and cheesy nineties movies, but

she had as much sexual interest in me, or any member of the

male species, as she did a rock.

Clara certainly wasn't my date, at least not in the

romantic sense, but I hadn't corrected Jules's assumption.

My personal life wasn't any of her business. Hell, sometimes

I wished it wasn't my business.

"Good." I caught the eye of a pretty blonde at the other

end of the bar and flashed a flirtatious smile. She returned it

with a suggestive one of her own.

This was what I needed tonight. Alcohol, watching the

Wizards game with Clara, and some harmless flirting.

Anything to take my mind off the letter waiting for me at

home.

Correction: letters. As in plural.

December 24. January 16. February 20. March 2. The dates of

the most recent letters from Michael flashed through my

mind.

I received one every month like clockwork, and I hated

myself for not throwing them out the instant I saw them.

I took a long swig of my beer, trying to forget the stack of

unopened mail sitting in my desk drawer. It was my second

beer in less than ten minutes, but fuck it, I'd had a long day

at work. I needed to take the edge off.

"I've always liked redheads,

" Clara said, drawing me back

to a conversation I didn't want to have. "Maybe because The

Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie growing up."

Her face creased into a smile at my long-suffering sigh.

"Your lack of subtlety is astonishing."

"I like to have at least one trait that's astonishing."

Clara's smile widened. "So, who was she?"

There was no use trying to sidestep her question. Once

she sniffed out something she thought was juicy, she was

worse than a Pitbull with a bone.

"My sister's best friend and a pain in my ass." Tension

knotted my shoulders at the memory of my encounter with