Death In The Family

Chapter 3

The aging cop stood in the center of Anders' suite, his sagging bloodhound eyes glistening in wet fatigue from under the folds of skin that hung over them as he delivered a rehearsed lecture on parameters and protection Simone struggled not to sneer through. Nothing he said mattered. He wasn't there to protect them, no matter how many times that word hit and sizzled away in the heat of her hatred. Anders sat on the edge of the bed, waiting with considerably more patience for this man to finish lecturing them on why it was important for them to remain in their assigned rooms while also contradicting himself in saying they were free to move about this secured floor. She watched her uncle, her eyes automatically scanning for signs of injury or distress as he nodded along with the cop, and she wondered if she would ever look at him normally again or if she would always be wary of his well-being first.

It reminded her of the way her mother started looking at her after she picked her up from that first psychiatric appointment with a printout detailing the antipsychotic medication she was to begin. She didn't want to make anyone feel the way that look made her feel, but the discomfort displayed in his rigid posture and the nervousness in the way his thumb rubbed rhythmically over his tightly folded hands agitated that responsibility to his wellbeing. At the moment, this stranger was impacting his wellbeing and she responded to it with mounting hostility.

"... safety is our primary objective. In the midst of a chaotic situation, we can't be-"

"You can cut the crap, Officer Friendly," Simone interrupted his third recitation of that point. He stopped with a sputter and, sensing his immediate offense, she responded to it like a shark smelling blood in the water. That it might be her blood in the immediate future did not matter to her. The taste of her own venom spilling into her words was hot and sweet on her tongue. "You have no legal or constitutional obligation to protect us from the sick fucks you're attracting with all the cop cars parked at this hotel. We'd be better off not being used as bait in this trap, so you're fucking welcome we aren't lawyering the fuck out of this fucked up game your bosses are playing with our lives."

Grady's complexion reddened with an anger she had no patience for as he stammered, "Now, see here, young lady, I will not be talked to-"

"If you want it so bad, I'll fucking give you a reason to force my compliance!" she snapped abruptly, her teeth baring in that snarl finally unleashed in her hunger for conflict.

"Did you just threaten an officer of the law, little lady?" Grady seethed as his posture straightened into the practiced authority of a seasoned beat cop. She grinned at the way the officer's eyes bulged out from under his sagged lids before she was suddenly pushed back by a hand grabbing her shoulder.

A shocked and panicked Anders shot out between them, one hand placatingly held up to Grady as he stammered, "Sorry! Sorry! Simone, she-she not okay, yeah? She is not understand, she is a, ah, sick, yes? Yes."

"You mind her, then!" Grady bellowed, poking a gnarled finger at Anders. The mad urge to lunge for his neck passed through Simone like a rogue wave, rocking her already cracked composure, but her uncle kept her shoved firmly down onto the mattress. "That mouth on her is gonna get her brains blown out if she goes off on the wrong guy, hear? Mind her!"

"Yes, sir!" Anders responded quickly.

Simone slowly dragged her tongue over her bared teeth as the officer fixed her with a pointed look, making him scoff out a frustrated huff and stomp away. Once the door shut, Anders slid onto the bed and gathered her up in a firm hug from behind, the arm on his uninjured side squeezing her back into him uncomfortably tight. She stiffened at the pressure. Her body ached from the violence of men and pumped fear into this contact, but this was Anders. He wouldn't hurt her unless he had to. As his arm pressed between her breasts and his fingers dug like claws into her shoulder, she had to remember that it was her sweet uncle behind her.