Page 150 of Stay Scared

“At the time?”

“I am currently standing in a building controlled by the man who taught me what efficiency looks like when nobody can refuse it.”

The answer is ugly enough to stay useful.

I look down at the unfinished section. “You wanted me working here.”

“I wanted you on the design floor telling me when a concept was lazy, dishonest, or cruel.”

“What a charming offer.”

“You would have hated most meetings.”

“That part I believe.”

Ash comes around the edge of the table, keeping his attention on me.

“I wanted to know what this place looked like after you touched it.”

The sentence lands differently.

“What happened to wanting my professional opinion?”

“I wanted that too.”

“That word is doing a lot of work.”

“I wanted you where I could hear you argue with me instead of reading it two weeks later on a screen.”

I stare at him. Ash answers as himself, with no Voice to retreat behind.

“Then I started wanting you here after the argument ended.”

He is imagining nothing soft or domestic. He wants possession.

“How often do you leave Crimson Night?”

Ash glances toward the plotter cabinet. “Not often.”

“I need more than that.”

“I sleep above the design office.”

“When was the last time you spent an entire day somewhere that wasn’t this property?”

His silence answers first.

“Ash.”

“Last February.”

“It is October.”

“You do not need to tell me what month it is.”

“What did you do in February?”

“Met with a fabricator.”