Page 70 of The Gift
I hold his challenging stare, talking at him and making sure I’m very direct. “The real me has times where I doubt all the small things. Is my hair okay? Am I doing the right thing? Will people see through me? Should I eat another piece of pizza? Should I try one sip of fucking coffee?” I take a big breath before starting again, ignoring the way these hormones are making me talk crazy. “I also have times where I’m hideously pig-headed, rude, and abrasive. I can dance until the sun sets, even three sheets to the wind. I’ve sat and watched a person die on death row without a lick of compassion for them. But there’s this line I have, like I’m sure everyone has, but is a big thing for me. And my doubts are my survival checkpoints, like if I cross that threshold and something happens, I’m done. Like done, done too.”
I find him staring at me, all of them actually, but instead of running from it, I push on.
“It’s okay for you to keep asking me why I’m doubting this because I’m doubting my ability to bounce back if I cross the line with you and your pack, Henley. No one has ever crossed that line for me, I’m thinking of letting you.”
Koda purrs like a lion at the zoo, Reno dashes back in to squeeze me again, Ashton does a sexy smirk saying something that sounds a lot like, about fucking time. But Henley stays stone cold silent, and my heart drops.
“You understand, these doubts of yours hit us hard? They’re like poison barbs. Every time you voice one, we feel it. Because you’re right—we cross that line there is no going back, so make sure you listen.” He stands up. “We will keep saying the same thing until you hear us, keep saying them until you believe us. We. Are. Sure. We purposely have kept our mouths shut and not said a word, because you had to let you be the one to do this. We saw you months ago, we met you weeks ago now, we knew then, we know now, we want you, and only you,” he says with a wink, apology in his tone and on his face. And then he’s bustling Reno out of the way to slam his lips down on mine, reinforcing everything he said.
“Hmmm, I like the way you did that, Alpha. Thank you,” I say when he stops kissing me.
Bailey
Prisons have a distinctive smell and unique feel to them. Hospitals do too in a sense. Where hospitals have a strange detachment going on, they’re also bursting with healing energy and optimism. Even the cleaners they use smell fresher, happier. Prisons, despite having more inmates than most hospitals have patients, are so devoid of life and hope, they give morgues a run for their money. And trust me, I’ve visited plenty of morgues.
I’ve got no doubt there would be people in this awful place that should not be here. Whether they’ve been wrongfully accused, or they simply got caught up in bad shit, but that sentiment does not remotely apply to the man sitting across from me. What makes it worse, is he’s in his element—revelling in our attention. He’s guilty as sin of the depravity he has been charged with and proud still.
Dagmar Regalo looks like a rat, and acts like he has rabies. His eyes are beady, brown and protrude out too far, much like his ears. He stinks like one too, that uric acid stench is ingrained in his skin. The other quality he and the Rattus Rattus share is that they’re incredibly intelligent and dangerously cunning.
Regalo is an alpha, and he keeps trying to make me and the crew submit using his abilities. The first time he did it, the guards waved their tasers threateningly in his direction. He submitted of course, but everything he does is carefully considered. He’s playing a well thought out game, continually pushing a smidge past what they are willing to let slide. The A-team are not as forgiving.
Regalo is chained to his seat and the floor by his hands, feet and body. The prison is treating him like an animal, for the simple reason: he is one. And even though he can’t possibly get me, that doesn’t mean the A-Team relaxes.
From the second we walked in the room, he has been a master manipulator. Perhaps he doesn’t realise I’ve met other psychopaths, but either way, I’m not giving him the credence he’s so desperate for, not that it has stopped him trying.
Koda and Reno stand on either side of me, while the prison guards hover protectively around the film and camera crew. We’re working with a skeleton unit because of the secure location. Donnie, of course, provided the best portable cameras and sound recording on hand to enable us to capture the drama. The questions in front of me were all pre-approved by Regalo’s large legal team. We’re playing to all the rules and are not the ones that keep deviating from the approved, Regalo is.
“You know… can I call you Bailey yet?” he croons before smiling like the shark he is. He’s the type of person that would try to sell snake-oil back to the snakes.
“That is your last warning, Regalo, once more and you’re in confinement,” the senior officer barks, another alpha. And it’s lucky I took the shot from Reno before leaving or I’d be a quivering mess of submission.
Regalo waves him off, dropping his eyes for a fraction before lifting them to look at me. He’s continually playing this game of pretending he’s forgetting the rules along with the camera. Currently, he’s gunning for shared and personal intimacy that makes my skin crawl, but I smile plastically back at him.
Henley doesn’t miss Regalo’s latest ploy. “You look at her like that again, and I don’t particularly give a fuck if you and I share a cell, but I will be leaving this interview with your fucking eyeballs in my pocket.”
“Are you threatening me with the camera rolling?”
I shift slightly in my chair. “Regalo, if there is anything else you would like to ask or say, now is the time,” I interrupt, and it somehow cuts through the alpha posturing. And as much as he’s playing, so am I, still refusing to call him doctor or his first name, opting for the name everyone knows and that no one can forget.
“Do you not want to discuss how I did this?” He sucks on his teeth, leaning back in his seat. The chains rattle as he tries to change position.
I hide my shudder in disgust, but clearly, I’ve dropped the ball a little. Reno shuffling slightly to draw my attention to him, he moves his hand telling me to tone it down. And he’s right, I need bland and unemotional, I don’t want to give Regalo any more joy.
“No. We have no need. We’ve had recognised experts in several sciences reviewing your work along with the notes you left behind, and they confirmed what you did was rudimentary at best. Their words, not mine. Irrespective of scientific opinions, what our viewers would be interested in knowing, is what was the one event that took you from conceptualisation to actual human experimentation.”
He smiles, maintaining his pride. “Opportunity and drive. Only the brave have the propensity for carrying the additional responsibility that success brings. I did what I had to. The figureheads of our society will look back at what I accomplished and admire me and my team for their bravery and achievement.”
“Do you consider yourself a pioneer in this field?” I sit back in my seat, adjusting my posture instead of directly facing him.
“Of course.”
I nod encouragingly. Which is a hard task, there’s a huge part of me that wants to stab him in the dick. Sadly, today is not the day. Instead, I hope we capture on camera when he chokes on his malicious lies and self-appreciation. Either way, my viewers are going to crucify the mongrel.
“And the opportunity you spoke of?” I prod.
“Everything always comes back to money, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure. You’re telling the story,” I offer with a fake Barbie inspired smile.
