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And Bea.

Bea had just seen what Alli could really be like. Had seen that temper, had seen how tenuous Alli’s control on it really was.

And as much as she might want the woman, as much as her body might cry out for her touch, it had scared her.

She wasn’t at all sure that she wanted to deal with something, someone as uncontrollable as that. Wasn’t at all sure that she could.

Chapter Twenty Three

Alli was fuming. How the hell had weak Charles talked his way out of this when she hadn’t been able to? The only thing she could think of was bribery. And now Josh was clinging on to her waist, carrying her down the corridor like she was a toddler having a tantrum.

“Put. Me. Down.”

“If I do, are you going to try to hit me?” Josh asked calmly.

“No! Why would I hit you?”

“Because you’re angry.”

“I’m not angry with you, idiot,” she snarled. “It’s that Luke that I want to get my hands on.” Josh put her down and looked at her speculatively. “Purely metaphorically, of course,” she added. “I might get mad, but I don’t get violent.”

“Mmm,” Josh said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “Although if you were going to punch someone, I suppose Luke wouldn’t be a bad choice.”

Alli eyed him. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No, just being honest.”

Which could be somewhat useful. “What do you know about Charles?” she asked.

“What do you know about Daria?” he countered.

Alli sucked her teeth and considered things. “Fine, she offeredto get me out for money, I gave her the money, she ran off. Happy?”

“Makes sense,” Josh said thoughtfully. “We’re all dead broke here. As for Charles, really, your guess is as good as mine. His lawyer told him something on the phone, but I don’t know what. He came looking for Luke like he was going to crucify him. Luke talked to him, Charles left. Still not looking very happy, in my opinion.”

“Can you get me his phone number?” Alli asked.

“Charles’s? I can try, we must have it somewhere.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Josh said. “Just do me a favor and keep the sparring verbal. I don’t need to be called into every class just to carry you out of it.”

“Fair enough,” Alli said. “Um, sorry?”

“I’m probably not the one you should be apologizing to. Try Bea, it was her class. And maybe your classmates too.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will.”

But as it turned out, she didn’t see Bea for the rest of the day. In fact, by teatime, she was starting to think that Bea was avoiding her. And by dinnertime, she was sure that Bea was avoiding her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Marcus asked, mouth full of chips. “You look like you’re going to lose it again. Are you?”

“No,” Alli said rudely. “Are you?”

He held up huge hands. “Hey, I’m not the one that got carried out of yoga.”

“She’s apologized for that, haven’t you, dear?” Julia said, patting Alli’s hand.