Cut Too Deep by KJ Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

lamer.
    I'm sure you're inundated with letters anyway. There are plenty of women on the news talking about writing you and how much they love you. I personally think they should tell the truth; how they want to land themselves a rich husband. Okay, that was a bit petty, I admit, but they're seriously desperate.
    I see you every morning, and there's something about you I'm drawn to. Given I don't have that reaction with another living person, I've considered talking with you to see if I could find out what it is about you I seem to be mesmerized with.
    I guess I have my answer. Curiosity explains why I'm writing this.
     
    Hadley made it no farther in the letter before she had to leave for work. Now that she read it again, not only would it remain unfinished, but no way in hell would she ever mail it.
    Patricia approached, and Hadley shoved the letter into the top drawer of her desk. Patricia barely stopped before a folder landed on top of the desk. Hadley’s co-worker continued walking, her long blonde hair bouncing with each stride. The woman had always been a bitch, and the nicer Hadley tried to be to her, the nastier she became. The other designers had the courtesy to ask Hadley to look over a design, not Patricia. She always tossed a folder and kept going. Mac called her Tosser , which Hadley loved because of the dual meaning, and also because it allowed them to talk shit about her with others around.
    Mr. Jensen called out sick today. Mac was right about things being seriously off with their boss. It must be bad. In the three and a half years Hadley had been with the firm, Mr. Jensen never missed a day of work.
    The rest of the day sailed by smoothly. Hadley cleared a huge amount of work from her desk, had lunch with Mac, and surprisingly got asked for her input on a design idea for a new campaign from one of the rookie designers.
    Hadley opened the drawer to get her purse and remembered the letter she wrote Miller. It was missing. She went from feeling good to a complete and utter nut case as she tried to find it. She scoured the trash, under the desk, and every file in the drawers. It was gone, vanished into thin air. After convincing herself not to panic, she decided that it must have gotten thrown away somehow. Other than a short lunch with Mac, she’d been at her desk.
    On her walk home from work, Hadley tried not to think about someone going through her desk drawers and finding the letter while she sat at lunch, wolfing down chicken salad and speculating with Mac as to why Mr. Jensen was out. She imagined her co-workers discussing her feelings for Miller in a bout of juicy office gossip.
    Thinking about the possibilities would be considered paranoid behavior and wouldn’t please Dr. LeClair, but hell if Hadley could stop herself from agonizing about it.
    She popped into the Chinese restaurant a block away from her apartment to grab takeout. She ordered from there at least three times a week, and Mr. Chung had her order rung up before Hadley reached the counter.
    Hadley was almost home when she saw Mr. Duwatski pacing the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. The bag of food fell from her grip. With wobbly knees, she squatted down and tossed the mustard packets and cookies back into the paper sack. She stood and held the bag against her chest because her fingers trembled so fiercely she couldn’t get a good grip.
    Her blood boiled in her ears as she approached him. His eyes stayed trained on hers. Hadley wanted to look away, but held his gaze defiantly until she finally reached him.
    “What are you doing here?”
    Harold Duwatski smiled as though the anger in her voice gave him immense pleasure. “I came to check up on you.”
    “In case you forgot, it’s no longer your job to check up on me…and stop calling my phone.”
    Harold’s eye twitched, and he shook his head.
    “I haven’t called you.”
    “Right!”
    The indignant manner she dismissed him threw him off guard.
    “I don’t have your new