Shades of Gray by C. Dulaney Read Free Book Online Page B

paper back onto the desk and studied my face, his hands clasped together and resting on his thigh.
    Of course this pissed me off immediately, but I bit my tongue. Flying off the handle would only add fuel to the fire at this point. Twisting in the chair, I glared at Michael.
    “I thought you said he understood all that? Why shit happens out there sometimes?”
    The tenacity was starting to leave my voice, I could hear it. If I could hear it, so could the others. This was already a lost battle, only the realization was just dawning on me. What I had confused as nervous embarrassment before was now looking more and more like accusation and distrust.
    “I know what I told you, Kasey. You need to understand, I’ve been running a lot of interference between the Guard and us. Up until now, Waters has been reasonable.” Michael took a couple of steps forward, one hand resting on the back of the chair I was sitting in, the other hand on his hip. “To be honest, I don’t know what the hell happened in the last couple hours that’s got him singing a different tune.”
    He was speaking to everyone by this point as he walked toward John, his arms crossed over his chest and one hand rubbing his chin. It seemed Michael was reconsidering his stance, finally questioning his absolute loyalty to Waters.
    “She’s not even the one who killed this last asshole and you know it,” Jake spoke up. I shot him a warning glance and then rushed to cover him.
    “No, I take responsibility for what happened out there. That was my fault, not Jake’s.”
    I leaned forward again, feeling a little more hopeful than a moment earlier. I studied everyone’s faces, for the third time questioning what I was seeing. Normally I could read people pretty well. I could not for the life of me figure out what they were thinking. My head was really screwed up, that was becoming painfully obvious.
    “It doesn’t really matter who killed who. Waters is pissed, and he’s using Kasey as the scapegoat. Question is, why is he so pissed all of a sudden ? And what’s he really pissed about? Cause it sounds to me like he’s all bent out of shape because we aren’t bringing in as many living folk as we should be. Or as many as he needs us to bring in. Think about that,” Abby said.
    At least I knew where Abby stood regarding my…issues. She brought up a very good point though, one I hadn’t even considered. Being so preoccupied with my own problems, I automatically assumed this whole thing was about me.
    “You’re not the center of the universe, murderer,” Ben said. His specter was hovering by my left shoulder.
    Not real, not real, not real.
    “Wait, so we’re not talking about whether or not Kasey should be benched?” Mia asked. She had been sitting on the couch with Jake up until then. Once the question was out of her mouth, she jumped to her feet.
    “I believe that’s still on the table. What Abby’s sayin’ is maybe we need to be thinkin’ about what’s motivating Waters. Not two hours ago he was glad they killed that cannibal. Now he’s raisin’ hell and issuing this demand? That’s a good point Abby made. We need to consider it.” Jonah had been quiet this whole time. When he spoke up, everyone listened.
    The dynamics in the den had changed so dramatically it made my stomach flip. I know I had a what-the-fuck look plastered on my face. That’s one step above the what-the-hell look that’s usually there. I must have been staring at Jonah, because he smiled and tossed me a cigarette. Before I could say thank you, he was whipping his naked-lady Zippo at me. Luckily, my hand-eye coordination was still sharp.
    “John and I were actually talking about something similar before all of you came in.” Michael had paced all the way over to the opposite side of the room and was standing with his back to us. It’s hard to make out someone’s mood by the back of their head. If I had to guess, I’d say he was mad. “John, what’s your