Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) by Evangeline Anderson Page B

on the broken bottle Dungston was threatening
Kristin with. But please don’t make me file an incident report—it looks a lot
worse than it is. Really, it’s just a scratch.”
    “Looks like more than a scratch to me,”
Claudia said, eyeing her wounded leg critically. “I should send you to
the ER.”
    “No, please.” Mei-Li clasped her hands
together pleadingly. “All I really need is that hot bubble bath you were
talking about and a Band-Aid. And about twenty hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Then I’ll be good as new, I swear.”
    “Well…” Claudia sighed and gave her
shoulder another squeeze. “All right, get going. I’ll see you Monday.”
    “Thanks,” Mei-Li said gratefully. “Night,
boss lady.”
    “Good night, Mei-mei.” Claudia gave her a
sympathetic smile and went back into the house—doubtless to wrap up the case.
Mei-Li waited until she was gone and then kicked off her best court shoes which
by now didn’t look so good. Carrying the heels, she hobbled carefully down the
steps and limped across the street to her little blue car. Her wounded knee
actually felt a lot worse than she’d let on but she couldn’t face hours in the
ER followed by hours of filling out multiple incident report forms tonight—she
just couldn’t .
    Sighing, she started her car and put it in
drive. Her own house was just a few miles away. She’d be relaxing in a bubble
bath with a glass of red wine before she knew it. And maybe, just maybe now that Six was out of her life for good, she would finally be able to get a
good night’s sleep.

 

Chapter Eight

 
    It wasn’t until she got home that Mei-Li
realized someone had keyed her car.
    There was a long, jagged scratch that ran
its entire length on the passenger side. It went from the headlight, across the
door, and up to the taillight in one unbroken line.
    What the hell? she thought uncertainly as she examined the scratch which
was silvery white against the dark blue of the rest of the car. She parked
right under a street light so the side of her little car was easily visible. At
first she thought the mark might be from some kind of accident but there was no
way—the scratch was too long. It was ugly and deliberate and clearly made by
someone with angry intent. But it hadn’t been there earlier today—Mei-Li was
certain of it. So who could have done it?
    Randy Dungston, whispered a little voice in her head. But no—he’d been
half blinded by pepper spray. Plus he had been in a hurry to get away before
the police arrived. Would he really have taken the time to key her car?
    Maybe, Mei-Li thought uneasily. It certainly seemed like the
kind of petty, vindictive thing Randy would do. The kind of thing someone who
wanted to hurt you would do, whispered a little voice in her head.
    Mei-Li tried unsuccessfully to push it
away. It made her think of her dad, who was always trying to assign her a
security detail or at least a bodyguard. He always argued that because he was
on the World Council, she might be in danger if anyone found out she was his
daughter. Mei-Li had disagreed.
    “Believe me, Dad, my clients aren’t
exactly socialites,” she’d told him. “I’m in less danger if I just live anonymously, like I want to.”
    “I just worry about you, Pun’kin,” he’d said. “You shouldn’t be living in that
neighborhood and going all around the worst part of the city by yourself.”
    “I’m fine,” Mei-Li had assured him.
    Now she repeated it to herself.
    “I’m fine,” she muttered. “I’m fine
and so is everything else.” She felt better for saying the words out loud
because it seemed to make them more true. Everything was okay and she would
have the scratch on her car taken care of later. Tonight, she was too tired to
deal with anything else. She just wanted to get inside her little bungalow and
relax.
    Her knee was killing her so she held her
shoes in one hand as she limped up the steps to her front porch. It was the
wrap around kind and one of