Chapter 46

Deidre

Pacing back and forth in my office like some caged animal, I wasn’t relishing the discussion I was going to have.

Apologize? No. If Benjamin had really found my daughter drunk, then he wouldn’t have tried to hide it; tried to conceal her from me.

“He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know!” Jennivah said from the chair, as if reading my mind. “He saw a–a friend? Or the Beta Select doing something that she shouldn’t have. He was worried for her. Maybe even a little protective. Can’t you forgive that?”

My eyes narrowed. I had been mulling over the situation all night, tossing and turning in the empty bed while Jason was at the Lodge.

Benjamin had preferred to study on the second level. He had admitted as much to me himself. So if Kira had been there, hiding out and getting drunk, then why wouldn’t he have noticed her there? What else could he have been doing?

“Is he here yet?” I asked Jennivah.

“No,” she admitted. She had been checking on the AA meeting for me to see if Benj