Or as close to one as we could build in fifteen minutes.

When our plates were nearly empty, I tried to push. “What happened last night, Kat?”

“This morning,” Ward corrected quietly.

This morning? Then why did he ditch me last night?

I filed that away to ask about later. Right then, Kat needed my focus. Not because Ward asked me to but because she looked so… lost.

Sad and awkward and lost.

“Nothing happened,” Kat snapped. And lied. Her red cheeks said as much. As did the way her gaze kept darting to Ward and back again.

I gave his leg a nudge.

“I’ll just go… go.” Ward kissed my head as he grabbed my empty plate and hightailed it out of the room.

“You can talk to me,” I told Kat with the same bland honesty I used with my students. I didn’t come on heavy or try to make her talk. No forced earnestness would ring untrue in my tone. “This is what I do for a living. I listen. And, if you want advice, I’ll give you my opinion.”

She was quiet, worrying her bottom lip as she studied me. The fact she hadn’t already run to lock herself in the bathroom was promising.

“You don’t even have to talk to me now,” I added. “You can wait until you feel ready and—”

“I kissed Ace this morning,” she hissed in a frantic whisper. “Glitch. I kissed Glitch.”

Well, that’s not what I expected.

A bad kiss, or even an unrequited one, was cause for awkwardness. Even embarrassment. But it didn’t explain the deep shadows in her eyes. Or the way she blanked out when she thought no one was looking—or maybe when she assumed no one would notice.

None of it made sense. Unless…

“What happened after?” I asked tersely, reining in the anger that flared in my chest.

If he hurt her, I’m running over his dick with a Harley.

Well, I’m having Ward do it because I don’t know how to drive one. But then I’ll kick him while he’s down.

I’d only met him once, but Glitch had seemed so nice—not that public behavior held any weight for what happened behind closed doors. A lot of monsters were adept at hiding in the bright light.

But Ward wasn’t the type of man to associate with someone who would force themselves on a woman. He’d said his club rescued her.

Unaware of what I feared, Kat gave a dramatic sigh. “He pushed me away. He said we couldn’t. That I’m too young, he’s too old, all that. Just a nice way of telling me he doesn’t want me.”

“But you want him?”