Distorted perspectives. The day had barely started and I felt wrung-out. Now he was attacking my friend? It was enough to piss me off in a shockingly short span of time. No rising temperature leading to a boil—it was one sentence in one voice that had me instantly off.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Tristan said.

“All I’m saying is that it seems kind of manipulative, the power-players in the group dish out their personal dirt, team mom Sveta plays nice and tries to rug-sweep—”

“Don’t call me the team mom,” Sveta said.

And it was at times like this that I couldn’t afford to act on feeling. Fingers and fingernails digging into the fabric of the towel, I kept the idea of the warrior monk in my mind.

“Why don’t we pause this conversation and come back to it with cooler heads?” I asked. “I know I’d be happier if we could.”

“Why don’t we just drop it entirely? You said what you needed to say, fine, whatever. But it doesn’t need to be a conversation. If it’s a conversation then that means it’s going somewhere. And that somewhere is just more pressure and expectations that we talk about shit.”

“You were the one who told me this team idea worked because we trust each other,” Ashley said.

“I think it’s painfully ironic that you take something I shared with you in a private conversation and bring it up to make a point about trusting one another. Or do you want to get into that full conversation and why I brought that up?”

“Ease up, Chris,” Kenzie said.

“Stop.” I used more emphasis and volume.

“That—” Chris started.

Tristan banged his hand on the table, hard. There was silence in the seconds after, broken not by words, but by the mechanical shuffling of Sveta’s body as she walked over to Kenzie’s workstation.

“You’re way out of line, Chris. This isn’t what we’re about,” Tristan said. “Did you dose on double-strength paranoia recently?”

“Why don’t you ask one of the girls if they’re acting aggressive because they’re premenstrual? It’s about as sensitive.”

“Stop,” I ordered. I had to resist using my aura to punctuate the statement and get their attention. “Enough. Whatever you’ve got going on, deal with it, or ask for help if you can’t deal on your own. But don’t do this.”

“May I go for a hike, ma’am?” All sarcasm.

“It sounds like a good idea. Let’s clear our heads before we return to this topic.” I didn’t miss the change in his expression, like he was about to say something. Before he could, I said, “If we return to it.”