She was foolish to have left the party without an escort. Even one of the over stimulated young men at the party would have less chance of raping her ...han someone who sought women out to use and terrorize. Her arms went back to her chest at the thought. She had begun to quicken her pace again when she heard a noise from the alleyway half a building ahead of her. Her feet nearly tangled as she stopped dead in her tracks. A low keen issued from the dark slit in between the buildings as she. He glanced at the headlines aware of the fact that Christine was following his every movement, then his eyes spotted a tiny headline, "Gang broke into New York Docks last night. Overpowered guard and watchman, stole large quantity of dangerous drugs, escaped. Drugs valued at several hundred thousand dollars."He read the passage three times and looked slowly up from the paper. The first eyes he met were those of Christine. They were looking at him with the hesitant, shy look to which he had. Crossed arms. A sigh, heartfelt and long-suffering. ‘I do care Jen.’ ‘I can tell. Especially since every time I’ve tried to tell you you’ve accused me of being manipulative. Or of pushing you into doing something you don’t want to do.’ More bitterness. ‘I care Jen.’ Just a bit of an edge. Looking away. ‘Sure you do.’ Sarcasm bites deep. ‘Can we just talk about it?’ ‘I’m TIRED of talking about it. I want you to actually DO something about it!’ Anger… anger… a little bit of a snap wrapped around. “Do I look okay?” Jazzy asked, looking down at the knee-length navy blue skirt and a light blue button-down shirt. She felt strange going braless because her size-40Cs were not meant to swing free.“Yes, you look fine,” he replied, handing her the flowers.“Thank you,” Jazzy said, ”Would you like something to drink?” hoping he would say yes because her nerves could stand some steadying.“Nothing now, but if you need something to fortify yourself, go ahead.”“I am okay. I will be right back,” as she.