JJ
When I returned to my room, the door was still open and everything looked exactly as I had left it.
The chair waited beneath the work light. My ink caps were lined neatly across the tray. The stencil for my first appointment sat beside the release forms, ready for a client who would arrive in less than fifteen minutes.
Normal.
The room looked normal even if I did not.
I closed the door and stood with my back pressed against it for several seconds. There was no reason to keep smiling now. Havoc had left, Stitch was at the front, and no one else was there to study my face.
The expression fell away so quickly it almost hurt.
My shoulders sagged. The nausea I had forced down in the bathroom twisted through me again, bringing a wave of anger with it this time. I crossed to the stool
