Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) Read Free Page B

and we both snap out of our dangerously erotic trance.
    I have to stifle my laughter for her pathetic opening.  She’s a beginner.  Play nice, Araya.
    “Go fuck yourself,” Hale chirps while stifling a grin of his own, his eyes catching mine again.
    He’s playing the belligerent suspect a little too well.  Her temper flares as her cheeks heat.  I’m sure she’s used to feeling more in control.  Hale’s too hot to let a girl think straight.  Welcome to my world, bitch.
    Her eyes burn with anger, and she smirks more before he suddenly grips his side, instantly writhing in pain.  His face distorts, forcing me to wince.
    Oh crap.
    “What the fuck?” he strains out.
    “Tell me,” she growls, and Hale slides to the floor, his pain becoming all the more pronounced as he curls into a ball.
    “Charman,” he grunts under duress.
    She dusts her hands off very smugly, releasing him from her hold.  When she struts by me, I taste the triumph she has started celebrating too soon.  My stern tone halts her cocky stalk.
    “Tell me the three things you did wrong,” I demand.
    I love being a bitch.
    “Excuse me,” the bratty girl scoffs, a derisive snort following behind.
    “Watch how you address your superiors,” Hale warns while slowly standing back up.
    “Sorry, Mrs. Crush,” she says very humbly, her eyes lowering to the ground like a child in trouble.
    “It’s Ms . Crush, and I’m still waiting on an answer,” I say without cracking the grin I want to.
    Hale starts smirking despite his attempt to suppress it.  He enjoys hazing the new ones as well.  Clay rolls his eyes at our amusement, but I can tell he’s having a bit of fun as well, despite his very obvious attempt to look disapproving.
    “I’m really sorry, Ms. Crush, but I got the name we were looking for.  You said anything goes, so I’m not sure what you’re looking for,” she says with stupefied bewilderment.
    “Let me educate you,” I tartly remark.  “You don’t walk into a room and exert your dominance by inflicting pain.  You need them to want to talk to you.  You have to own the suspect.  The first thing you did wrong was use your gift.  Your gift should never be displayed to anyone without top level security clearance.  Anyone else that sees it should be in a body bag by the time you finish up.  Now your suspect lives, and he’ll go tell everyone the gift you possess.  They’ll prepare for you, and you’ll lose your edge.”
    She lowers her eyes again to hide her embarrassment, but I’m not through berating her just yet.
    “The second thing you did wrong was force your suspect into a state of frenzy.  If you do your job right, then you get the right name.  If you try to force a name out the way you did, then you have someone pissed off and ready to shut you down.  You didn’t gauge his eyes, his body language, or his reaction to the name.  It was a lie - a false, made-up name to hinder your quest.  Now you’ve wasted precious time and valuable resources on a dead end because your arrogance interfered,” I scold, and her eyes lower all the more - her body begging to sink beneath the floor.
    “And the third?” she asks curiously, not looking up.
    In a blink, Hale blurs across the wall to rip her from her slouched stance.  He slings her against the wall to cause a crack in the structure, and her eyes widen in sheer terror as she stares down into the unforgiving eyes of her assailant.
    “You didn’t secure your suspect,” I murmur with a cocky smirk.
    Hale drops her to the ground, and then he walks back over to the other side of the table to take his seat for the next student.  His feet prop up on the table, his hands slide up to rest behind his head, and his eyes wait expectantly on mine to meet them.
    “Now that I have your attention, I’ll demonstrate the proper way to interrogate a suspect.  From now on, don’t think you know more than I do.  As you can see, this isn’t class time out here.  Most