Cut to the Chase Read Online Free PDF

list.
    “We met in Chemistry class during freshman year. We were both premed, so we shared a lot of the same classes throughout our years at Penn. He was, is, a good friend, though I have made little attempt to stay in touch.”
    “Were you always just friends?” Mia asked.
    It was a fair question and she’d suspected that Mia was going there. “Yes, it was always platonic.”
    “Did he ever want your friendship to morph into something else?”
    “No, I don’t think so. If he did, he never let on.” Erin laughed. “Let’s just say that he never gave me reason to believe that he was secretly pining for me. He never hid his relationships, or encounters, with women from me.”
    “So, Josh was a player?”
    Erin shook her head. The word “player” sounded so ugly. He may have dated many women, but he didn’t dupe them or give them the impression that he was looking for anything long-term. “No, I wouldn’t call him that. I mean, yes, his bed was rarely empty, but he never used manipulation to get them there. He didn’t have to.”
    “Okay. Tell me about your other college friends.”
    It didn’t take very long to discuss the friends she had acquired at Penn. It was a very short list, which was what Erin had preferred.
    The conversation drifted to Erin’s volunteer work at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She spoke in greater detail about her original career aspirations and the wonderful opportunity she was given to work alongside Dr. Mitchell Morris.
    “I attended his funeral this past week.”
    “Oh, I’m so sorry, Erin.”
    Erin smiled weakly. “Thanks. It was just so sudden. I saw him the night before he died at a benefit. Dr. Morris had looked pale and just…off. A few days later, his son came to my work and told me that his father had fallen down the steps in his home in Philly, where he succumbed to his injuries.”
    Mia’s pencil stopped its mad scribbling and hovered over the lined paper. “Did you know Dr. Morris’s son prior to this?”
    “Dr. Morris’s son, Scott, is also a doctor. We met at CHOP over a year ago in his father’s office. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him since. We were recently reintroduced at the Maya Montclair Foundation benefit last week.”
    Mia tapped the eraser end of her pencil against her book. “Describe him for me, Erin.”
    Erin hesitated.
    “I estimate him to be over six foot, brown hair, brown eyes…clean-cut. He comes across as a little arrogant.”
    “Would you describe him as handsome?”
    “Although he’s not my type, I imagine he doesn’t have difficulty finding women.”
    “So, he is attractive and a doctor. What makes him not your type?” Mia asked, her voice curious.
    Erin shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know exactly, but something about Scott Morris turned her off.
    “Is it because he’s arrogant?”
    “Possibly…not sure.”
    Mia turned a page in her book and sat up straight. Mia either sensed Erin’s reluctance to talk about Scott Morris, or she found him not worthy to discuss further, because she switched gears and asked her about the night she was raped. Erin knew that this was coming, that everything they had discussed this past hour and a half was leading up to full and complete disclosure regarding the rape itself.
    Erin must have appeared nervous, because Mia asked, “Erin, would you like to take a break?”
    “No. I want to tell you what happened. It’s just…”
    Mia stared at her as if contemplating her next move, her next question to unload. Suddenly, Mia spoke. Erin’s instincts had been correct. Mia most definitely had a story to tell.

Chapter Eight
    M ia knew that disclosing a piece of her past would bring Erin comfort, putting her at ease and making her more willing to share critical information pertaining to the night in question. Mia rarely resorted to such a tactic. And it wasn’t a tactic that was driving her now. Rather, it was the selfish need to share some horrible things with another breathing