“Do you want to watch TV for a bit?” I ask.

“Sure,” he says, and heads toward the couch. But just then, my cell phone rings. I pull the phone out of my pocket, and I stand there, staring at the screen. The phone rings and rings while the whole inside of my head turns to a swirling wind.

“Are you going to answer that?”

“No,” I say. “It’s nobody important.” My mouth feels dry, and I stagger to the bathroom, sliding the door closed. Finally the ringing stops, and I wait for the beep that’ll tell me Eli’s left me a message. Something caustic. Something radioactive. An acidic burn via voice mail. I pull open the cupboard under the sink and move away the bottled rows of organic cleaning products. There, at the back of it all is my bag. I reef through it to find Eli’s coffee tin, the one I hid the very first night I was here. Stripping away the tape, I pull off the plastic lid. The tightly packed mountain of cocaine baggies rests safely. So do the bound rolls of money. It’s all still there.

I might have told Alex a little about Eli, but what I didn’t tell her was that I’d hit him back in my own way. I took what I was owed. I was righting old wrongs. I think of it as my insurance policy. I don’t intend to do anything with the drugs—not unless I have to. The same goes for the money. I’m surprised Eli hasn’t contacted me until now, but I guess he knows I’m not exactly going to pick up the phone and offer him my address. He’s wily, though, Eli. He’s trying to find me. There’s no stopping it, just like always. I run and run and run, but everyone just pulls me back home. He’ll find me one day. And when he does, he’ll also find Alex and Chase. Again and again the universe pins me onto a hideous wheel, and I’m always at the very center as it spins.

ALEX