Then he told me to stay inside, stocked up on ammo again, and was gone inside twenty minutes.

Leaving me staring at a pile of bloody clothes, the ashtray with a still-smoking butt, two spent clips

that needed to be refilled, and his plate on the table.

At least he’d promised to bring home some bread. Maybe just to shut me up, I dunno.

I bolted for the window in the bedroom. Sometimes if I was quick enough I could catch a glimpse

of him on the street, moving with his head up and a spring in his step. Sometimes he might as well

have vanished as soon as the apartment door locked.

Outside, streetlights fought with the darkness. It wasn’t raining. It was foggy, a wet cotton-wool

fog, and the Hefty bags of trash stacked on the sidewalk were just like they always were. The trucks

came around twice a week, but the amount of trash never seemed to go down. It was filthy here, and

cold. I wouldn’t have minded if I could get out and see some things—I’d’ve loved to go to the Met,

or even just walked around downtown and seen stuff.

But August said no. And he was gone every night.

I sighed, resting my forehead on the cold glass. Every time he left I wasn’t sure he’d come back.

Story of my life.

I finally slid off the bed and plodded out into the living room. At least I could clean things up while

he was gone. So that if—when—he came back, he’d see I wasn’t any trouble. I was pulling my own

weight.

Besides, it was something to do until Dad came back.

If . . . when he came back.

Jealousy

CHAPTER SIX

It was early afternoon by the time I switched the computer off. I stretched, yawned, padded for the

bed and dropped down. That woke Graves up, where my clicking at keys and sometimes swearing

under my breath hadn’t.

“Huh?” He half-sat up, and I took the chance to rescue one of the pillows from under his head.

“Whaaa?”

“Nothing. Go back to sleep.” I squiggled around, getting comfortable. “I just finished, that’s all.”

“Okay.” He settled back down again, and I lay there for a few seconds feeling him move around before I opened my eyes and found him almost nose-to-nose with me. His silver skull-and-crossbones

earring glinted at me. His irises were oddly luminescent, and a shadow of stubble spread over his

jaw.

Weird. He kind of was getting hairy, but it was just a five o’clock shadow. I had the sudden urge to

touch his jawline, a feeling so intense my fingers itched. The skin underneath, on the curve where