She can’t imagine how terrifying it must be to have something like Ryan happen to you: to know that no matter what you do or say, someone is going to take the presence of your body in the world as an invitation to do what he wants with it, and then blame you if you tell him you don’t like it. At least when he did it to Lulu, he didn’t pretend it was because he loved her.

“Okay,” Lulu says.

Cass yawns then, a huge, face-cracking thing that moves through her whole body. “Okay,” she says. “Maybe actually I could come lie down for a minute. Will I be able to find your room without you?”

Lulu laughs. “This isn’t Patrick’s batshit maze mansion,” she says. “Through the front door, up the stairs, second door on your left. You can put whatever’s on the bed on the floor.”

“I don’t even know if I can sleep,” Cass says. “I just need to be alone for a minute. Or a lot of minutes.”

“As many minutes as you need.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know. Watch TV?”

“You don’t want your room?”

I want you to have it, Lulu thinks, and doesn’t say. Just for right now.

“I’m okay, I promise,” she tells Cass.

It’s early evening by the time Cass comes downstairs. She sits down next to Lulu on the couch, where Lulu is knee-deep in a Benton and the Billions marathon. Lulu mutes the television.

“So I did fall asleep,” Cass says. “Whoops.”

“You probably needed it.”

Cass gives Lulu a side eye. “You sound like my mom.”

“You did!”

“Speaking of which, she’s home tonight, and I promised her I would be too.”

“Yeah, yeah. But before you go—I have to show you something.”

“I thought you said you weren’t trying to start anything.”

Lulu has to laugh at that. “Not like that, perv.” Then she sobers up. “I just wanted you to know I had it. I won’t do anything with it if you don’t want me to. And you don’t have to make a decision right now, but—”

“Jesus, Lulu, you’re making me nervous. Just show me already.”

“Whip it out?” Lulu suggests.

“Something like that.”

Lulu takes a deep breath as she hands her phone to Cass. “I recorded this at The Hotel earlier,” she says. “It’s probably not enough to go on, legally or anything. But if we wanted to put it out there, it might hurt Ryan’s reputation. Might keep him from thinking he could get away with something like this again.”

Cass hits PLAY on the recording. Lulu watches the television screen and listens to Ryan’s tiny voice saying “I was desperate to keep you, Cass” and “It wasn’t, like, ethical.”

Cass hands her back the phone.