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“Hi,” she said breathlessly.
L.W. looked up at her, and once again, the glow from the house bathed him in soft yellow light, as if his whole body had a halo. Tonight he wasn’t wearing black leather or weapons, and she had a thought that he had come to her first, just as he had gotten out of the clinic.
“I made it through,” he said. “The surgery.”
She put her hand at the base of her throat. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“See? I told you it was going to be fine. Manny’s a genius with a steak knife.”
Shooting him a look, she continued, “I’m sure that wasn’t what he used. Stay there, I’m coming down.”
She didn’t give him a chance to “yeah, sure, fine” it. Grabbing her coat, she ripped out of her office and tore down the stairs. Someone called to her to check about all the noise, but she waved them off with some scramble of syllables.
Out on the lawn, she shoved her arms into her coat as she skated and slipped in the snow. Somehow, she managed to stay on her feet, but there was no making like she wasn’t an out-of-control race car.
It was as she shot around the corner of the house that she realized she’d made a mistake, bringing her own outerwear with her: No excuse for him to give her his jacket, damn it—
L.W. turned toward her. He had scrubs on his lower body, no shirt or fleece on his chest, and a puffy white ski jacket that made his black hair in its braid and his tattoos even more obvious: because casual wear on a deadly fighter wasn’t something you saw every night.
“You really are okay,” she said. Like a lameass.
For a moment, they just stood face to face, her looking up, him looking down, the winter air crisp and cold in contrast to how warm she felt in her heart, her body.
You are my future, she thought.You are the reason I went out that night, and you are the person I want to stay in with.
One of Resolve2Evolve’s main tenets came back to her:Be open tonew possibilities, for new roads present themselves first as breaks in the trees, then as paths and trails… until finally, the highway runs out to the horizon, taking you to places you never dreamed.
“So you’re working tonight, huh,” he said.
“Yes. I’m—yes, I am.” What the hell was she babbling about. “We’re down a person.”
“I’m surprised Nalla isn’t here. Heard she works all the time.”
“I don’t think she’s coming here anytime soon.” As he arched a brow, she shrugged sadly. “Well, for one, she’s assigned to Luchas House. But more to the point, she’s not going to want to be around me.”
L.W. tilted his head to the side. “Why? I thought you guys were best friends.”
Flushing—because who knew he’d tracked anything about her life—Bitty glanced up at her office window and thought about the time Nalla had corralled the other staff and filled the little space with biodegradable “packing poopoos,” as she’d called the cardboard peanuts.
They’d filmed Bitty’s reaction as she’d opened the door and the Saran Wrap seal they’d created had broken. The whole thing had gone on loop for the holiday party that year, and God knew she’d never laughed so hard in her life. But now it hurt to think about.
Just like the female’s words had hurt.
“That’s more a used-to-be kind of thing,” she said in a rough voice.
“Since when?”
“Oh, a couple of nights. It doesn’t matter.” She cleared her throat. “People go their separate ways.”
“And sometimes people meet, don’t they.” As L.W.’s eyes became hooded, he focused on her mouth. But then he seemed to pull himself back. “Nalla’s still your friend, though.”
“How would you know?” Bitty put her hand out, but hesitated before touching even the sleeve of his parka. “And I don’t mean to sound defensive. It’s an honest question because I really don’t know what to do about it all.”
“Nah, it’s good.” L.W.’s eyes scanned the area like he was looking fortargets. Then brought his stare back to her as if he’d found none. “Shuli told me she laid down the law with his buddies about you when we were all at Bathe.”
Bitty frowned. “The law?”
“Those assholes were fucking idiots to her. Making bets they could bag her, being rude—they’re a bunch of pricks, getting drunk and feeling like they own the world because they can pay for anything they want. When you got there, she told them if they tried the shit they did to her with you, she’d wear their balls for earrings.” He shook himself. “?’Scuse my French. I mean… issue an existential correction.”
