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“Bishop!” Iris stands motionless with the poker held out in front of her.
“What the hell are you doing?” I grab the poker and tear it from her hand.
“How else am I supposed to protect myself when you leave me here alone?” She screams at me with her hands now balled into fists.
“Protect yourself from what?”
“From Kyle, dammit!” Iris smacks my chest with both hands and then immediately throws herself at me, nearly tackling me in the process, and wraps her arms around my neck.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Why are you so upset?”
“I was so scared!” She’s shaking and crying, but I have no idea what could have upset her.
“Scared? Why?”
“I don’t know!” She tucks her face into the fur of my parka. “You were gone so long! I heard a car coming up, but then you didn’t come through the door! I was sure Kyle had found me!”
“Iris, it’s okay,” I say as I toss the poker on the floor with a clang. I pull my gloves off behind her back, drop them next to the poker, and hold her against me. “I was just outside the door.”
“Why were you gone so long? Why? You said you’d be back in the afternoon, and it’s night already!”
“It’s not night,” I tell her. “It’s just sunset. That happens pretty early this time of the year. It can’t be much past three-thirty.”
“How the fuck am I suppose to know that when you don’t even have a fucking clock?”
“Do you want me to buy a clock?” I ask. Finding myself in harm’s way just by walking through the door has pissed me off, and I can’t help the sarcasm in my voice. “Would that make you happy?”
“No. Telling me the real reason you left might be a good start though.”
“Real reason?” I toss my hands in the air and take a step away. “What real reason is that?”
“You were with her, weren’t you?” Iris clenches her jaw as she glares at me.
“Who?”
“That girl who taught you how to fuck. You went to see her.”
“Margot? Jesus, Iris, she and I have been over for a long time.”
“So you did see her.” She tilts her head and gives me a smug smile.
“Yeah, I did. I saw her and we talked.”
&n
bsp; “Got a piece of ass, did you?” Iris curls up her lip into a snarl.
“Iris, I haven’t been with Margot in that way for years,” I say sternly. “If I haven’t gone into Whatì to get a piece of ass all that time I was alone, why would I bother doing that now when I have you here?”
She glares at me wordlessly, and I stare right back. I can see in her eyes that she can’t fault my logic, and I’m frankly getting tired of the accusation.
“We done with this now?” I ask.
“You were still gone a long time.” She stalks across the room and plops down on the chair with her arms folded across her chest. “You never even told me why you were going.”
“I had something I needed to check out.” I yank off my parka and boots.
“Margot’s ass?” Iris mutters under her breath.
