After two songs, he comes over to Lachlan at the bar, asks for a drink.Lachlan gets him a club soda with lime.Jules rolls his eyes but drains the glass, thirsty from all the dancing, and bites the lime, giggling at the sourness.
‘Wanna dance with me?’he asks, loud enough to be heard over the music.
‘No.’
‘Come on, you can protect me better if we’re together, right?’
‘Wrong.’Lachlan gives the kid a bland look and sets a firm boundary.‘Go dance.You have forty-six minutes left.’
Jules makes a face, but he does go and dance.Twice, Lachlan steps in and warns off potential creeps who approach.Twice, Jules looks at Lachlan with naked curiosity.Twice, Jules smiles at Lachlan in a new way that stirs dread inside the older man, who can only think of Alistair’s instruction aboutmanagement of curiosity.
Jules comes back for another drink.‘Can I get atequila?’
‘Club soda and lime, no ice,’ he tells the bartender, who gets a hefty tip for bringing it fast.‘Here.’
‘I was drinking alcohol before you got here.’
‘Then it’s good to hydrate now, isn’t it?’
‘Just dance with me once?For my birthday?’
Lachlan looks away while he speaks.‘That’s not gonna happen.’
‘I don’t care if you’re a bad dancer.’
‘You have nine minutes left.’
‘I want to dance.’
‘So go dance.’
‘Withyou.’
‘I’ll just step on your toes.’
‘Carry me, then.’
‘Eight minutes.’
‘Can I dance with someone else?’
‘No.’
‘You suck.’
‘You’re wasting your own time.’
‘Ugh,fine.’
Lachlan gives him five extra minutes he’ll never know about as a gift.
The car journey home is quiet.
Several times, Lachlan thinks the kid has fallen asleep, but when he looks back, he’s wide awake, watching the world go by without him in shades of night.They’re halfway to the Estate when he says, ‘So tell me about you.’
Lachlan focuses mostly on driving, watching the road behind them to ensure there’s no tail.‘About me?’
‘Yeah.’
