“Why are you letting him go?”
“It was either that or he said he’d quit.”
“You do know why he’s upset, right? I mean, aside from the obvious?”
“He loves her,” I murmured. “He fell for her. I noticed sometime late last year that he was watching her more. He didn’t need to hang out at our place. Sure, we’re all friends, and he and Anson are tight, but we gave him his own room. He has his own place. So yeah, I figured it out.”
“I don’t think Anson has,” Evan said.
“Probably a good thing.” I rubbed my eyes. “You got a smoke on you?”
“Yeah, man.” He pulled out a cigarette and handed it to me. We weren’t really smokers. Mostly socially, and when we were stressed. I hadn’t had a cigarette in nearly five years, but here we were. Evan rarely smoked, but he’d been going to town a lot lately. We could have gotten some sugar from E, but Evan shook his head when I suggested it, a sour look on his face.
I lit it and took a deep hit.
Fuck, that hit the spot.
“Want some?” I offered the cigarette to Evan.
He sighed and took it, taking a deep drag.
“Fuck, I need to slow down on this shit,” he muttered, blowing out the smoke.
“We can deal with that when this shit is over. Beats drinking, not that I’m against that, but my head is clear when I smoke. Not so much when I drink.”
He grunted.
Lights flashed as they pulled in, and I nodded to Church’s cleaning crew as they parked and got out.
“We’re good,” I said, gesturing for Evan to get into the car. He did so without another word, and we drove through the city.
“You want to get some food?” I asked.
“I guess. Probably get some for Anson and Ryder, too.”
I wheeled us into a burger place, and we got out. I’d always gotten food there, so I felt pretty safe with it.
We wandered in, placed our orders for a couple of burgers and fries to go, and leaned against the wall, waiting for them to come up. The door dinged, and we both looked over to see Asylum step inside with Ashes.
“Well, lookie who it is,” Asylum said, his eyes lighting up.
“Just the guy I wanted to see,” Evan said before I could speak.
Asylum gave a low bow. “At your service, bat boy. What can I do for you?”
“You’re wasted as hell,” I said, eyeing Asylum’s glassy eyes.
“I am definitely fucked.” He let out a loud laugh.
“He was trying to eat out of a trash can and was making raccoon noises,” Ashes said. “Figured this was more sanitary.”
I sighed. “How is the…” I tapped my head.
Ashes shook his head. “He’s going through something.”
“You know what’s a bitch?” Asylum asked, getting close to me.
“What?”
