Page 12
Milo
Did you go on a DATE?? a real one??
FINALLY. i knew somebody would like you
Dont worry about dinner we had pizza. its better than your cooking anyway lol
OK im going to bed now. i miss you. come home soon
Panic rolls through me. I never told my brother I wouldn’t be home last night, and then I slept with Lev.
I’m stunned to my core. I handed my virginity to my ex’s Pakhan twin brother in a one-night stand.
Lev’s hand still rests over my chest, proof that none of this was a dream. His warmth and his slow breath settle the matter beyond any doubt.
I ease myself out of his arms and get dressed as quietly as I can. Nothing in my entire life could possibly be worse than this exact situation.
He is, humiliatingly, my type right down to the bone. He has defined muscle, a mature and handsome face, and a blend of gentleman and savage I never knew I wanted.
But the dream is over now. Reality has to resume. Alcohol let me pretend it didn’t exist, but sober, I have to go back to being who I truly am.
I carry crushing medical debts and an eight-year-old boy to raise on my own. I cannot drag a man this dangerous into either of those things. I need to get back to my real life today, before it slips any further away from me.
I add one stop to the list before I let myself think about the other thing that happened last night.
A pharmacy, for the pill.
5
DELANEY
The Uber pulls away from Lev’s tower while I’m still buckling, and I run the cruel arithmetic in my head. There is no version of this morning where I get home, feed Milo, walk him to his bus, and still clock in at Sablo on time.
One of those things has to give, and it cannot be the shift. I ordered the car myself, in the dark, unwilling to wake him or let one of his drivers carry word back about where I spent the night.
There’s a pharmacy on the corner beside my building. I will duck in after work, I promise myself. I can carry the risk a few more hours without falling apart.
I text my brother the same reminders I send every single morning. Eat something real. Lock the door behind you. Don’t open it for anyone. I swear to him I will be home tonight without fail.
Milo is eight going on forty, and he needs less minding than most grown men I have met.
His reply lands within seconds. The little brat is faster on the draw than I am.
Milo
Cereal already handled. Cereal makes me powerful, unlike your sad soup.
I roll my eyes at the screen and type back.
I get up at six to cook you actual vegetables, you little shit-gremlin.
Milo
My teacher says forcing food builds resentment. Also your pasta was basically glue last week.
I concede the entire round to him. I did once swap the salt and the sugar in a soup and serve it with a straight face. His bus is still twenty minutes out, so I let him keep the victory.
Milo
