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“Do I?”
“Has anyone ever told you that shit is hard on your liver?”
“My therapist tells me at least twice a week.”
“I think you’re lowballing that number.”
“That’s a roundabout way of saying I love you, but I’ll take it.”
They smiled at me and yawned widely enough to make their jaw crack. “Is Martine harassing you?”
I stretched out flat on the floor, crossed my ankles, and tucked my hands behind my head. “Yes, but there’s more.”
“You have bigger problems tonight?”
I sighed and ran my tongue along the back of my teeth. “That’s what happens when I spend time with people.”
“Who have you been spending time with?”
I got bored of staring at the ceiling, so I rolled onto my side and propped my head on my hand, needing to see their expression when I admitted to what I’d been doing.
“The couple who picked me up from the bar. I’ve been seeing them.”
“Seeing them? Seeing them the way you see Martine?”
“No, I’ve been visiting them,” I said carefully.
“Visit?” I wasn’t sure if it was some sort of technique Jack had learned from the books, but it was effective when they echoed what I was saying like that. It made me turn the words I used over in my mind and examine them.
“It’s been…an education.”
“Have they given you permission to visit?”
I press my lips together. “They haven’t called the police yet.”
Jack rubbed their face. “Not calling the police isn’t exactly consent, Loïc.”
“They chose me to interfere in their relationship, so I’m giving them what they want.” I slid a hand through my hair to get it out of my eyes.
“Remember our discussion about you missing social cues?”
“It’s not like that,” I said. Or maybe it was exactly like that. Maybe they hated me and were too polite to say so? Martine always made a nuisance of herself when I was worried about things.
“How do you feel about the fact that you’ve been stalking them?”
“It’s not stalking—not really. Well, maybe it is. I’m not being creepy about it, at least.” Was I? “They never seem truly unhappy to see me. Valor tries to act like he is, but I don’t believe him.”
“In the real world, there are boundaries. We’re friends, so the boundaries between us are a bit blurry. When it comes to these people that you’re seeing, have they told you it’s okay for you to drop by uninvited? To let yourself in? To snoop in their personal business?”
“They let me into their relationship.” Hadn’t I already said that?
“They let you into their relationship with the understanding it was going to be for one night.”
“But then we crossed paths by accident, and he gave me her phone number on his business card. So that makes two phone numbers, plus the address of his business. That’s practically an engraved invitation.” I sounded sulky, even to myself.
“A phone number doesn’t give you permission to visit, let alone stalk them.”
“I think she was impressed when I showed up. She lives in Prague, you know.”
