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“Maybe I’ll kill him.”
“An innocent man? Absolutely not.”
I blew out a breath. Jack was such a stickler for right and wrong. It was cute. It was also like having my conscience walking around outside my body, where I didn’t always have access to it right away. “No one is completely innocent.”
“You’re not part of the legal system. You don’t get to decide whether he is innocent or not.”
“I am part of the legal system. The legal system just doesn’t know it.”
“Killing one evil person doesn’t make you an executioner.” They sighed. “For the sake of this couple, and for the sake of your self-respect, try not to be too much of a dick. You’re a human being, not a demon they summoned.”
“Fiiine.”
“If they tell you to fuck off and leave them alone, you need to respect that.”
“Those exact words?”
“You know what I mean. Have they told you to stay away from them?”
“Not in so many words.” I didn’t like how that sentence felt in the pit of my stomach.
“Be nice to them, and maybe they’ll let you stick around, if that’s what you really want.”
“I’ll consider it.” I pushed up from the floor and stretched. “Thank you for the advice. I’ll let you get back to sleep.”
“Okay. Think about what I said, and don’t twist my words around looking for a loophole.”
“I would never.”
“Mmhmm.” They shooed me away, eyelids already drooping sleepily.
“I love you, Jack,” I whispered.
“I love you too, Loïc. Make good choices,” they murmured.
“Never.”
I made sure not to let the window slam when I shut it behind me.
Chapter Eighteen: Loïc
Valor's antipathy is the rope that pulls Loïc from the sucking mire.
Loïc Leduc, Journal 14
Although I’d managed to find my cell phone in the dark, it was only at fifteen percent.
I dialed anyway, not sure where my charger was.
“Hello?”
At the other end, Valor sounded groggy. Too bad I couldn’t see him.
“Do you ever feel completely alone in the world?”
“Loïc?” Now he sounded annoyed. Even so, he didn’t hang up.
“I’m like a statue, with the rest of humanity rushing around me, oblivious to me, other than to the fact that I am in the way.” My speech was slurred, and my accent was breaking through my strict elocution training. “Unless they do notice me. Then they just want to fuck me.”
