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“Do you want me to make something to eat?” she says, words tumbling out in a rush.
I stare at her. I ought to go back and hang around at Kate’s for longer. She’ll have to come home eventually. But I need to get Nadine out of my apartment first.
“You’re leaving today, yeah?”
“Faaaaab.” It comes out on a long whine. “I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
I’ve not been concentrating on the problem of Nadine today, and I inwardly curse.
“The deal was one night.”
“You’ve got lots of space, though, babe. I’ll behave. I promise, Fab.” She walks toward me, wheedling, and I hold up my hands as hers reach out.
“No, Nadine, that was the agreement.”
“I won’t do drugs or anything.” She shakes her head, and how often did I hear thatexactsentence coming out of her mouth when we were at college? Nothing has changed for her, and when she contacted me, I really hoped it had. I examine her drawn face, her skinny arms, and my stomach hollows out.
“I don’t want to physically throw you out, but I will,” I say.
Her wheedling instantly switches. “You’re a fucking bastard, you are. After all we shared, you’re throwing me out on the street. You don’t know what it’s like. You can’t kick me out tonight.”
I shake my head at her. This game … she turns on a dime, every damn time. She played this card yesterday evening, and I shouldn’t have waited until six today to start this conversation. I gave in yesterday because, fuck it all, Idoknow what sleeping out is like.
She drops her head, dark hair falling around her face, and this is so similar to when Zach stayed here that my whole body wants to cave in. I let out a long, controlled breath. She needs some fucking help. And then my chest expands, I’m an idiot. I know people out there.Steve.I can find her a place in a woman’s refuge.
“I’ll find you a bed for tonight. I’m friends with someone who works in a shelter.”
Her jaw drops, and she folds her arms. “No way in hell, babe! Those places are awful—you’ve no idea.”
“Actually, I do,” I mutter. Zach died in my third year, not long after I’d extricated myself from her and her bullshit, and I don’t want to tell her any more about what happened to him or what I did afterward; it’ll only give her more ammunition, more things to exploit.
I pull my phone from my pocket, and Steve’s voice is warm and happy on the other end of the line. He’s like a soothing balm after the day I’ve had. God love these people who take care of the homeless in this city. He was a godsend through my many months of trying to find Zach and then living on the street, and I’ve helped him out many times with the shelter’s computers. He tells me returning the favor is long overdue. Nadine listens, mouth pinched, her black beady eyes fixed on my face.
When I thank him and hang up, she calls me a “fucking asshole who’s no friend at all” and flounces off to the kitchen and starts banging pots around. I don’t care. She’s taken advantage of me too many times for me to feel sorry for her. Why did I even take her in in the first place? I guess part of me was curious to see if she’d managed to sort herself out, but it was also because my annoyance with her had faded. I’d forgotten what she’d put me through, and my sympathy for her and her situation bubbled up again.This time when I help it will make a difference.I must stop listening to that voice in my head.
So … now all I need to do is get her out of the apartment—
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
A heavy fist lands on the door, and I stand stock-still for a second before stepping silently into the corridor, prickles running down my spine. Dammit, my alarm security people aren’t coming until next week: Could someone have found me here already?I’ve been careful.The slimy guy on the sidewalk pops into my head.Goddammit.
Nadine appears behind me. I shake my head, pressing my finger to my lips, walking silently up to the door and peering through the peephole …
Janus’s messy head of hair is bent forward, and my body deflates like someone took a pin out of it. And I’m so pleased to see him. Today has been so shit. I wrench open the door with a grin on my face.
“Fucker,” I say to him, but he doesn’t smile and his face turns stony when Nadine appears at my side and winds an arm around my waist. Frowning at her, I shift away, but her mouth twists coyly, and she wraps a long tendril of hair around her finger. Janus lived through everything that happened with her at college, and Nadine would be at the top of his shit list.
“Hi, Janus,” she says breathlessly, and my stomach curls inward.
He doesn’t say anything to her and looks at me, tightness around his eyes and in the thin line of his mouth. I’m in a world of trouble, and I probably deserve to be.
“Let’s talk,” he says through clenched teeth, gesturing at me to come out of the apartment. I’m going to get a lecture. Janus does being disappointed in people like no one else I know, and I hate being in his bad books. I ram my feet into my boots as Nadine hangs on the door.
“I’ll make us something to eat,” she calls after me as I thump down the stairs, and I shake my head at her. I think I’m going to have to physically remove her from my apartment.
