she asked.
I barked a laugh and bit down on it when she jumped at the abrupt sound.
“Sorry, just never been accused of that, you know what I’m sayin’?”
“What? Of being kind?” she asked, pushing off of my chest and sitting up on her own.
“Yeah.”
“That’s a shame,” she said, and I could barely make out the glitter of those fantastic green eyes in the dark, back lit as she was by the dim light in the kitchen behind her.
“It just is what it is,” I said with a gusty sigh.
“I think I’m all cried out,” she said, and I nodded.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
She thought about it for a minute and sighed saying to me, “Uncomfortably numb.”
“Yeah, time for bed for you,” I said. “Things ’ll look better in the morning.”
She got up, and I followed her to my feet, shrugging out of my jacket and cut and laying them over the arm of her couch.
“Um, you really don’t have to stay,” she said. “I mean, if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” I said evenly. “And I’m not going anywhere tonight after what you said when I came in here.”
She hung her head, hugged herself, and said, “I don’t think I meant it. Not really.”
I sighed and felt my shoulders drop and I shook my head.
“My sister…” I started and stopped a moment, getting choked up like I always did when I talked about Lacy. “She, uh, didn’t reach out or ask for help. She came back from college up in Bellingham. Wouldn’t say what happened. I found her in the bathtub. I couldn’t save her.”
She covered her mouth with one hand and stared up at me, eyes wide.
“I’m so sorry, I never would have—”
I made a hissing noise to cut her off and raised a hand.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m not going away. Not tonight. I’d like to think the gods put me in your path for a reason. Maybe this is it.”
She piped down, a tension leaving her shoulders as she looked away for a moment then back up at me.
“Okay,” she said. “I won’t argue.”
“Thank you. Lead the way, where’s your bathroom?”
She took me through the master bedroom and gestured at the bathroom door in here.
“Grab whatever you’re going to sleep in,” I told her and switched on the light in the bathroom going for the medicine cabinet and the razors. She had a little basket of washcloths on the back of the john within reach of the shower. I stacked the cloths on the counter and started tossing sharps and pill bottles into the basket.
“You don’t have to do that, I’m not going to do anything,” she said from the bathroom doorway.
I said, “I thought you weren’t going to argue.” I looked over my shoulder to where she stood in the doorway, clutching fresh PJs to her chest.
“Fair,” she said with a fatigued nod. She looked thoroughly strained around her edges.
“You got three minutes to change and I’m coming in,” I told her with a faint smile to try and take the sting out of the statement. She tried a tremulous smile back, but it fell a little flat.
“I’ll leave the door cracked,” she murmured.
“I won’t look,” I assured her and took the basket of dangerous items into the bedroom with me and dropped onto the edge of the bed. She swung the door shut until only a sliver of light illuminated the bedroom. I lifted the dust ruffle on the bed and slid the basket under it.
While I was down there, I took off my boots and socks.
“Why did you come?” she asked softly, and I tried to glue my eyes to anywhere but that sliver of light as I heard her clothing rustle as she changed it.
“You called. Didn’t sound good. Why wouldn’t I come?” I asked with a shrug, getting to my feet and working my belt.
She ran water in the sink in the bathroom and I risked a peek. She was changed into this country nightgown, white, eyelets, something that belonged on an old lady except it looked somehow right on her. It made that innocence and purity of hers shine even brighter. I folded my jeans and put them on top of her dresser before I pulled the faded black TOOL tee I had on with the sleeves ripped out off over my head to fold it up too.
I was lucky I hadn’t gone commando this morning, instead opting for some form-fitting black boxer briefs. I sniffed, threw my tail