“He lost,” Leo said. “Percy lost, that guy opened his mouth to gloat, and Percy stuck his gun straight in it.”

“Jesus.” Althea covered her mouth with both hands, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

“He’s got his gun in there, between this guy’s teeth, and in the most polite voice ever he calls over to me, ‘Grab that painting, would you?’ Everybody in the place looks at me, and I’m frozen to the spot, so he adds, ‘Or I could blow his brains out?’”

“So you did it?”

“Of course I did it! I took it, I shoved his money into my shirt, I opened the door for him, then we’re in the hall. He pushes me onto the fire escape, and before I even know what’s happening, we’re in his car, speeding across town. He bundles me into his apartment, slams the door, takes the stolen painting and hangs it directly on the wall where it had a hook waiting, and he offersme a drink. Then he gave me the option: take all the money he’d just won and go, or stay and work for him, and get even more money in the long run.”

“Fuck,” she repeated.

“I know!” he agreed. “I was terrified of what ‘work for him’ meant. I mean, you’ve seen the size of his dick.”

“Yeah, just that once.” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know how Joe deals with that.”

“Well, he’s one giant asshole, so he should be able to handle?—”

Althea slapped his arm. “Joe’s lovely!”

“Anyway, long story short, Percy promised me a fresh start, and I agreed. I didn’t expect him to nail the door shut and start weaning me off drugs that same night. He took over the whole thing. Fuck knows where he got the meds, but he did it. Then, when I recovered from that, he got to work having me tutored. Got me from reading like a third grader to now, where he makes me read two novels every week. He taught me French and Italian, though I’m still shit at Italian. He got me new clothes, specially made, never off the rack. New shoes, money, deportment and elocution lessons. He says I’m going to Cambridge in a few years. But that he won’t pull any strings, so I need to be ready. He pretty much gave me his Paris apartment. He’ll stay there too if he’s in town, but he almost never is, anymore, so it’s essentially mine.”

The sadness that had been in Leo’s voice at the start of the tale had given way to gushing excitement. “And this work I do for him, I love it. I can really do things to pay him back for all of it. Not that he sees it that way, because he says I don’t owe him a thing, but it makes me feel like I can. And…” He shifted in his seat, facing her as much as he could, searching her eyes deeply as if to confirm she understood the importance of his words. “You only ever see him when he’s stressed. You don’t get to seethe guy I know who did all of that for me. Who lived with me. Who, for a while, was like…” Leo grew embarrassed, glancing away again. “I’m not going to say like a dad or anything, but… he, um… I don’t know. I don’t know that much about his past, but I know it’s fucked up. I think he’s had a really hard life, even if he doesn’t let on. And what I said to him that night, about the painting, it must have sparked something in him, because… I think he just wanted to bring me back from where I was. Like that dead lamb. And he did it. And now, it’s nice that he pays me, really well. It’s nice that he does all those other things, but I’d do anything for him without it. He’s the only person who ever loved me, and I love him.” He shuffled back to front-facing, letting the first hint of bitterness for some time slip into his tone. “And when he gets bored of Joe, things will settle down again.”

Althea took several seconds to state what she thought, and she did so as gently as possible. “I hate to break it to you, but there’s no way Percy’s going to get bored of Joe.”

The train slowed on approach to their station, and Leo stood with a grimace. “I don’t even know what he sees in him.”

“Besides the fact that he looks like a model?”

On a derisive snort, “He’s had plenty of hot guys. Giordano’s way better looking.”

Althea rolled her eyes. “Giordano looks exactly the same.”

“That’s racist.”

“You can’t be racist against Italians.”

“You just found a way.”

Althea breathed out a silent laugh as she hopped off the train by Leo’s side. “I think your bigger problem will be what happens when we get this thing out of Joe’s body, and he dumps Percy’s ass for treating us all so badly.”

“Dump his meal ticket? Not likely.”

“Is that really what you think of him?”

“Name one useful thing he’s ever done.”

“He saved my life.”

“Percy did.”

“Joe did,” she corrected on a curt note. “Percy wouldn’t have even noticed me that day. He would never have sat down next to me, asked me my name. Joe had no idea how bad things really were for me, and he had his own stuff going on, but he stopped everything just to listen to me. A complete stranger. Because that’s who he is.” She threw out a demonstrative hand. “Meanwhile, Percy goes in guns blazing, dick against the wall?—”

“Dick against the wall?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Not re?—”