Page 55 of Shattered Fate

I’m getting cold and call Baby inside. She noses Zarah’s hand, overjoyed we’re having a sleepover. Upstairs, I hang up Zarah’s jacket. “You should text your brother and tell him what the plan is. I’ll drive you home in the morning.”

“Okay.”

She pulls a sleek smartphone out of her purse and starts texting. It’s past Baby’s dinnertime, but she waits patiently near her dishes and I fill her bowls with kibble and fresh water. The kitchen could have been cleaner, but Zarah’s visit wasn’t planned or I would have straightened up and changed my sheets. It’s fine. It’s going to have to be. I don’t have a Lucille following me around wiping up crumbs as I drop them.

“How many women have you had here?” she asks, shoving her phone into her purse and hanging it on the same hanger as her coat.

“None.”

That’s part of the reason I don’t mind not changing my sheets. She won’t smell sex in the bedding or another woman’s perfume on my pillow.

“None?” She raises an eyebrow in skepticism.

“None. I’m not a monk, Zarah. If I want a woman, we go to her place.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll show you around.”

The living room is pretty spacious, but it helps I don’t have much furniture. The couch is comfortable enough, and I’ve fallen asleep on it a few times without a woman in my bed. I like watching TV, and I won’t apologize for the size of my flat screen. Say what you want, but it’s not a substitute for anything. At least, I’ve never had any complaints. I like reading too, and I have a few cheap bookshelves filled with thrillers and horror. Not many pictures of family. A couple of me and Pop, but that’s about it. None of Max and me. Mom has some of us when I was a little kid and he was a baby, but as we grew older, there were fewer and fewer chances for her to take them.

“You don’t have a table.”

“I don’t eat here that often.”

I suppose through a stranger’s eyes the hole where a table should be looks funny, but I threw a huge, fuzzy cushion down for Baby. Not that she sleeps on it. She’ll crowd with me wherever I happen to fall asleep, but I’ve never cared so long as she doesn’t fart. Sometimes she keeps her end of the bargain, sometimes she doesn’t. That’s what you get if you cuddle with a dog.

“The bathroom’s this way.”

It’s tiny, and I know after using the bathroom at the house the day I stayed for dinner she’s used to a lot more luxurious accommodations, but the shower has great water pressure, I never run out of hot water, and well, I’m a guy and that’s allI care about. I don’t soak in long bubble baths, and probably wouldn’t even if I had a tub that would fit me. My gym has a steam room and after particularly grueling workouts, I’ll sit in there for a bit. That’s about as frou-frou as my daily maintenance gets.

The bedroom’s next. She follows me, and I scoop some dirty clothes off the floor. Standing in the same room with a bed and Zarah is just as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, and tension crackles around us.

“Do you want something to sleep in?” I doubt she’d want to sleep naked or wearing only her bra and panties. Not if I’m going to be only a few feet away all night.

“Like what?”

“I can give you one of my t-shirts.”

“Oh, that would be fine, thanks.”

“I have an extra toothbrush and I’ll give you a clean washcloth if you want to wash your face.”

“That sounds good.”

She’s looking around my bedroom, but I don’t see anything that would make her run out of here screaming. It looks like a plain old bedroom—a lamp and some books on a nightstand, a chair hidden by a few pairs of jeans that aren’t dirty enough to wash but not clean enough to put away. The bed is messy, but that’s my life, and another thing she’s going to have to get used to if we’re going to be in a relationship.

I shove the dirty clothes into the hamper and resist the urge to smooth my comforter.

Fuck it.

I have a closet full of t-shirts, and I offer her a black one. That should suffice as a nightgown.

The heat in the apartment works, and I won’t have to worry about her lying in bed freezing. Besides showing her where theclean glasses are in case she wants to drink some water before bed, that’s all she’s going to need.

“I’ll put the toothbrush and washcloth on the vanity. Is there anything else?”

A delicate frown crinkles the skin between her eyebrows. “What are you going to do?”

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