Page 81 of The Quiet Tenant

“Well,” she says, and she doesn’t bother holding back a sigh. “I should go.”

An impulse rises through you. To hold her back. To clasp your fingers around the fabric of her coat and never let go. To start talking and never shut up.

She turns away, walks to the door.

“Bye,” she says, and barely turns to give you one last look.

You are going to do it. You are going to tell her all the things and you are going to trust her because she is your only chance, and—

The door shuts behind her, right in your face.

Like it was never an option. Like she knew, knew from the start, you weren’t going to do it.

CHAPTER 55

Emily

I put the key back where I found it. My breath beatboxes up and down my trachea as I go back to the car. I sit behind the wheel, bury my face in my hands.

Well.

Now I know.

She’s beautiful in that raw, earthy way that’s the opposite of pretty. No makeup. Natural hair. Doesn’t give a shit about her clothes, clearly. Why would she?

If I had her bone structure, I wouldn’t care, either.

A giggle comes out of me like a hiccup. My rib cage quivers. Something like sobs, but not really.

She said she was a friend, then that she was his cousin. It was a lie. An obvious one.

All I know is there’s a woman in his house, and she’s definitely not his cousin.

CHAPTER 56

The woman in the house

You return to the bedroom, as if it could keep you safe.

Any minute now, the tires of his truck will screech outside. He’ll climb up the stairs, the furioustap-tap-tapof his boots a prelude to his anger.

He’ll materialize, a blur in the doorframe, and deal with you.

What about her?

What will he do to her?

It had to be her. The stranger who left those marks on his back. Who dug her fingernails into his flesh—a mark of pleasure, you know that now.

Who the fuck are you, Emily, and what did you want?

And you—you, you. How could you let her go?

How could you not tell her anything?

How could you not fucking warn her?

You wrap your arms around your legs. Cecilia is still in her room, quiet. Good.Stay out of it, kid. Keep yourself out of this mess and maybe you’ll grow up to see a better world.

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