Page 109 of You're so Bad

Reese heads into the opening to The Painting Place, passing Rafe, who winks at me.

I wink back.

For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel anything but good.

“Can I be your peanut gallery?” I ask as my friend follows the kid inside. Rafe set out a bunch of paper, charcoal and pencils, plus acrylic paints, brushes, and a couple of canvases and tabletop easels. Judging by the look on the kid’s face, it might as well be Christmas morning. I feel a contact high, remembered from when my grandmother decided one of the rooms in the basement should be an art room. She’s the one who bought me that first big hunk of clay—and as I worked with it, I cried for the first time since my parents had died. I cried for everything they hadn’t been to me—and for everything they were. For those few moments when my mother had hugged me, and my father had said he was proud of something I’d done.

I still have the monster I made that afternoon.

I’llalwayshave that monster.

Maybe Reese needs that too—a way to let everything that’s bitten at him from the inside out.

“If you want to stick around, it’s up to my man Reese here,” Rafe says, nearly giving me a jump-scare I was so lost in thought.

Reese nods quickly enough that I suspect he’s still a bit intimidated by Rafe, but the intimidation doesn’t last long, because soon they’re sketching together. Reese isgood. Rafe and I exchange a glance—the kind of giddy look of two people who love art who’ve found a third person to indoctrinate into their cult.

The time goes by quickly, and I’m surprised so much of it has come and gone by the time Leonard texts me. I fumble to get my phone out of my pocket, then snort-laugh at his message.

She said no.

Liar, liar pants on fire.

OK, she said yes, but Burke looked like a tool in his outfit. I would’ve said no.

Did you tell him about Reese?

Yes. He’s going to meet us at your house after he fucks Delia.

He said this to you?

In so many words.

So, how much time are we talking here?

For his sake, I’m hoping a couple of hours.

For her sake, I hope so too.

I’ll be there soon. Just got in an Uber.

Text me when you get here so I can open the door.

A few minutes later, my phone buzzes again.

Leonard:

I’m here. Look how well I listen.

I go to open the door for him, and he comes in and instantly lifts me off my feet, sweeping me around in a circle.

“Put me down,” I cry out.

“I’m in a good mood, Tiger,” he says as he sets me on my feet. He leans in to kiss me, I grab the top of his shirt to pull him closer. When he breaks away, he says, “I got a feeling today’s going to be a good day.”

“All that romance go to your head?”

“It only seems right to help out with one wedding if I have it in my mind to destroy another.”

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