Page 82 of You're so Bad

“Yeah, Tiger. I do.”

So that’s exactly what we do. She holds me, and even though I know she’s doing it because of what I told her, because of the things I unloaded on her that I should have kept buried deep, I let her.

ChapterTwenty-Two

Shauna

Group text:The Evans Sisters Want the Goods

Mira:Well???????? Was it an eleven out of ten or what?

Me:Twelve.

Mira:Fuck. I feel like I should have a cigarette in honor of you.

Delia:You stopped smoking six months ago.

Mira:You try sticking to your new year’s resolutions under these conditions. Byron practiced Free Bird on his guitar until three a.m. last night.

Delia:Lucas is moving out of his apartment in a few weeks. Maybe you could live there? Do you want me to talk to him?

Mira:Doesn’t he have a roommate?

Delia:You’d barely see him. Danny keeps to himself, and he’s a really nice guy.

Mira:Have you met him, Shauna?

Me:I think so? I don’t remember, honestly.

Delia:Um. You’ve met him too, Mira. More than once.

Mira:Huh. There’s something to be said for forgettable.

Message from Grandpa Fruckface:

It’s been thirty-four days since you last responded to me.

Leonard and I fall asleep in his room after watching a couple of episodes ofThe Sopranos, but when I wake up, he isn’t next to me. My heart feels like a stupid rabbit, lost in my chest, because all I can think is that he ran off after opening up to me last night. But when I go downstairs, he’s curled up on the couch, which is much too small for him, dressed only in his underwear. The sight of him like that—vulnerable, his scar and his tattoos revealed to me—makes my throat tight.

So does the fact that he left me to sleep down here in a much less comfortable place. He’s trying to put space between us again, and the intelligent thing to do would be to listen. A couple of weeks ago, having space from him sounded like a fantastic idea, but now left is right and right is left.

Hearing Leonard talk about his past broke something in me, because I hurt for that little boy. My parents were neglectful jerks who shouldn’t have been allowed to procreate, but they didn’t use or harm me. What I’ve learned explains a lot about Leonard, but there are still so many secrets I want to know and don’t.

Gidget.

His time as muscle.

The way he changed his name more than once after leaving Asheville, when once would have probably done it.

I could probably think of five thousand questions for him.

He groans and looks up at me, squinting. “What time is it?”

“Ten o’clock,” I say with a snort.

“It’s a Sunday. What are you doing awake, devil woman?”

He surprises me by pulling me down onto the couch with him, snuggling me up to him.

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