Chapter 16: Say Her Name

Colt came back to the bungalow at noon with blood drying along his jaw.

The twins were in front of the television with a bowl of popcorn between them, and I met him on the porch before he could reach the door.

"Sit," I said.

"It's nothing."

"Sit on the swing and let me look."

He sat, and the chain complained.

"What happened?"

"I told Sonya she was fired. She laughed." He kept his eyes on the yard. "She said I couldn't fire her because she was never mine."

"And the cut?"

"I reached for her phone, and a man from her building security put me into the elevator door in the garage."

I went in, found the first aid kit under the bathroom sink, and came back with a wet cloth and a bandage.

I knelt in front of him on the porch boards.

I had made a rule the night before, and I knew exactly what it was.

I put my hand under his jaw to turn his face to the light.

His skin was warm and rough with stubble.

His throat moved when I touched him.

I told myself it was the cut.

I cleaned it, and he held very still, and neither of us said anything while I worked.

The cloth turned pink.

"It's shallow," I said. "It won't scar."

"Good."

"You should have said her name."

I had not planned to say it.

It came out flat, in the middle of cleaning a cut, and Colt's eyes finally came back to mine.

"On the stage, you mean."

"On the stage. You had the card. All you had to do was say it."

"You never asked me to."

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