Sasha sets me next to a couch that’s along the wall. I rub my thigh, giving him a harassed look.
“You made me spill my drink,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him. I’m frustrated, and I want him to know it.
“How about a game?” Trick says to him.
Sasha shakes his head.
“All right. Then I guess I’ve got time to teach Rachel. I know you’re not letting C leave here on his own. So it’ll just be me and Rach here, needing to occupy our time.”
“Don’t start shit you can’t finish,” Sasha says.
Trick grins. “Haven’t heard that one in a long time.”
Sasha says nothing.
Trick finishes his drink. “She’s getting stir crazy. Why don’t we—?”
“If she’s stir crazy—or anything else—she can tell me herself. And I’ll decide what to do, or not do, about that.”
Trick holds up his arms in a gesture of surrender. “Gettin’ pretty gothic up in here. What’s next? You lock her in a tower?”
“You know one around here? Where is it?” Sasha murmurs.
Trick laughs softly. “Fuck, ‘Vil. She’s not a real princess. You know that, right?”
Sasha raises his middle finger.
Trick nods. “I’ll leave you to it then.” Trick sets his glass down and leaves.
I lean against the couch, watching Sasha. I see the muscles in his arms flex and then relax. I finish my drink, my head already buzzing. It’s midafternoon, and I’m drunk.
“I want my violin. And my birth control pills. Zoe can get them while she’s out.”
“Did you tell Trick that?”
I shake my head.
“Good.”
“Don’t be silly, Sasha,” I say.
His gaze snaps to my face.
“I don’t care about Trick. And he doesn’t care about me. We’ve only got one thing in common. You.”
“Women go for him. When he pays attention to them—or even sometimes when he doesn’t. That’s a fact.”
“He’s not my type.”
After a beat, he asks, “If you want to go out, why don’t you ask me?”
I look down at the ice in my glass. “Because.”
His voice is closer when he speaks, and it surprises me again that he can move so quietly. “Because?”
I raise my eyes. “If you said no—” I shake my head. “It would hurt.”
His breathing takes on weight, growing heavy. “Am I supposed to trust you? I left you alone, and you walked three and half miles through the woods to escape.”
