They didn’t need a key.
Interesting.
Although I wanted to know more about that (and, indeed,everything about the New Darius, though I wouldn’t admit that to myself, anddefinitely not him), I decided it was time for another change of subject.
Though, the subject I picked was trying to learn somethingabout the New Darius.
“So how is it…working with Lee?”
“You wanna be friends now?Catch up?Get to know oneanother?”
“I’m just carrying on a conversation.”
“I’m good with silence.”
Hang on a second.
Was he….
Mad atme?
“Are you mad at me?”
“The last time I saw you I was in a hospital bed with holesin my legs and a fractured skull.”
“Yes, and I’d just found out you’d been deceiving me foryears.”
“Keeping something from you to keep you safe,” he corrected.
“Toe-may-toes, toe-mah-toes, Iguess.Am I right?”I sniped.
He sighed.“Let’s not do this.”
I strained the seatbelt to turn more fully to him.
“No.Let’s.”
“It’s copasetic.You got Liam.I got Liam.It’s working.Let’s not rock that boat.”
I felt like boat rocking.
I felt like tsunami-ingthatmotherfucker.
“You kept us apart, but you got the best of both worlds,” Iaccused.
He burst out laughing, but there was zero humor to it.
It was the ugliest sound I’d ever heard.
“Stop it,” I hissed.
“Yeah, walk in the park for me, babe,” he bit.“It wasawesome.Most of the time, I slept alone.You got to see him take his firststeps.You got to go to the awards dinners at the school.”
“It was your choice to be absent from that.”
“It wasn’t a choice.It was a necessity.This is what you’renot getting.”
“One thing I definitely get, it wasn’tmychoice.None of it.”
