“Me?” Rett seemed surprised. “Why?”
“Because friends check up on each other.”
“F-friends?”
“I-is that okay?” I asked.
“Can you put the line on speaker?” Ghost asked. “Pretty rude that I can only hear half.” He was eating a bag of nuts. I wasn’t sure where he’d even gotten them.
“If you get crumbs on the floor, you’re paying for a cleaning service,” Kieran complained.
“I’m gonna get a drink,” Ghost said, taking his snack and heading toward the kitchen.
“I’ve always thought of you as my friend.” Rett seemed a little shy.
I smiled. “Me too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and now that I know you do too, we should hang out more.”
“Okay.”
“So, ah, how are you? Kieran said you’d been sleeping and in pain.”
“Oh. Ah, yeah. I, ah, must have come down with something. But I’m feeling a little better now after getting some sleep. I’mso sorry I didn’t hear what was going on at your place. I feel terrible.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. Those men are dangerous.”
“I saw your apartment. The entire place was destroyed. What did they want?” Rett asked.
“They tried to kill me.”
“What!” he hollered.
“Yeah. I’m not really sure why. I’ve never seen them before in my life. They took all my IDs too.”
The body holding me went rigid, and I glanced up to see his smoldering blue stare watching me so hard I swear my skin started to burn.
I cleared my throat and turned back to my conversation. “You haven’t heard of anything going on in our neighborhood, have you? Maybe seen anyone new lurking around?”
“No,” he replied. “But I can ask around. Tommy down the block?—”
“No, don’t talk to Tommy,” I said, alarmed.
Kieran made a sound.
“He always knows what’s going on,” Rett said.
“Yeah, because he’s a drug dealer and bad news. Stay away from him.” I couldn’t believe he even suggested it.
“But I want to help.”
Is this what it’s like to have a friend? Someone to care.“You can help by keeping my only friend safe.”
“Time’s up,” Kieran announced.
I made a face. “I’m sorry, is this prison? Are you my warden?”
