“I’m badly…” I hated that I hiccuped. “There are a lot of bruises.” I wanted to be strong. If I was strong, then I wouldn’t break down. And I couldn’t do that yet. I … I had to hold it together. I. Had. To. “My family’s dramatic. I can’t deal with that right now. They’ll take me from Stan and I don’t want that?—”
“But surely you’re going home?!”
“I’m going with Stan to his place in Brooklyn.”
Star wondered, “This seems pretty fast.”
Stan’s arms tightened around me, not enough to trigger claustrophobia but enough to encourage me to rest my head against his shoulder.
“One day, I’ll tell you about how my mom and dad met,” I muttered grimly, aware that he tensed then relaxed behind me.
Mostly, I was amazed he didn’t have a boner. I’d once dated this dick who’d expected to come back to my place after I’d been mugged prior to our date.
God, my standards were too low.
“So, you’re staying with him for the interim?” Star inquired.
“If he doesn’t mind.”
Stan grunted. “I don’t.”
“This is very odd, but fuck, I don’t mind odd.” Star clucked her tongue. “A touch of oddity is pretty satisfying sometimes. Okay, so as long as you tell them you’re away or something, then I won’t let anyone know the reason.”
“You can do that?”
“I can. Ish. But I tell Conor everything—this dumb rule he came up with after the last bombing—so you might get a call too, Stan.”
My eyes bugged.Thelastbombing?!
“That’s fine. I’m doing what she wants here.”
“Bullshit. Don’t make it out like you’re not happy she wants to go to your place.”
“What I am isrelievedthat she doesn’t hate me, Star. I’m grateful she isn’t pushing me away. As for everything else, if she wants fresh peaches from Georgia, tomatoes from San Marzano, or goddamn chocolates from Zurich, whatever she needs, she gets.”
Star hmphed. “That was pretty sweet for a nutty pharmacologist?—”
“She knows, so you can stop trying to muddy the waters.”
“Wow. She does? And she still wants to go home with you? You’re luckyIdon’t kill you after what that brain of yours cooked up?—”
When I tensed, he gritted out, “Star. Not now.”
“Okay, I’ll stop Conor from sending a SWAT team over to your place. Speak later. Got an incoming from an unknown number and if that’s not Dead To Me, I’ll fucking?—”
We never found out what she’d ‘fucking’ do because she cut the call.
Immediately, I relaxed into Stan, reassured now that that was handled.
I loved my family, but I had to focus on getting through the night without losing my shit. Ma hovering, my brothers posturing, and my sisters coddling would only accelerate my visit to crazy town.
Rory: A doctor will be waiting at the house.
The banner flashed at the top of his screen.
“Rory?”
“My sister.”
