“Hey,” he said.
Dice looked at him. “Hey.”
That was it. That was all either of them said for a minute. The jukebox found the next song — something slow, something with an accordion under it, something that had been playing in this bar since before any of them were old enough to be in it.
Billy poured both glassesandthe one Judah was nursing, kept one for himself, raised an eyebrow at Reed who nodded, at Cole who pushed his plate aside and nodded too.
Dice didn't take one but she put an additional glass on the counter.
She leaned on the bar with her arms crossed, her sleeve tattoos vivid in the low light, watching Judah with her green eyes and for once, didn’t know what to say, so she said the same thing anyone would’ve said in this situation. “You look like shit.”
Judah’s face did a thing. He took a deep breath and nodded.
“When did you last sleep?”
He swallowed. “Yesterday.”
“Yesterday morning or yesterday night?”
He thought about it. “The thing that comes before the dark.”
She made a sound that wasn't sympathy but wasn't nothing either. Reached for a glass after all. Poured herself something from a different bottle — something amber that wasn't bourbon. She drank without toasting.
Reed turned back to the bar. Cole picked up his fork and then set it down again. Billy sent the third glass his way, gliding across the counter. The room eased into something that wasn't quite comfortable and wasn't quite tense.
It was Billy who said it first. Because Billy always said it first.
“He told her.”
The bar went quiet — even the jukebox stuttered.
Dice looked at her glass. Reed looked at the bottles on the shelf. Cole looked at his plate.
“How'd that go,” Reed said finally.
“About as well as it should,” Billy said.
Judah drank. The bourbon was warm and it was his sixth glass or his seventh — he'd lost count somewhere around the second hour at Billy's.
“I paid for her,” Judah said, his face pulling into a grimace as he corrected, “boughther.”
Nobody moved.
“At the fundraiser. Hargrove had her. Three others had expressed interest.” He turned the glass on the bar. “I paid over ask. Didn't negotiate. I just—” He stopped. Started again. “Three hundred thousand dollars. And I told myself it was the right thing. That I was keeping her out.” He looked at his hands. “And then I put her right back in.”
Cole exhaled through his nose.
“Different room,” Billy said quietly.
“She's pregnant,” Judah said.
That one landed differently.
Dice straightened. Reed turned all the way around on his stool. Cole put both hands flat on the bar.
Judah kept looking at his glass. “She found out yesterday. Went to Baton Rouge, didn’t want me to find out. Bought three tests.” He almost laughed. It came out wrong. “Three. In case the first two were lying.”
“Does she—” Dice started.
