“But you’re telling us,” Kieran pointed out.
Well, no shit, Sherlock.“Yeah, because you think he’s an addict.”
Haz gasped. “Is that why he was sleeping in the middle of the day?”
I nodded, and Kieran’s brows drew down.
I turned to Haz. “Listen, half-pint, let him tell you when he’s ready, okay?”
“Why doesn’t he want me to know?” Haz asked.
“Probably because no one believed him when he started showing symptoms, and then after a doctor confirmed it, they told him it was his punishment for being gay,andthey tried to beat it out of him.”
Haz’s face fell. “Is that why he was homeless?”
“It was safer on the street than at home,” I said, haunted by those words. They would echo inside me forever.
“You get a name?” Kieran asked. I knew that tone. It was his murder tone.
I had a murder tone too. “Oh yeah.”
Kieran nodded. “Good.”
“I should call him,” Haz said.
“You can’t.” I reminded him. “I’m telling you this now because, when I went back to his apartment after I dropped him off?—”
“Why’d you go back?” Haz asked. Couldn’t even let me finish my sentence, the freaking gossipmonger.
“What does it matter?” Kieran asked.
“Is it because you missed him?” Haz pressed.
“This is not some sob story on TV,” Kieran growled.
“He’s right.” I agreed, finishing off the walnuts. “This is a sob story based on reality.”
“Would you get on with it?” Kieran erupted.
“Tommy was in his apartment. Threatening him. Theyspilled out into the hallway with Rett on the floor and Tommy’s fist in the air.”
“Who the hell is Tommy?” Kieran asked.
“He’s the top drug lord in our neighborhood. Most everyone is afraid of him,” Haz supplied.
“Yeah?” I scoffed. “Well, he ran from me like a little bitch.”
“You’re using the fact that Rett was canoodling with a drug lord as your evidence that heisn’tan addict?” Kieran wanted to know.
Smug asshole.
“First of all,” I corrected, “the only canoodling Pip does is with me.”
“What’s canoodling?” Haz wondered.
We ignored him.
“Second of all, would you just listen?” Trying to talk to these two was like asking a blender to lower its voice.
