“Not as such. She’s going to take me to dinner.”
“On a motherfuckingdate?” Faraday let loose a laugh. “Another first for Jessica Morton!”
I couldn’t argue. My traditional meal with sexual partners was breakfast.
“So there’s been zero hanky-panky?”
“A sweaty hug,” I said. “The holding of hands.”
“Jesus, this is priceless.” Faraday finished her champagne and waved her glass for more. “Tell me—what’s this girl like?”
“She’s an artist.”
“Big family? Only child? Youngest? Eldest?”
“An orphan—she says so in her socials. But that’s all I know.”
“My family was the first thing you asked about!” Faraday looked stunned for a moment, then shrugged it off. “All that matters, I guess, is how does she make you feel?”
I poured us both more champagne, letting the question bubble in our glasses. The spark in Hiromi’s eyes as she sifted through hard candies and sharp pieces of metal. The smell of her sweat, the taste of bitter lemon.
And Arabella’s warning too.
“Like a hunter,” I said.
Faraday breathed out a dramatic shudder, then pointed at an artwork on the wall. “What’s that?”
“A light box.” I reached for the switch. “Prepare yourself.”
As the transparency flickered to life, Faraday gasped a little.
It was a self-portrait of the photographer, who wore a gray wig and a twisted smile. Crawling on her face was a horde of ants, spiders, and millipedes. It wasn’t clear from her expression whether she knew the bugs were there.
“I love it,” Faraday said. “I want it.”
“Twelve thousand.”
“Perfect for the house,” she said. “If we ever get to live there.”
I took her hand. “Why wouldn’t you, dear?”
“It’s Salinger. Yesterday, I told him he can’t live in the house, and he didn’t take it well. He’s threatening some sort of lawsuit.”
“Ridiculous. He wasn’t even going to pay rent.”
“But it’s too late to get a dorm room, so he’s homeless. My fault, he says.”
“Nothing to worry about, dear. Aunt Minerva will get him a room.”
Faraday looked at me, her eyes fluttering. After all she’d seen of the Mortons’ power, it was our sway at Campus Housing that left her speechless.
“Consider it done.” I patted her head. “But I’m still not living with you.”
“The room’s taken. That’s the thing—he changed his mind.” She looked away from me, the pale skin of her neck flushed with pink.
It fell into place.
“Sebastian.”
