Page 269 of Mad Girl

“Well, yes⁠—”

“And you don’t care that she has a boyfriend?”

“He was never her actual boyfriend. They were just fooling around. And, anyway, she’d just ended things with him—that very same night.”

Michael’s hand stilled in my hair again. He and I hadn’t talked since then, so he didn’t know that.

“She was upset,” you told him. “So we watched a movie. We talked.”

“Oh, yeah? Is that all you did?”

“What?”

“Are you sleeping with her?” Michael asked.

“Are you serious?”

“Be honest with me, Casey. You have feelings for her, don’t you?”

You choked out a laugh. “She’s my charge.”

“I bet you love that, don’t you? Being in charge of her? Nic giving you that kind of power?”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” you muttered.

“And now that Willoughby’s out of the picture, you’ll finally have her all to yourself again.”

“All to myself? You’re over here all the time.”

“Does that bother you?” asked Michael.

“No, I’m completely fine with it. Contrary to what you think, I’m not trying to keep her from you.”

“Then why did you forbid her to hang out at my place?”

“I didn’t forbid her to hang out at your place specifically. I just⁠—”

“But that’s what you wanted, right? That was the whole point of taking away her freedom last spring. You don’t want me touching her.”

“Well, actually, you’re—I mean, you’re touching her right now.”

“You say that like you have a problem with it,” Michael said, voice low and smug. “Do you have a problem with the way I’m touching her?”

You made a rough chuckling sound. “No. By all means, keep running your fingers through her hair. I literally don’t give a shit.”

“You look like you give a shit.”

Without seeing your face, Casey, even I could tell you gave a shit.

“I wonder,” Michael said, “what you two talk about when you’re left alone inside this house for hours. I wonder what you tell her.”

“What do you think I tell her?”

“Personal stuff you obviously don’t tell me. Like how you were adopted, for example.”

“She saw Claire over FaceTime and she asked. I didn’t volunteer that information, okay?”

A lie, Casey. That’s not how you told me at all.