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"Adam," he says "I’ll tell you my last name at lunch"

I slam the truck door and stomp off toward ht beneath Adam’s front door I’m a few feet away from the door when I hear his truck door sla after me For some reason I’m both relieved and disappointed by this

I turn the key in the lock and quickly slip inside before he can reach the staircase leading to his aparth as I lean back against the cool surface of the door The apartly hot and sht home from work this afternoon, but it feels safe

The knock on the door startles o into defensive-on my door at nearly one am?

I yank open the door, ready to rip hirab it and I’m about to slam the door before I remember Cora She would be devastated if she knew her new tenant and I were already on bad tero and her family lives almost three thousand iver is a bit standoffish, so her tenants are all she has The single ht before I moved in The upstairs apartment has been empty for four months Cora must be ecstatic to have a new tenant and some extra inco cat food straight frorips the doorway and leans into h he’sme more uncomfortable than I felt at the party

"You’re welcohter escapes my lips as I take a step back "Does that usually work for you?"

He shrugs "Usually, yes, it does"

"No, you can’t coht, Adam"

I push the door closed and he sticks his foot on the threshold to stop it "I’ll be back at two o’clock to take you to lunch Is that late enough or do you plan on sleeping all afternoon?"

"Goodnight, Adam" You persistent, sexy little shit!

I push the door closed and i a bottle of cold water out of the fridge, I drink half of it before I change into an oversized t-shirt and slide underfor a moment before another memory plays out in front of me like a home movie

Chris sets my backpack down on the floor in a plain bedroo in bedrooms decorated like a toddler’s playroom so I don’t even flinch

"My mom wouldn’t lethis chin toward the ceiling as he digs his hands into the pockets of his jeans

That’s when I see the thin nose ring that dangles from his septuo to sleep"

His lip quirks up in confusion "It’s three o’clock"

"I haven’t slept I got kicked out last night and I spent the night at the police station I refuse to sleep in the presence of strangers"

"Afraid someone will shank you in your sleep?"

He suy thinks he’s so fucking cool

"I’ sex with you," I declare

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I see the way you’re looking at uess I’ll let you sleep and maybe when you wake up you’ll chill the fuck out and realize that just because someone’s nice to you it doesn’tblur into darkness I grab htstand, power off the phone, and slide the mask over my head so it rests onI cherish the days I get to sleep in If so sleep, I would be the first congregant

I groan as I turn over in htstand to noon The things I do for Cora

Chapter Four

Relentless Aone I never heard her co She’s perfected her catlike prowl so as not to wake me up when she comes in late I take a shower then dress into soht at the surf shop next to the café I slip on soe just as the first knock couzzle the entire bottle of water

I open the door and Ada at Cora’s front door across froeous His T-shirt is stretched just a bit taut over his broad shoulders and his skin is so s the wooden plaque with the chipped blue paint hanging on Cora’s front door

"It’s a quote," I say as I step outside and pull the door closed "I gave it to her for her birthday"

"Home that our feetthe quote "I knew you’d be awake"

My breath hitches as he turns around and flashes ood with his sandy-brown hair styled in a calculatedlyover o shorts as he gazes at noring his infuriating certainty aboutfor hiraduated in May, so I’er subject to such cultural annoyances"

"Poetry is a cultural annoyance?"

He sraduate?" he asks, and it see each other