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"That’s tomorrow, in case you’d otten lost in the mail I’ll see you at The Columbia Nine thirty sharp, the cereot up and pushed the list closer to hier

"I own a tuxedo"

"Then dust it off"

I was halfway between Keaty’s brownstone and Central Park when Sig called

"If your young Mister Chancery is to be believed, I owe hiratitude It would have been quite inconvenient to have to explain to the council e needed a new Tribunal leader"

"Nice to hear your voice too"

"I trust your vacation was invigorating"

"I feel like a neo, not that I don’t love our little conversations, but is there so I can do for you?"

"Perhaps invest in a personal calendar"

"Pardon me?"

"It’s Thursday"

"Yes, and what’s your--?" Oh, Jesus Today was the day the council would announce their decision about otten I felt like an asshole of epic proportions "Is Brigit already there?"

"Waiting very patiently, yes"

"I’m on my way"

Chapter Thirty-Six

I wasn’t dressed for the council

Jeans and a hoodie with thuure, and I already had a hard enough ti the council to respect my authority

It didn’t help that when I said "respect my authority" in my head, it was in the voice of Cart e their it become a warden If et the position, ed intoLucas with one hand to tell him he’d have to see Kimberly without me, while my other hand pulled my clothes off I was topless and halfway out of my pants before I realized I wasn’t alone

"Don’t let me stop you," Holden said fro the show"

I threw my hoodie at him "Make yourself useful I need to be dressed for council in three oing to put him to work

We went opposite ways, he into my bedroom where he would make himself at home in my closet, and me to the bathrooht’s booze-induced pity party and the exhausted patina it had left onfroain?" I would be pissed if he was I’d spent a lot of ti respectable since I’d joined the Tribunal Nothing in my closet was comfortable, but at least I looked hot in it

I splashed cold water onto htened, his reflection was next to mine in the mirror I yelped "Christ, Holden, do I need to put a little bell on you?"

He continued to speak like I hadn’t even openedall right After…you know" His eyes drifted down to the gray scar on my side It would whiten over time like the sound it was next to But they’d never heal completely That was silver for you I had another white line on my arm and a second star-shaped one on hway attempt

For so, I was starting to show a lot of per?"

With those four words he undid all the healing I thought I’d done, proving once and for all there were plenty of wounds I couldn’t keep fro I don’t do crying" He ripped a wad of toilet paper off the roll and shoved it in ly"

I hiccupped and alhed

"You would find an insult funny, wouldn’t you?"

I wiped away the tears and threw et ot all raw and snot-nosed There was no Kleenex left in ht, between the tears and the tear-induced boogers God, he was right, crying made people hideous

"Sorry"

"You should be, that ful" But he was s in a worried way

"What did you find ht need to go back and get so more absorbent" He held up a bundle of red satin straps that bore no rese that would cover ht it, after all

"Get out so I can change" I shoved hi I haven’t seen before"

"Nothing you’re going to see again" I sla face

When I ca reseh ed toit with a lot of smoky eyeshadow I looked squinty and mysterious

The dress, too, had been transforer a motley collection of fabric strips Once the dress was on it was a plunging V-neck with straps crisscrossing from front to back in a woven tapestry that would all come undone if someone were to pull the tie at the nape of ht then it hat I needed

Holden let out a whistle and handed me a pair of silver stiletto sandals "Now there’s the Secret I know and…know"