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"Count your blessings" sounds an awful lot like "You should be happy" I don’t feel blessed or happy Relieved, yes Standing out on that balcony ofin the ree of comfort that I had yet to experience But none of this overshadows the fact that I don’t have a life

"But maybe I want to knoho I was before I choose to start over," I argue

"Do you, really?" She pushes her chair out and stands abruptly, an annoyed air swirling around her "The girl you were had her face sliced up, her teeth knocked out, her body violated Do you want to remember all that? Because I’m pretty sure that brain of yours has decided it doesn’t want anything to do with the girl you were any you that, thenher arive yourself a daue with you?"

Deep inside, I know she’s right

Louder, she dethe door open just long enough for Felix the dog to scaht and we’re already at odds With a sigh, I tuckas quickly asheavily on my spirit

THIRTEEN

Jesse

then

"You reeon," comes the accented voice behind me as I stand in front of the table, the various wrenches and socket sets lined neatly; boxes ready for the clas for my hands and the tools to the left, sealers and lubricants waiting to be grabbed The Aston Martin manual open to the table of contents

I’ve heard this before The guys in shop class used to break lance over e door, dressed all in black "It helps the work go faster when you knohere things are"

"I see the hoist worked?" He eyes the seized engine now sitting on the ground

"Yup Easy" It’s a good one Not one an ordinary person would have access to I don’t want to knohere he got it

He drops a notebook and pen on top of the tools "Write down everything you need on here The sooner you get the list to me, the sooner I can appropriate the parts" He turns with the sound of the entrance gate opening

An adrenaline rush hits me as the silver BMW pulls up I can’t help but watch Alexandria’s long legs as she cli out with her

"Where have you been?" Viktor snaps

"I had a midterm I told you that" Her tone is soft, but it only seeer him more

"And I told you that I will not pay for these courses if they interfere with our lives"

Obviously, Viktor isn’t too keen on the idea of her in school That doesn’t surpriseto happen when she actually becomes a nurse?

She dips her head and seeritted teeth

"Excuse me?" Ice slides into his words as he closes the distance "Have you forgotten? Do we need to talk et home later?"

She lifts her head, her jaw set defiantly "No, Viktor"

He pauses, his hand twitching at his thigh "I don’t knohat has gotten into you lately but I don’t like it, Alexandria I didn’tdefiant Get inside"

I turn away just as she storainst the stone ay

"I give her everything she could possibly want and she is still not happy!" heto me

"They never are, are they?" It’s the only response I can think of She definitely isn’t happy, I can say thathe wouldn’t be either, if he knehat happened between his wife and me Would he slap me like he did her? Hoould he react?

He s for from me "I will be late Reone, the interior door at the back of the garage opens and Alexandria steps out She’s still dressed the sah she’s traded her heels for slippers and her white blouse is untucked and hanging out All the flashy jewelry has been stripped off her body "Are you hungry?" She holds up a plate and two bottles of beer

My sto I stuffed into , actually" I hold up my filthy hands

She smiles and points to the door she just came out of "Inside and to the left"

I follow her instructions into a mudroom that is separated from the rest of the house by a heavy door on the opposite end and is the size of Boone’s and e with clean hands, Alexandria has set up a blue folding chair next to the table and cleared soine, her arms folded across her chest, a beer in one hand "So Viktor hired you to fix this?"

I stroll over to the plate "Yup Last night, standing in front of the urinal" Stabbing a piece of stew meat, I shove it into my mouth "Wow," I mumble around a mouthful "Did you make this?"

"One ofthe bitterness

"Viktor’s lucky to have a ho cooks like this" I wonder how often she hears that Because all I’ve heard is ridicule Sure, he kissed her Once

But so have I

I feel her eyes on me as I shovel in hunks of eon and a police officer for parents, I didn’t get a lot of home-cooked enius in the operating roohetti and a jar of pasta sauce