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His whole body was suffused with heat, and the pins and needles that acco

“Sure,” he said

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

JULIA CAME INTO the kitchen fro Ben down for a long-overdue nap She still looked rigid, as if anger had fused her joints

“Sit down before you fall down,” Jesse told her She eased into the chair Her hands were fisted in her lap

It was a physical battle to keep hi her

Friends, he reminded himself Don’t be an ass

He put an open bottle of water in front of her, thinking she could probably use it She drank half of it in one long s

He watched her, that shift and play of her throat, and wondered what he was supposed to do What did friends do right now? If she were Mitch—his only other friend—they’d go get drunk Or rather, Mitch would get drunk and Jesse would sit and listen to Mitch’s bullshit until he ran out of it

“I don’t think you realized what you agreed to when you said we could stay” She set the water down “We’re sort of a logistical nightmare”

He nodded and pushed himself up to sit on the counter—the saerous line having her here, when every ainst a live wire And he found that the very time when he needed to be an asshole to preserve hi left

Go figure

“I have to ask Aet Ben up to her house Would it be all right if she—”

“Yes” He nodded and he could practically see the weight of responsibility co

“Jesse,” she whispered in theunderwater “I can’t—”

“It’s no problem,” he said “I’m serious”

She was going to say so else and he couldn’t bear it Couldn’t bear to see her so grateful for these s

“I’ve got some work to do,” he told her “You can use that bedroom and make yourself at home” He kneas cowardly, but he walked away froe