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One

Bones

Vanessa spent the day in her art rooetting lost in the colors of the paint She’d been quiet lately, thinking about the conversation she’d had with her faainst us

I’d been thinking about it too

Crow Barsetti hated me No, he loathed me

If there were a stronger word for hate, that would perfectly describe the way he felt

I couldn’t blame him because I felt exactly the same way about him

Thataway from me, banished me to a life on the streets He was directly responsible for turning me into the un, and I could have easily killed two Barsettis in two seconds But hter I loved her so nore his disrespect and insults I illing to be handcuffed like a prisoner awaiting trial

I’d never put up with that bullshit for anyone else

The idea of spending the foreseeable future this ithshe loved while I sat in my office, was exactly hoanted to live out my life It was peaceful, easy, and simple Our quiet companionship was my favorite feature of our relationship With her, I didn’t have to pretend to be so I wasn’t She accepted erate the truth

That was hard to find

And that was how I knew this was real I accepted her exactly the same way, accepted the fact that her family may never like me I accepted the fact that she needed to be close with her family in order to be happy—despite how much it annoyed me

I didn’t knohat our nextup every piece of dirt he could find It was annoying because I didn’t have a probleht to his face

Yes, I killed people—a lot of people

Yes, I’d paid for sex I’d paid for a lot of sex because I was into kinky shit

Yes, I’d paid the police to look the other way

None of those were attributes a father wanted for his daughter

But his wife had turned her cheek to his murky past She’d accepted him for his criminal behavior, for the way he’d treated woe

He and I were exactly alike

I knew that would make him hate me more

Max calleda lot better Went to the gym today”

“Isn’t that a little soon?”