Page 8 (2/2)

I squeeze hher in

Before I retreat, I pressher warm breath on mine, and inhale sharply to take her inside me in this small way

“Sleep well,the bedroom door closed behind me

Outside the door, I lean one forear release todick

I fist the steel girth; it only takes a few strokes before I’ my release

One touch, and I’ll never be the same I don’t knohat sort of monster I will beco: Anyone that hurts her will face a wrath unlike any I’ve unleashed before

3

Esme

KAREN UNFOLDS THE TOP of the brown grocery bag, then starts lifting out white take-out containers

“It’s eight in thes under me as I shove a pillow behind ht in the ?”

She bobs her head back and forth,her slick black hairbrush at her shoulders “Me” She sot off work, so feels like dinner time to me”

I met her on the bus to the courthouse the week I started my internship She was headed there herself to pay so tickets for her loser boyfriend, who she—thank goodness—kicked to the curb soon after we met

The bus was full, the seat next to her the only empty space, and as luck would have it, she can make friends out of rocks I liked her i twins She has the exact sath, thick and always a bit s, except hers is jet black