Starved. Even after a full steak dinner, that’s what I was. I hadn’t eaten nearly as much as I’d planned. I’d have to work my appetite back to where it’d been.

I drove Tiffany back to the apartment, taking in everything through the windshield. The one time I’d been outside in the past year and a half, it’d been because of a fire in one of the dorms. They’d handcuffed all the inmates on my floor with one chain and walked us out to a van to transfer us to a secure spot until it was taken care of. In solitary, I’d had a nightmare or two about being locked in a cell while the building burned around me.

Just thinking about it now, I got hot. Tiffany’s car was too fucking small. My knees were nearly at my chin. I’d rolled down the window before I’d even pulled away from the curb, but it wasn’t enough, so I played with a few buttons to get the sunroof open.

“Want me to do it?” she asked.

“No.” Eventually, it slid open. The night was cold, and Tiffany pulled her sweater closer, but I couldn’t help it. I needed the air.

I’d made a mistake putting off sex with Tiffany. I’d known it as soon as I’d stepped into the Kaplan’s home. Lake had come running down the stairs, her skirt practically up to her crotch. I’d taken one look at her long, tan legs and gotten hard on the spot. I’d had to refrain from chasing her back up the stairs, into her bedroom, and locking out the world for a few days.

If Charles hadn’t sent her back to her to change, I would’ve. The outfit was too much. She didn’t know she was tempting a dangerous man, and if she did, she wasn’t as smart as everyone gave her credit for. Did you put a juicy, bloody steak in front of a caged animal and expect him not to break through the bars?

As soon as I parked, I remembered what I’d forgotten at Target. “Fuck.”

Tiffany eyes sliced to mine. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I meant to stop and get some things.”

“What things?” she asked.

“Condoms.”

“Oh. Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered.” She opened the car door, smiling at her pun.

I shut off the engine and followed her through the complex. The apartment keys were on the BMW’s keychain, so I unlocked the front door. “Wait here,” I said.

“Why?”

Walking into a dark apartment, I tensed. The quiet made my stomach hurt. I flipped on some lights, looking around.

Tiffany clomped in behind me, kicking off her shoes next to the couch. “It’s a really safe neighborhood,” she said.

I wiped my hands on my jeans. “I know.”

She came over and stood in front of me, hands on hips. “You got taller.”

“Or you got shorter.”

She smirked and held out her hand for me. “Come on, big guy.”

“Where we going?”

“Take a guess.” She led me to the bedroom and left me standing at the foot of the bed. I’d never seen a sweeter sight than a bed that could be mistaken for a cloud.

Tiffany went to her nightstand and opened a drawer. “Condoms, lube, toys.”

“No toys,” I said.

I watched her light a candle on the side table. “This is for ambiance, so don’t get any kinky ideas. I hope you like vanilla.”

I was partial to anything that didn’t smell like mold, shit, or piss. “Are you on the pill?”

“Yes,” she said, then turned to me. “Manning, I’ve got this. I’ve been thinking about tonight for a long time.”

I scrubbed my jaw. If that was the case, she probably wanted this to be special. I guessed that was the reason for the candle. I’d have to rein myself in, because right then, I could’ve fucked until my heart gave out. Or maybe it was like the steak, and slow was better at first.

“Toss me one of those.”

She brought a condom over and put it in my open palm. “I got the extra-large. Wishful thinking, I guess.”

I couldn’t help my laugh. “Careful what you wish for.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?”

I kissed her. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could wait. She pressed her body up to mine and I put a hand on her ass. When she had my pants down, she pulled back to look down. Her eyes widened. “Holy shit.”

I was hard as a rock, but that wasn’t the reason for her shock. My rock was more of a boulder. Thanks to communal showers, I’d seen more dicks than I ever wanted to, and I knew what I had. My hard-on was painful, and I was ashamed to admit I’d had it since dinner. Tiffany had run her fingernails over my thigh under the table like it was nothing.

Smoking that cigarette was supposed to help, but then Lake had showed up. Something about her bare feet was so sweet, it’d pissed me off. She made my emotions go haywire. One moment it was everything to keep my hands off her, the next I was reacting to her, helpless, and I hated that feeling. I never wanted to give up control again. If I’d never met her, I wouldn’t be in this fucking mess, but I cared too deeply for her to just walk away. It was confusing as hell.

And so was this, my girlfriend stripping down to her black lingerie while I thought about her seventeen-year-old sister. I needed to be more fucking careful. Shouldn’t be thinking about Lake that way at all, and definitely not while I was with Tiffany.

I pushed all thoughts of Lake out of my head and put my hands on Tiffany’s shoulders. “Listen. I’m going to go as slow as a man in my positon can,” I said. “If I get a little too rough, stop me.”

She blinked at me. “Why would I stop you?”

“To put it nicely, I’m eager, Tiff.”

“Manning.” She wrapped her hands on the outsides of my forearms. “I’m not breakable. I’m not like some innocent little virgin who has no experience whatsoever.” I only just grasped the dig at her sister before she pressed on. “Did I expect classical music and roses and lovemaking tonight? No. We can do that later. Right now, I want to be what you need.”

Her words worked their way down my chest, straight to my cock. What I needed was a girl who could take it as good as I gave it. That was Tiffany. Had it been Lake in front of me . . . the filthy things I wanted to do . . .

Overnight she started to change . . .

Was that any way to think about the wide-eyed girl who’d come onto a construction site to thank me for finding her bracelet? She’d been fucking timid and kind and sixteen, and I’d still looked at her and wanted to possess her. That was how I knew I was no good. A decent man would’ve looked at Lake and seen a girl, nothing more.

You don’t know what it’s like to watch a girl become a woman.

I stuck the condom between my teeth, ripped open the foil packet, and spit out the top scrap. I had to be inside Tiffany now. I needed her. I needed to lose myself, set fire to my thoughts. I rolled the condom on.

“How do you want me?” she asked.

My balls tightened as I turned Tiffany around and unhooked her bra, tossing it aside. I took a minute to appreciate what was in front, running my hands over her slender shoulders, over the tiny dark freckles that spotted her back, down her spine.

She shuddered.

I tested her with my finger, and when I found her wet, I nudged my cock between her legs.

She fell forward over the bed, spreading for me. My fucked-up brain saw long blonde hair and smooth back and Lake and I drove into her.

She hissed. “Mmm.”

“Sorry.” My heart pounded. She wasn’t wet enough. Why would she be? I’d done nothing to warm her up. She writhed a little on the mattress, and I only grew harder for her squirming. All those sordid fantasies I’d had about her, now I was living them. I needed to calm the fuck down.

“Babe?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Get the lube, okay? It’s in the drawer. Then you can go as hard as you want.”

A sense of gratitude came over me. She could’ve told me to fuck off for going too fast, but she was trying to give me what I needed. I slid out of her and went to the nightstand. While I was there, I peeled off the condom in case I’d broken it. I put a new one on, and turned back to her. I did the best I could in my animal state to make sure she came.

Uncomfortably hot, I woke with a start when I didn’t recognize my surroundings. The sheets were soft and white, and sun came through the slatted blinds, warming up the bedroom. I had no idea when I’d fallen asleep or if Tiffany was by my side or what. In the kitchen, the faucet ran.

I sat up to grab my jeans off the floor and get my cigarettes from the pocket. I lit one and leaned back against the headboard. My head was clear for the first time in months. Maybe years. I shut my eyes and let the nicotine work through me. As soon as I did, I saw her. Lake. Lake, nearly falling at my feet in the foyer.

Physically, she’d changed. Her legs were still too long for her body, but now, she was lithe, not gangly. She had real breasts, ones that were just the right size for her frame. It made me equally uncomfortable and aroused. I liked them, but as they’d never be mine to memorize, to worship, I hated them. I hated the idea of other men looking at them, drooling over them, touching them. I breathed through my nose until the excruciating image passed.

She’d come to a hard stop when she’d noticed me, her lips parted, cheeks flushed. Why? Did I scare her? What would she have done if things’d been different? Leapt into my arms the way her sister had? In that short skirt, she would’ve pressed her heat right against me. Fuck fuck fuck. For what had to be the hundredth time in twenty-four hours, I was getting hard again.

Could I deny it? I wanted Lake. I wanted her bad. I always had, but I’d been able to control it before. She was still young, but she was seventeen now, and every inch the beauty I knew she’d become. She had lush blonde hair that was a little ratty and, like her legs, too long. Her breasts were high and round. For dinner, she’d worn tattered jeans and a t-shirt but why, why the fuck did she still look like the sexiest thing I’d ever seen?

I took a drag of my cigarette. All the times I’d fantasized about Lake inside, and when she was standing right in front of me, I couldn’t even speak to her. What the fuck was there to say? I’d wanted to fall to my knees and pay homage. To overwhelm myself in her. Soak my senses with her. Touch her body, smell her neck, taste her mouth, hear her moan, feel her relief that I was home.

And still, she made me so fucking mad, demanding answers, pushing me places I didn’t want to go, wearing an outfit that’d rouse a dead man. If just being in her presence was enough for me to feel the blood rushing through my veins, having anything more with her would be too explosive. I couldn’t do explosive. Not with my history. I’d destroy everything good about her . . .

I looked up at a noise in the doorway. In a terrycloth robe, Tiffany held a glass of water and a Domino’s box. “It’s half pepperoni, half Meatlovers. I wasn’t sure what you like.”

I swallowed thickly. That small gesture brought me back to where I should be—to this bedroom, to Tiffany. It’d been so long since anyone had taken care of me. Had made me a monster sandwich or explained the constellations to me or put a roof over my head. Over the years, those I thought I’d taken care of had actually been taking care of me. “Thanks, babe,” I said and meant it. “It’s perfect.”

She smiled a little and came into the room. “You look hot.”

“A little.”

She set the stuff down and flipped a switch for the overhead fan. On her way back to me, she pulled a bottle from her robe pocket. “I took this from the house for you. It’s the bourbon my dad drinks, so it must be good.”

I looked longingly at the liquor. I could count on one hand the sips of alcohol I’d gotten behind bars, and I fucking missed it. “Wish I could, but I have that meeting with the parole officer at three. What time is it?”

“Noon.”

“Fuck. Normally by this time, I’d have already had breakfast, lunch, and worked half a day.”

She played with the bedsheet. “You were so tired. I didn’t want to wake you.”

I kept my half-smoked cigarette in hand and chugged the water in one go.

“We’re not supposed to smoke in here,” she said.

I shook my head. “Have to be able to smoke if I’m gonna stay here, Tiff. I can’t not do it.”

She sighed. “All right. We might have to disable the fire alarm.”

“Yeah.” I sighed at my cigarette. I didn’t want to set off the alarm and have to get up just yet. I dropped it in the remains of the water. “Didn’t think of that.”

She took a paper plate from the top of the pizza box and lifted the lid. “How’s pepperoni sound?”

“After sex, a good night’s sleep, and a cigarette, exactly what I need.”

She gave me a slice. “Good,” she said flatly.

“Was it too much last night?” I asked, worried I’d scared her. “You have to tell me if it’s too much.”

She smiled. “It was great. It’s just that we, like, didn’t kiss very much.”

I set the paper plate on the nightstand. “C’mere.”

She leaned in. I took her by the back of her neck and pecked her mouth a few times. It wasn’t enough to thank her for what she’d already given me, but I had to ease into any kind of intimacy. Tiffany and Lake were worlds apart in my eyes, but I couldn’t ignore their physical similarities, and I didn’t want to imagine Lake during this part. Not even for a second. After I locked Lake into another part of my brain, I kissed Tiffany for real, as a boyfriend would his girlfriend.

When she pulled back, I focused on things that were unique to Tiffany, the way her nose turned up a little at the end, or the unusual, icy shade of her eyes. She had freckles, dark little ones around her chest and face, including a faint one that could’ve been a beauty mark.

“This is nice,” she said softly. “I like to see you.”

She didn’t deserve to feel like I didn’t care. I’d have to make more of an effort to show her that. “Thanks for all you did. Coming to the arraignment when you didn’t have to. Dealing with my landlord, the truck, my furniture. I won’t forget it.” She’d gone above and beyond for me. I’d told Grimes to give her my things, but I’d pretty much expected her to turn them down. Instead, she’d stepped up to the plate. “And you can kiss me, you know. You don’t have to wait for me to do it.”

“I . . .” She looked into my eyes. “I love you.”

“I know.” Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t really capable of returning it. I had lost Maddy, my entire family even, at an age when I was learning what love was. Maybe one day, with the right person, I would’ve figured out how to move past that, but not after what I’d seen inside. I was pretty sure I’d never let myself get too deep with anyone now. People were fucked. Life was fucked. If I loved someone, they could be taken away from me at any time.

It was a lesson I’d had to learn twice, and no way in hell would there be a third.