“How many crimes has this been used in?” I said.

“Ha-ha. Fuck, I dunno. I got a couple of them. I can let you have that one.”

“How much?”

“Oh, come on. We ain’t that kinda friends, are we?”

“Last I checked, we weren’t any kind of friends,” I said.

“Come on, Red. You know I like you, even when you’re being a bitch to me. You know what I want.”

Toby liked me too much to take my money and just enough to want to see me on my knees, sucking his dick. Like I knew he would, he put his hand around my throat while I did it, and it still wasn’t as bad as having sex with Asher.

I only wanted the gun because I wanted to feel less scared, less helpless. Wherever I was going and whatever I was going to do, I didn’t want to be unarmed.

“You’re pretty good at that,” he said after it was done.

I shrugged, because my mouth was full and I wasn’t about to swallow.

I picked up my shirt and bra, which he’d made me take off, and carried them down the hall to his bathroom.

“You’re not gonna use my toothbrush, are you?” he yelled.

Like putting his toothbrush in my mouth would be an improvement over his dick. I spat in the sink and took a big slug of his mouthwash.

After I gargled for a minute, I got dressed and went back out to the front room. He was still lounging on the couch with his sweatpants down around his ankles. I rewrapped the gun and put it into my purse.

“You know how to use that, don’t you?” he said.

“Yeah, I know how to use it.”

“Well, whatever you plan on using it for, keep my name out of it.”

Like I’d want to tell anybody how I got a gun from Toby.

I drove out to Cabela’s and bought a box of ammo. Not target ammo, but the serious shit that’s meant to blow a hole in somebody. Then I went to the bank to empty the household account, because it wasn’t like I needed to pay the rent or utilities on the apartment anymore.

After that, I did the only thing I could think of: I went back to the Franks’ house.

Charlene and Elana were doing math problems when I walked in without knocking. She kept telling me to. I carried my purse back to the guest room and counted my money. At least I had the Colorado money and the weed money, even though that was supposed to go to my medical bills. Add in the household money, and I had four thousand dollars. I put it, the gun, and the ammo into the secret pocket in my backpack with the last ounce of weed. Then, because I still felt gross, I brushed my teeth and gargled with the mouthwash in the bathroom cabinet.

Since we came back from camping, Gentry and I had only seen each other in passing, and his bedroom was empty as I walked by. I thought about taking my stuff and leaving, but I owed Gentry something, at least a thank-you. Also, I really wanted dinner and a place to sleep. Story of my life.

“Are you looking for Gentry?” Charlene said, when I went back out to the front room.

“He’s outside sleeping,” Elana said.

“Does he always sleep outside?”

“As long as the weather’s good,” Charlene said. “He has trouble sleeping. Always has.”

I went to the patio doors and looked out. Sure enough, he was lying in the middle of the backyard with his shirt off. When Trang got home from school, he woke Gentry up, and they went for a run. After that was dinner, and then family TV time, which Gentry spent on the floor reading a book.

“Gentry? Could I borrow another book? I finished the other one,” I said, thinking I might get him alone that way.

“Gladly, my lady.”

He jumped up, and I followed him to his bedroom, where some of the shelf space was used for books instead of weapons and armor.

“What liketh thee?” With his book tucked under his arm, he squatted down to look at the bookcase under the window between the beds.

“I don’t know. What’s your favorite book?” I said.

I didn’t understand what he said, but it sounded like Vain Laurence Olivier O’Leon.

“’Tis there. Yvain.” He pointed at a row of books lined up on the dresser behind me.

“Hey,” Trang said from the doorway. “I was gonna FaceTime with a friend for a little bit.”

“With thy lady?” Gentry said.

“Well, I’m trying to talk her into being my lady.”

“We shall not keep thee from thy noble task.”

“I’m just getting a book.” I pulled down one that said Yvain on the spine, but when I opened it, the actual title was Yvain ou le chevalier au lion. “Okay, I’m almost a hundred percent sure this book is not in any kind of English.”

Gentry came to me and took it out of my hand. He said, “Nay, ’tis Old French.”

“And you speak Old French?”

“I know not if I speak it well, but certs I can read.” He said something else that was a bunch of random sounds to me. It didn’t sound snooty like I thought French would, but then he didn’t have a fancy accent when he spoke Middle English, either. So he sounded like himself in Old French, too, except saying words I didn’t understand at all.

“He knows Old German, too,” Trang said.

“Here, my lady.” Gentry put the book back and took out another one. Also Yvain, but this one in English.

We took our books, and Trang closed the door after us. We stood there facing each other, me pointed toward the front room and Gentry pointed away. I thought about stepping past him and going back to where his family was, but I’d wanted to be alone with him, so I turned around and led him to the guest room.

Only I didn’t want to be alone alone with him. I worried that he might want to fool around, and I didn’t think I could stomach that after sucking Toby’s dick. I sat down on my bed and left it up to Gentry to close the door, if he wanted. He left it open, but came and sat on the bed beside me.

I took a pillow and put it behind my back so I could lean against the wall. I handed him the other pillow and he did the same thing. Then we sat on the bed next to each other with our bare feet hanging off the side, both of us reading.

It reminded me so much of LaReigne it made my stomach hurt. We read together a lot when we were kids. Something to do on a cold or rainy day. Or when Mom was feeling strict and wouldn’t let us leave the house. We would curl up together on her bed and take turns using each other as a pillow. One of those things we never did once we were adults.

I put my hand on the bed to shift my weight a little, and I left it there until I needed to turn the page in my book. When I went to put my hand back on the bed, though, Gentry’s hand was in the way, and I accidentally touched his pinky finger with mine.