She puts her lips next to my ear.

– I’d rather have your blood, Joe. I’d rather have you inside me.

Something catches in my throat, snagged on the lie. But I can live with that.

– My blood’s no good for you, baby.

Her hands clutch the back of my neck, they find the tear in the collar of my jacket. She works her fingers into it.

– Oh, Joe, your jacket.

– I know. I’m sorry.

She tugs my head lower so she can see the ribboned leather.

– I don’t know if I can fix it.

I pull her face back to mine.

– I can live with it.

She squeezes me tight.

And it’s uncomfortable, squatting there, Evie hanging from my neck.

But I can live with that, too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHARLIE HUSTON’s novels include Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things, and A Dangerous Man, the Henry Thompson trilogy, as well as Already Dead, the first of The Joe Pitt Casebooks. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Virginia Louise Smith.