“Good grief,” Ari mumbled, latching the window and walking out of her room for the kitchen. Leftover Thai sounded perfect after a night of dancing and sex.
Three microwaved minutes later, Ari banged her hip into the dining room table almost losing the bowl of rice and massaman she carried over a glass of milk. “Don’t fall, don’t fall,” she whispered. It didn’t matter, though. She saw the faint glow of the television from the living room and stopped in her tracks. “Oliver?”
“It’s me.”
Ari spotted Veronica curled up on the love seat, her face lit from the blue screen. “Oh, hey,” she said. “What are you doing up?”
“Light sleeper.” She smirked at Ari.
“Oh, geez.” Ari sank into the armchair. “Really?”
Veronica nodded and covered her laugh with her hand. “Sounded fun, though.”
Ari glanced at the TV and saw an apocalypse survival show. Oliver’s girlfriend was certainly an enigma. With her long, dark hair and a perfect nose, she had that beauty-queen thing going on, but she kept seeing Oliver and she was into the apocalypse. She couldn’t be that bad.
“Do I look like a whore? Dumping Nick and then bringing home another guy?”
“Well,” Veronica said, looking away from the TV. “When you put it that way, yes. But, I’m not judging. I think you had to make a choice—and you did.”
“I guess.” Guilt pressed down on her for the first time that night. Was it wrong? And what did she choose? Certainly not a relationship. Was it just sex? Davis had only said things would get complicated. They already were. “Have you ever been with a guy that makes you just feel … alive? Like when you aren’t with him you kind of crave him? Like you just can’t wait to get another … hit?”
“Sure.”
“Yeah?” Ari asked. “I haven’t. Not until now. Not until this guy. I mean, he just left and I want more.”
Veronica raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you made the right choice then—over Nick.”
“Yeah, but sometimes, it feels like it may consume me. At least what I felt for Nick was controllable. This? I feel like chasing him down the street.” Ari blushed after saying it. Why was she telling Veronica about this?
“Does he want to chase you back?”
Ari thought about Davis’ public kiss and the way he moved against her. She thought about how his hands parted her legs, pushing her knees to the side. The way he counted her stars, lingering over the new one, in the center of her chest. Like he knew. Like he knew she got the ink because of him. “Kind of. Yes. He’s always there. Like he needs it, too.”
Veronica yawned and stood up, stretching her arms wide. “I guess you’ll have to ride this out then. See where it goes. If the burn fades or if it turns into something else.”
She stepped over Ari’s legs and handed her the remote control. “What else would it turn into?” Ari asked.
Veronica gave her that same smirky grin. “Love.”
Chapter 19
Standing at the heavy, metal door, Ari waited for a guard to open it with a key. She’d gotten a call from Ms. Cox on her way into work. She turned her car around, stopped at the coffee shop, and headed to the detention center. Sometime last night, Devon had been arrested. After a 10-minute wait, someone finally came to unlock the door.
“Ms. Grant, awful early for you to be here.”
“Tell me about it. I figured I should just get it over with,” she said to the guard whose name she’d forgotten. Tall and thin. He had a weary look about him just like everyone else in this building.
They parted when they passed through the next locked door. Ari knocked on the open door of Ms. Cox’s windowless, basement office. “Morning.” She offered her one of the cups of coffee. “Thanks for the call. What’s going on?”
Ms. Cox accepted the coffee and placed it on her desk next to a large, looming pile of files. “I get emails at home when the kids are processed. I shouldn’t bother, but it makes me feel better knowing what’s coming at me during the day. I saw Devon’s name pop up and the associated charges. I knew you’d want to know.”
“Thanks. I’ve got a ton of work to do today and a staff meeting at ten. What were the charges? I’m assuming she’s not listed as a runaway. I just saw her and her mother hasn’t called.”
Ms. Cox thumbed through the files and slid one out near the top. “Says here disorderly contact and resisting arrest, but the notes mention her talking about witnessing an abduction.”
“An abduction? Does it say anything else?”
“Not really. I doubt the police believed her, and since she already had a record they just brought her in. I’ll call her up.”
Devon arrived with a guard 15 minutes later. She wore the standard blue jumpsuit and paper slippers. Ari saw a thin cut down the side of her cheek, partially covered by a bandage. Her eyes lit up when she saw Ari. “Ms. Grant, you come to get me out?”
“No, not yet. You’ve got a hearing sometime later today or tomorrow. Do you want to tell me what happened?”