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“That’s, uh, part of what I have to tell you about.”

“I’m all ears.” She sets down her stuff then plops on my couch. A tuft of cotton flutters into the air as she does so.

Missed a spot.

Temper grabs my bowl of popcorn and begins eating it. “Where’s the booze?” she asks, looking around. Usually nights like this always have a beer or a glass of wine to accompany them.

Crap, she doesn’t yet know.

“Um, I’m trying out this whole sober thing,” I say, gingerly sitting down next to her.

She swivels to fully face me, popcorn forgotten. “Okay,whatis going on?”

I scrub my face. “Way, way, waaaaaay too much.”

Where to even start?

Dropping my hands, I glance down at my wrist. “You know this bracelet?” I begin, lifting my arm.

“Yessss.” She has no idea where I’m going with this.

“Each one of these beads is an IOU.” I run my thumb over them, not meeting her eyes. “I’m in a lot of debt.”

She settles into the couch. “So pay it off,” she says, and now she resumes eating my popcorn. “You have money.” She snaps her fingers as an idea comes to her. “Or, better yet, glamour that shit away.”

I clear my throat. “It’s not that simple. I can’t glamour this guy. And I am paying it off. That’s why I’ve been gone.”

Now she squints at me. “Who’s the guy?”

I give a nervous laugh. “He’s, um … he’s the Bargainer.”

It’s quiet for several beats.

Temper raises her eyebrows. “Wait,theBargainer? The same Bargainer who nearly killed that teacher a decade ago? The same guy that’s been linked to over twenty disappearances? The same guy that’s always at the top of the Politia’s Wanted List because thatsame guyis always pulling mad-ass shit?”

“All that stuff is alleged,” I say.

She snorts. “Bitch, you and I both know that motherfucker ain’t innocent.”

“He’s a decent guy.” And he kisses like a rockstar.

“You’re defending him,” she says, astounded.

“It’s complicated.”

“He’s abad guy, Callie. And this ismeyou’re talking to. I grew up in Oakland—Ilike’em bad. But even I think he’s too naughty to tap.”

I roll my lips together and stare down at my hands.

She takes one look at my face and blows out a breath. “Oh, naw, girl, don’t tell me you like him?”

I don’t say anything.

“Shi-it. You do.” She reaches over and grabs my hand. “Let me give it to you straight, bitch—it always ends terribly with the bad ones.”

Unfortunately for me, I already know that all too well.

It’s deep nightby the time I eventually go to sleep, my mind too consumed by my thoughts.