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Hollis wanted to scream at Walt as soon as they got inside, but he didn’t.

He knew two things about Walt so far: yelling didn’t have any effect on him, and he was vulnerable to surprises. He knew Walt would be waiting for some diatribe about Yulia. So, instead, Hollis waited until Walt had comfortably folded up his mended clothes and placed them back in his drawers to say:

Tell me about some of your other rides. The people you’ve possessed.

Walt paused, then shut Hollis’s drawer.

Why?

You know more about me than I know about you, and I don’t like it, Hollis said honestly.

He could feel his own eyes rolling.

Okay, but can I get in the bathtub? My back hurts because you don’t exercise enough.

Keep the lights off.

Walt did. He even came in the bathroom every morning and evening to get dressed in the dark, faithful to Hollis’s first-night request even though Hollis didn’t ask.

Walt sat on the edge of the toilet, waited for the tub to fill, then turned off the lights to get in.

Hollis wasn’t sure if it was the dark or the possession that made things feel... like more. He would never have taken a bath in the dark before this, so he couldn’t tell if—

There’s a feedback loop. You feel things and I feel things, mostly at the same time. But if something is really good or really bad, your sensations and emotions spur on mine until they double. Like nausea that first night.

Walt let his head thunk back onto the lip of the tub and closed their eyes.

I wish I had a cigarette.

Hollis waited him out, listening to the dripping of the faucet and the sound of the TV blaring downstairs. Walt draped an arm over their face and took a breath.

Before Sam, I was in a man called Ernest. The deal I made with him was about making women like him. He had a wife, but he wasn’t talking about her; he was talking about the girls at his office. When he cooled off, I started doing things. Helping around the house, cooking dinner, going to bed earlier and earlier. Changed his hair and clothes, of course, people always need that.

Walt drummed his fingers on the tile.

Then I brought his wife flowers. They were an older couple, fifties. I think he forgot that she was beautiful.

He shook his head.

You can’t do that, as a man. Treat your best gal like she’s cold cuts. It ain’t right. I tried to make him see that. Got her eyes following him all around the house. Instead of being thankful, he got jealous. Started screaming and never stopped. Poof. A Sam situation again. Had to find someone new with no time and resources so Georgia’s husband didn’t wear himself out and crumble. Couldn’t do that to her.

Did you kiss her?

Walt grinned.

You would ask that. A few times. It’s just... love, you know? I’ve been a lot of people—men, women, old, young, whatever. Used to try to pick people I admired. Strong men, rich men. But their lives were... Well, everyone is complicated. Everyone is... sad in their own way.

Walt bit his lip.

God, I wish I had a cigarette, he repeated.

You have about three months until we’re old enough to buy them, Hollis said dryly.

You’d do that for me? Let me dirty up your clean lungs to feed my habit?

Who were you in before Ernest? Hollis asked instead.

Dina, a retired social worker. I didn’t stay in her for long either. We got on like a house on fire though. She was funny and bright. Kept calling me kid in her head, which was really something, Walt said. With her, it was good.

If you liked her so much, why did you jump into Ernest?

She wanted to travel the world in a camper van. I don’t like being alone like that.

What do you like?

Walt closed his eyes again.

Cigarettes. Especially in the bath or after dinner or in the morning. Peace and quiet. Tomato sandwiches, strong coffee. Dice. Dance halls. Playing music.

Walt let their fingers tread across the surface of the water.

Being warm. Being useful. Talking to people. You?

Hollis thought about lying.

Annie and Yulia. Reading. Baking, sometimes. Video games.

Who is Annie?

Walt didn’t even wait for him to answer.

A girl, the one you like. Not that pretty one we just talked to, which is wild to me. How much of a looker can Annie be to turn your head like that? Annie, Annie, Annie. She makes your blood pressure spike, you horndog. You’re making our face red.

My face. And she lives next door. I’ve known her since I was, like, nine. It wouldn’t matter what she looked like, Hollis said hotly. And don’t tease me about it; this isn’t a game.

Walt laughed softly. Yeah, yeah. She like you back?

No. I don’t want her to either; everything is fine as it is. You don’t have to do anything to Annie, just be nice to her.

Walt made an unusual noise. A purr that warmed the back of Hollis’s throat.

You got it.