"Trey?"
"Lara, uh, yes, I'd love to, sure. Is this like a group thing
or..."
"No, Trey, I thought I'd keep this between the two of us. I'll
be at the store until six -- meet me here?"
"Yeah, okay. Okay! Sure. I'll see you tonight."
#
Brad was so thin he looked like a corpse. He was still tall, though, and
his hair and beard were grown out into long, bad-smelling straggles of
knot and grime. In the half-light of the garage, he had the instantly
identifiable silhouette of a street person.
He gathered Adam up in a hug that reeked of piss and booze, a hug like a
bundle of twigs in his arms.
"I love you," he whispered.
Andrew backed away and held him at arm's length. His skin had gone to
deep creases lined with soot, his eyes filmed with something that looked
like pond scum.
"Brady. What are you doing here?"
He held a finger up to his lips, then opened the door again onto the
now-empty alley. Alan peered the way that Davey and Krishna had gone,
just in time to see them turn a distant corner.
"Give it another minute," Blake said, drawing the door nearly closed
again. A moment later, they heard another door open and then Kurt's
chain-draped boots jangled past, headed the other way. They listened to
them recede, and then Brian swung the door wide again.
"It's okay now," he said.
They stepped out into the sunlight and Bert started to walk slowly
away.
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