“How do I look?”
“Awful. Simply awful.”
“Come on. I need food if I’m going to keep going.”
Brigitte helps me get dressed. On the way to the kitchen, I go over to Candy.
“How are you feeling?”
“A lot better,” she says.
Alessa leans into my line of sight.
“Don’t even talk to her. You’ve caused enough trouble.”
“It’s all right,” Candy says. “I’ve been through lots worse than this.”
“And that makes it okay?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You come up with all kinds of excuses for this guy, but listen to me. This is not a healthy relationship.”
“Don’t talk about Stark like that. He stuck with me through some really tough times. He’s the one who came up with Chihiro when the Feds were looking for me.”
“And why did you need to invent Chihiro? Because he dragged you into one of his messes.”
“No. It was because I almost killed somebody.”
Alessa looks at her.
“I never told you because I was embarrassed. A while ago, something happened with the potion I drink to suppress my Jade feeding urges. I almost killed someone. The Golden Vigil arrested me and were going to send me to an internment camp. Stark saved me.”
Alessa keeps staring. Then she says, quietly, “I never said he was a monster. But helping you then doesn’t make up for what happened today.”
Brigitte takes my arm and pulls me into the kitchen.
“They need to work this out between themselves,” she says. “We shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
I look back at the two of them.
“It’s like being at your own funeral and finding out what people really think of you.”
Brigitte opens the refrigerator.
“What do you want to eat?”
I follow her over.
“Meat. I think protein helps me keep going.”
Carlos and Kasabian come in while we pile food on the kitchen island.
“That’s all there is?” Carlos says.
I pick up a piece of chicken.
“We’ve pretty much cleaned out the fridge.”