I fished my smokes out of my pocket and slid a cigarette out of the crumpled pack. I stuck it between my teeth. I couldn’t find my lighter. I must have forgotten it at home. I looked around, making sure I was alone before I snapped my fingers once. A little spark and then a small bloom of fire at my fingertips. My arms were covered, but I felt the warm pulse as a small tattoo near my left elbow flickered to life.
I brought the flame to the tip of the cigarette and inhaled. It burned my lungs. The nicotine washed through me, and I sighed out a stream of smok
e.
Water dripped onto my forehead.
I closed my eyes.
A voice off to my right. “Those things will kill you.”
Of course. “So it’s been said.”
Footsteps came closer. “I remember your first one. You thought you were cool. And then you started coughing so hard, I thought you were going to throw up.”
“Gotta get used to it. First one always hurts.” Oh, the games we played.
“Does it?”
I inhaled.
“I’ve tasted it, you know. On your tongue.”
I grinned lazily. “Yeah. I know. You always complained, though I think you liked it.”
“It was like burning leaves. Smoke in the rain.”
“How poetic of you.”
He snorted. “Yeah. Poetic.”
I opened my eyes, looking down at the way the smoke twisted around my fingers. “What do you want, Mark?”
He was covered in shadow, standing more toward the mouth of the alley. People stumbled by behind him on the street, but they took no notice of us. For them, we didn’t exist.
I should have known he’d follow me out here.
Or maybe I had known.
“Who says I want anything?” he asked.
“You’re here.”
“So are you.”
“Who says I want anything?”
Twin flickers of orange like the end of my cigarette burned in the dark. “I never said you did.”
People thought I was tough. A redneck. The rough guy from the garage. They weren’t wrong. But they didn’t know everything about me. I spat on the ground. “Dale seems nice. Safe and soft. Tell me, Mark. Do you think he’s wondering where you are right now? Did you tell him you’d be right back after you saw me leave?”
“He’s with a friend of his.”
I inhaled. I exhaled. The smoke was blue and gray. “Already meeting the friends. Though I suppose it’s fair, since he’s apparently met mine.”
“You’re angry with me.”
My smile was full of teeth. “I’m not anything with you.”