When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)
Page 69
“I have other vices that’ll kill me first.” He leans away from the wall, putting his phone in his pocket. Taking one last drag from the cigarette, he puts it out against the bricks and flicks it away into the street. Then he opens the door. “After you.”
Given the conversation we had earlier, and the reason I’m here, I don’t take his chivalry too seriously. I enter ahead of him and find several teenagers in the shop—some are doing homework, others attempt to flirt and show off—none of them look familiar.
“Kids from Rayon High School,” Thane explains. “Most of them hate us; think we’re snotty rich kids.”
“Aren’t you?”
He raises a brow. “Are you?”
Fair point.
Thane directs me to the counter. “Order.”
I ask for tea, hoping it will calm my roiling stomach. Thane orders coffee after me and pays. When our drinks are finished, he grabs a handful of sugar packets and cream, and carries the cups to a booth near the window. A table of kids from Rayon High stop talking as we pass, and I'm well-enough acquainted with that behavior to guess they're talking about us.
As Thane sits, he pushes the cup of hot tea toward me. He's like a viper rising to strike, and his eyes flicker like smothered flames in the night. I don't reach for the drink; instead, I bring my knees up, hiding my hands in the hollow between my chest and legs.
“We're going to play twenty questions,” he says, tearing open the first packet of sugar and emptying it into his drink. “For each of my questions you answer, I'll answer one of yo
urs.”
“What if I don't want to play?”
“You fucked up,” he takes a sip of his coffee, testing, then adds more sugar. “You don't have a choice.”
“I always have a choice.”
“Right. Except you're clearly involved in something you don't understand.”
“How can you be sure I don't understand?”
He sits forward, stirring his coffee, but at my question, he pauses and looks at me, brows raised. “So, you're saying what happened to Lily was intentional on your part?”
I set my teeth.
Thane sips his coffee, testing, then continues to pour packet after packet of sugar in his coffee.
“Didn't think so.”
I have to remember this can be just as beneficial to me as it is to Thane. Whether or not he has an agenda of his own, at least he's not lying about why he's giving me the time of day.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
His smile curls, triumphant. He sits back in his seat, as if preparing to watch a movie unfold on screen. I'm just glad he’s stopped emptying sugar into his coffee.
“Why did you leave Chicago?”
Easy. “You can only be different for so long before someone notices.”
His eyes darken. He doesn't like my answer.
“How did you know about the coin?” I ask, and he smirks, shrugging a shoulder.
“It's not the first time it's happened.”
“You said that.”
“What's the matter? You don't like vague answers?”