“You know that’s not true.”
“I’m not saying you mean it. You just can’t help it. You said it yourself. You’re a shit magnet. And you’re going to fuck up me and the girls.”
I toss bottles of pills and ointments into the sink. But I set aside a tube of antibiotic cream.
“The three of you are going to stay here. I only have a few hours left. It will be morning soon. If you don’t hear back from me before dark, go home. You’ll be safe and I’ll be gone for good.”
“And if you do come back?”
“Odds are I won’t.”
“What about Sleeping Beauty in the boudoir?”
I’d almost forgotten about Howard.
“If I don’t come back, let him go. But punch him in the balls for me. Just once.”
Kasabian nods. “I can do that.” He leans against the wall. “This is a little weird,” he says.
“What is?”
“Saying good-bye like this. The first time you were gone, it was pretty abrupt. Now it’s sort of like putting down the family dog.”
I look at him.
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
He shrugs, then asks, “You’ll be okay if you go back to Hell, right?”
“I always am.”
“It’s just … there’s no malice in this, okay? I want you to be all right. I just want you to do it far away.”
I stop pawing through the cabinet and look at him.
“Whatever happens, that’s the plan.”
“Okay,” he says. “I hope shit works out for you.”
“Thanks.”
“You just scare me a lot of the time.”
“I understand.”
“When you go—if you live—you should take some movies with you. Anything you want.”
I stop again. For Kasabian that’s as close to flowers and Valentines as anyone is ever going to get.
“Thanks. I’ll probably take you up on that.”
“Yeah.”
Candy comes into the bathroom.
“Kas, would you wait outside for a minute?”
“Sure,” he says. Then, “Later.”