The apartment Stiff rented for us was a simple one-bedroom affair. He staged it like the first apartment of a couple of kids straight out of college.
We made a show of coming and going, and once in a while, we mixed things up with a loud argument for the sake of appearances. In the meantime, I had my job. I had taekwondo with Alec. And I had my lovely Bea, who was still waiting for a kidney.
Fortunately, Jake's boys were home, though. And next week, they would return to school. With any luck, Jake and I would be done playing pretend by then. Alec had been patient, but his patience was wearing thin, and mine was too.
I rolled over on the couch and tried to sleep, but I ached to be close to Alec. Just that short time together had turned him into my addiction. Add to the interrupted romance the eagerness to find Bea's tormenter, and every second of every night felt like an hour, and every day stretched interminably long.
