Poet Thief 2

(a continuation of the first Poet Thief chapter)

He took her back to his place, curled in under his jacket until the man who had been following her was well gone, then a little longer. She didn't talk. She held to his waist and let him hold her like they'd been dating for years but she said nothing.

In his apartment, he sat her down on the bed. He didn't have other furniture except for a bookshelf and a hat rack that he hung his jacket on. It wasn't that he didn't have money. It was just that it had never occurred to him to care about where he lived beyond a place to sleep and a place for his books.

Then he made her tea. He had meant it when he had told her that he was a snake and she was better off far away from him but his mother was Welsh and the Welsh made tea like it was going to solve all of life's problems. He handed her the cup, guessing how much sugar she liked, and she took a sip without complaint.

He sat down beside her. Not close, just there. It had been a hell of a kiss. It had been the kind of kiss you look for your entire life. It had been amazing. Nothing about the way she was tucked into herself now said that she wanted to try it again. Will rummaged in the crate he used as a dresser and found a clean sweater. He wrapped that around her shoulders like a shawl.

She looked at him with grateful eyes.

"Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?" he said and it worked. It pulled a real smile out of her.

"I left Nate behind," she said.

"Nathaniel Gray is a grown-ass man," Will said, "How did you get involved in his problems anyways? Last I heard, you were the family success story going away to college."

She smiled again, "Nate called me, said he had got into some trouble, asked me to come. I don't think he knew the type of people they are."

Will looked sideways at her as she drank tea, wrapped in a big wool sweater he would have died before he wore in public but hadn't thought twice of showing her. Her brother had called her into some sort of drug den or sex club and she'd had to run. Now she was feeling guilty about it. Will considered leaving her here while he went to find Nate and beat the hell out of him.

"You did the right thing getting out of there," he said.

"What if they hurt him?" she asked.

"Well he deserves it," was not what Will said. It was what he thought but he stopped it from coming out of his mouth. He put a hand on her back and she leaned into him again. Will looked up at the ceiling and tried to think of things that could be said to her.

"If it isn't safe to go home, you can stay here," was what he did say. She inhaled sharply and shuddered. He pulled her in so he could hold her against his side. She hadn't considered that it might not be safe to go home. She didn't belong in the world he lived in. She belonged someplace cleaner and safer, where people owned chairs and received pay checks instead of dirty envelopes of crumpled bills.

He rubbed her back and she drank her tea and they were silent but not alone.