Page 51 of Hard Wired

That I’m always horny because I can’t get off?

Not what I was thinking, but now that you mention it…

Very funny, Sylvie wrote. Mine’s not dirty.Still want to hear it?

Of course I do.

I stole Rachelle Miller’s cowhide wallet in ninth grade, she typed. Took it right out of her gym locker after she made fun of me for the drawings on my arms. And I don’t regret it.

Dominic smiled.

Tell me another, Sylvie wrote.

I took a hundred-dollar bill from my older brother’s wallet once. Gave it to a homeless guy.He didn’t want her to say that was sweet or generous. It had been a pathetically small gesture, born from shame.

Sylvie’s next reply took a while, but he waited patiently.

My best friend chose our oppressive small town over me, even though she’d said a million times she couldn’t wait to escape. I was so hurt I burned all the pictures she ever drew for me and all the notes she ever wrote. But I wish I hadn’t. I wish I still had those memories of her.

He wished she hadn’t gone through that. Yet somehow, he knew Sylvie didn’t want sympathy. Maybe because he didn’t either.

The first time I saw my father kill someone, he wrote, I couldn’t stop vomiting afterwards. I told my mother I had food poisoning. She fired our cook.

That one was a test—to make sure she hadn’t forgotten who he was. What he’d come from, what he’d done. Even though he wasn’t about to tell her most of it.

Okay, she said. I’ve got one about throwing up, too. But this involves eating all my cousin’s Easter candy.

He snickered.

They kept sharing secrets, mostly without comment. It was enough that they knew the other was listening.

Dominic fell asleep with the phone in his hand.

* * *

The doorbell rang after breakfast.Dominic saw Sandford and someone else through the window.

This couldn’t be good.

He gave Maureen a hand signal that meant, Lock yourself in your room and don’t come out until I say so.

Then he went to answer the door.

Sandford had a new suit and a butterfly bandage at the bridge of his nose. Two black eyes had almost faded. “Mind if we step inside?”

Dominic widened the door and gestured for them to enter. “Be my guest. I love having friends over.”

Sandford’s companion eyed him as he passed. The guy was some roided-out Neanderthal, obviously brought along to keep Sandford safe. Or perhaps deliver the beating that Sandford no doubt thought Dominic had coming.

“This is Alexi.” Sandford pointed a thumb at the Neanderthal. “If you come near me, if you even think about raising a hand, he’ll take it out on your nut sac.”

Dominic looked the bodybuilder up and down. “You never know. I might be into that.”

The guy didn’t react.

Dominic’s breakfast churned in his stomach, though his inner alarm bells didn’t ring out just yet. He’d lived through unpleasantness before. And for now, his uncle seemed to want him alive. The beating wouldn’t be too severe, if it came at all.

Dominic showed them into the living room. “I’m guessing you have another message for me?”

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