Page 9 - It Ends with Us

guy for feel ing the need to toke up in private. But tha t’s the thi ng —

he’s not in private. He just does n’t kno w tha t yet .
He takes in a long drag of hi s joint and starts to turn back toward
the led ge. He no tices me on the ex ha le. He stops walking the sec ond
our ey es meet . His ex pres sion ho lds no sho ck, no r does it ho ld
amusem ent when he sees me. He’s about ten feet away, but there’ s
eno ugh light from the stars tha t I can see hi s ey es as they slowly drag

over my body witho ut rev ea ling a sing le tho ught . Thi s guy ho lds hi s
cards wel l. His gaze is na rro w and hi s mouth is drawn tight , like a
male vers ion of the Mona Li sa.
“Wha t’s your na me?” he asks.
I fee l hi s voice in my stomach. Tha t’s no t good. Voices sho uld stop
at the ea rs, but somet imes —no t ver y often at all, actually—a voice will
penet rate past my ea rs and rev erb era te straight down through my

body. He ha s one of tho se voices . Deep , confid ent , and a little bit like
butter.
When I don’t ans wer hi m, he bring s the joint back to hi s mouth
and takes ano ther hi t.
“Lily,” I fina lly say. I hat e my voice. It sound s too wea k to ev en rea ch
hi s ea rs from here, much les s rev erb era te ins ide hi s body.

He lifts hi s chi n a little and nu dges hi s hea d toward me. “Wi ll you
plea se get down from there, Lily?”
It isn’t unt il he says thi s tha t I no tice hi s posture. He’s stand ing
straight up no w, rigid ev en. Almost as if he’s ner vous I’m going to fall.
I’m not. Thi s led ge is at lea st a foot wide, and I’m mostly on the roof
side. I could eas ily catch mysel f bef ore I fel l, no t to ment ion I’ve got
the wind in my favor.

I glanc e down at my leg s and then back up at hi m. “No, tha nk s. I’m
quite comfortable where I am.”
He turns a little, like he can’t look straight at me. “Plea se get
down. ” It’s more of a dem and no w, des pite hi s use of the word pleas e.
“There are sev en em pty cha irs up here. ”
“Almost six,” I correc t, remi nding hi m tha t he just tried to murder

one of them. He does n’t find the hu mor in my res pons e. When I fail
to follow hi s orders , he takes a couple of step s closer.
“You are a mere three inc hes from falling to your dea th. I’ve been
around eno ugh of tha t for one day.” He motions for me to get down