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I touched his arm, not sure it was the right thing to do. Some people don’t want to be touched after a sexual molestation. It seemed to comfort Stephen. But he glanced behind him at the empty living room, rubbing his hands along his bare arms.

“Richard told me to stay in the house. He said I needed to rest.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes again. “I’m afraid to be alone, Anita. I . . .” He hung his head, long yellow hair spilling like a curtain to hide his face. “I can’t get to sleep. I keep hearing noises.”

I put a finger under his chin and lifted his face gently. “Are you asking to sleep in here with me?”

His eyes stared at me, wide and pain-filled. “Richard said I could.”

“Run that by me again,” I said.

“I told him I couldn’t stand to be alone. He said, Anita’s here, she’ll protect you. Go sleep with her.” He looked at me, his face awkward. Something must have shown on my face. “You’re mad now. I don’t blame you. I’m sorry . . . I’ll . . .” He started to turn away, and I caught his arm.

“It’s okay, Stephen. I’m not mad at you. Richard and I had a . . . disagreement, that’s all.” I didn’t want him to sleep in here with me. The bed was too small for two people, and if I was going to share it with anyone, I’d have preferred Richard, but that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe not ever at the rate we were going.

“You can stay in here.” I didn’t add, keep your hands to yourself. His face was raw with a need that had nothing to do with sex. He needed to be held, to be told the monster under the bed wasn’t really there. I couldn’t help him on the last. The monsters were real. But the first, I might manage that. Cold-blooded killer that I am, maybe I could share my toy penguin with him.

“Could you get an extra pillow from Richard’s room?” I asked.

He nodded and fetched it. He clutched it to his chest like he’d have rather slept with it than on it. Maybe the penguin wasn’t such a bad idea.

I locked the door behind us. I could have moved into Richard’s room. It was a bigger bed, but it also had a picture window with a deck and bird feeders. The guest room only had one small window. Easier to defend. Unless I wanted to go out a window, they were both traps, so we stayed in the more secure room. Besides, I’d have had to move all the weapons and it would have been dawn before I finished.

I pulled the covers back and said, “You first.” If something came through the door, I wanted to be the first to greet it, but I didn’t say that out loud. Stephen was jumpy enough.

He climbed into bed with his pillow, pressing it against the wall, because there really wasn’t room for two full-sized pillows. He lay on his back, staring up at me, his curling yellow hair falling around his face and bare shoulders like Sleeping Beauty. You didn’t see many men with hair longer than mine. He was one of those men who was pretty rather than handsome, lovely as a doll. Staring up at me with his blue eyes, he looked about twelve. The look on his face was what did it, like he was expecting me to kick him, and he’d let me because he couldn’t stop me. I understood in that moment what Raina had meant about him being anyone’s meat. There was nothing dominant about Stephen, and it made me wonder about his background. Abused children will sometimes have that raw look to their eyes. And they’ll take abuse, because it’s normal.

“What’s wrong?” Stephen said.

I’d been staring. “Nothing, just thinking.” Tonight was not the night to ask if his father had beat him. I thought about throwing on a pair of jeans, but it would have been uncomfortable, not to mention hot. It was late spring, the heat hadn’t set in. It was only seventy degrees, but it wasn’t cool enough to wear jeans, especially if you had someone else in bed with you. Besides, I wasn’t sure how Stephen would take me getting dressed to lie down beside him. Maybe he’d be insulted. It was too complicated for me. I turned off the light and climbed into bed beside him. If either of us had been much bigger,