Page 67 of Sweet Ruin

“I meant what I said: It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” I retrieve my coat from the hook where she draped it. “That’s not why I’m going.”

“Then why?”

“Because I need to think, and I can’t do it in here.”

She wipes her hands on the apron and shuffles anxiously in place. I shrug my coat on and feel the weight of it settle back down, reminding me of who I am and what my role is in this life.

It’s not to eat fucking pastries with a shy, beautiful civilian, that’s for sure.

“Thank you for the food,” I say.

“Uh. You’re welcome.”

“I’ll be back soon.” I bump the door of the swinging kitchen open with my shoulder, then stop. “One more thing: Don’t tell anyone about me.”

“Why not?”

“Just humor me.” I look back at her, standing there in flour and party dress. “Tonight will be our little secret, Lilah.”

She frowns at the name. “Lilah?”

She’s framed in the doorway, curvy and gorgeous. The snow is coming down behind her in the window glass and she’s got flour on her forearms. If she told me she was an angel sent to this earth for me and me alone, I might be crazy enough to believe her.

“Everyone in your life has a name for you,” I explain in a gruff voice. “Your husband says Dee. Your sister says Dee-Dee, like you’re a dog. Your mother says Delilah Aileen when she wants something out of you.”

“You were listening in that pantry a long time.”

I nod. “And the family chant. Do-It-All Delilah.”

“That one’s a job description.”

“Exactly. So every name you’ve ever been called has somebody’s filthy fucking fingerprints on it,” I go on. “I won’t pick up where they left off.”

“So you just invented one?”

“Yes. For me alone,” I confirm.

“And I don’t get a vote?”

“Of course you do. Tell me not to say it and I won’t.”

She opens her mouth. Then she shuts it again, brushes past me, and pulls open the back entrance. Cold surges in over both of us and ruffles the paper edges taped by her register.

“Goodnight, Kane,” she says.

I step out into the snow.

“Goodnight, Lilah.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “You’re crazy. Nobody calls me that.”

“From now on,” I tell her, “I do.”

13

DELILAH

You end up with a lot of free time after you destroy your entire family in a single night.