Page 12 of Danny

A knock.

Jagger. Of course it's Jagger. He walks in already grinning, which means Matteo has talked to Evie and Evie has talked to Jagger and the entire information network of this building has processed my corridor stunt before I've even made it back upstairs.

"No," I say.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were about to."

"I was about to ask how you're doing, Danny. That's called friendship." He sits down. Crosses his ankle over his knee. "So. The corridor."

"Matteo."

"Matteo told Evie. Evie texted me. I texted Caleb. Caleb said, and I quote, 'Hm.' Which for Caleb is basically a TED Talk." He studies me. "Want to tell me what happened, or should I just work off the Evie version, which involves the word 'smoldering' and I don't think that's accurate."

"How does Matteo even know? I went to check on her after the Hargrove thing."

"Right…"

"She said she was fine."

"Right…"

"I asked to see her wrist."

"Sure. Normal thing to do."

"And then I..." I stop. Pick up the whiskey. Put it down without drinking. "I held it."

"Her wrist?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"I don't know."

"You counted. You count everything."

"Fifteen seconds."

"Fifteen seconds." He nods slowly. "And during these fifteen seconds, what were you doing? With her wrist. That you were holding. In a hallway. Like a completely normal man."

"I'm not doing this."

"You are, though. Because you're sitting here at 1 a.m. and you didn't drink that whiskey and you've got the look of a man who's done something he can't undo and hasn't figured out if he wants to." He drops the grin. Just for a second — the real Jagger underneath, the one who actually gives a shit. "What did you do, Danny?"

"I touched her pulse."

"On her wrist?"

"On her wrist. Yeah. While staring at her. In a fucking hallway. And I said nothing, Jagger." I hear myself and close my eyes. "It sounds insane."

"It sounds like a guy who wanted to kiss a girl and chickened out at the last second and did a weird half-measure instead." He pauses. "Did you? Chicken out?"

"I dropped her hand and left. Didn't say goodnight."

"Jesus, Danny."