Chapter 2: Tuesday

Tuesday

Dana

The next morning, I needed another triple-shot mochaccino—usually I get a double-shot, except for Mondays, but I was totally wiped. Even aside from my first day in the Program, I’d fluttered home like a couple hours before dawn. What I said about so not the morning person? All that and a cherry on top, that Tuesday.

I was so out of it, I almost bound my antennae under my hair as usual, before remembering it didn’t matter today—everyone knew I was a fairy. Everyone at school, that is. Other people, well, they could just imaging I was wearing them or something. The latest glitter fashion. Pity I didn’t have time to dress up in glitter.

The thought of dusting my body with glitter made me shivery—shivery in that nice way that Babs and Lupe had shown me. I almost would have undressed to do it, but I was already running late and, as I said, I needed my mochaccino. As it was, I wished I could fly to school. My bag’s too heavy, though—not to mention, it was overcast and blustering for rain. Besides, my stepfather’s car is faster, except for like having to stop at lights.

Because I’d made us start late, Jim dropped me off at the corner—or he‘d’ve gotten to work late. So I walked up to the main entrance, where a crowd watched Program kids stripping. Which I’d have to do, in a minute.

Drat it.

Tatja spotted me and hurried over. “Danes, Lupe says he’s sorry, but he couldn’t wait any longer and had to undress.”

Why did... ? Oh—he’d meant to strip with me, supporting his Program partner. How sweet of him. I almost shivered at the memory of yesterday.

Then a gust of damp wind caught me, and I did shiver.

I spotted Fritz’s glasses, heading for us—and the memories of what happened yesterday with him made me shiver again, again not in a good way. But Tats didn’t seem annoyed at either of us. Maybe, possibly, Fritz hadn’t told what had happened. He stopped in front of us and held up his camera.

“Ready?”

Tatja rolled her eyes. “He wants to capture how your wings are folded up on film.”

“In pixels, thank you very much,” he told her.

“Won’t work,” I said, and started for the main door.

One thing about being under five foot tall? It’s harder to get through crowds without pushing—none of the big kids see you. Tatja, the big blonde goddess that she is, shoved forward and ran interference for me.

“Why not?” Fritz asked behind me.

“It just won’t.” It can’t be captured on camera. It’s magic. I mean, how else would they fit under my shirt?

Though of course, he had to try it. Simmons said he wouldn’t mind if I faced away from the crowd when I pulled off my shirt, given how everyone was interested in my luna moth wings. So I did. A second after I lifted it over my head, I unfurled.

The crowd gasped. “Freaky,” I heard one girl say, and a boy said, “Dude.”

I turned around, and Fritz scrolled through his photos. “I don’t get it,” he finally said. “They’re not there, then suddenly they’re there.”

“Told ya.”

The bell rang, and Simmons said, “If you please, Ms Partlow.”

Huh? I looked at him stupidly, until he pointed at my skirt. Oh, right—had to take that off, too. I quickly stripped as students started streaming into the school, and retrieved my mochaccino from Tats.

“How did you survive in Elfland without coffee?” Fritz asked.

“Badly,” I muttered. I didn’t like to admit that—it’s hard for me to deal with badness. But then, mornings hadn’t been as bad there as on earth: Elfland schools have more flexible schedules—they have to deal with moth and firefly fairies all the time, not to mention brownies and hobs.

“Dana,” someone said behind me—my editor, Jimbo. “Sorry I didn’t get back before you had to leave. Can we finish the interview later?”

I nodded—though I wondered what Fritz had told him. Then we were at my locker.

Lupe

I waited for Dana as long as I could, before going inside. I had to get to my locker before homeroom, though, to dump my afternoon books: it’s across the school from my first period class. And I knew I’d be slowed up by requests from girls.

Man, was I. It seemed like every pretty chica in school asked to fondle me, though it was probably only like a dozen. At least they mostly stuck to my cock and ass. Mostly. I staggered into homeroom five minutes late with an erection ready to erupt and skin ready to crawl off my flesh from all the touching.

Okay, so the staggering was deliberate. It worked. The teacher shook her head and let my tardiness go.

I spent announcements with my eyes closed, trying to center myself like before a race. Which wasn’t a bad analogy, once I thought about it—it was going to be a long haul through the day, and there was nothing I could do about being touched. It wasn’t like it was an unreasonable request. Didn’t listen to the P.A., of course—it’s never important. The truly important things, the homeroom teacher tells us.

When the bell rang, I was ready. I was out of the room and down the hall like I came out of starting blocks: I wanted to get as close to class as possible before getting bogged down with requests. Did pretty good, and the first girl to stop me, when she asked to feel my prick, I told her, “Only if you want to clean your clothes.” She giggled and let me go.

So I managed to catch up with Dana just down the hall from English class without getting stopped.

She was arguing with some kids, a boy and a girl, about feeling her antennae. “No—it’s too uncomfortable.”

“It’s a reasonable request,” the boy said.

“Hey, cabrón,” I told him, “it may be a request, but it’s not reasonable.” Which I thought was safe, given he was anglo—a rich one, judging by his clothes.

He must have known it was an insult, though, ‘cause he got pissed. “Fuck you, too.”

“Lupe!” Dana said. “That wasn’t nice—you apologize.”

Her and her bad language thing. But, well, she was right—it’d been stupid. It called attention to me. And, well, it made Dana mad at me. Gotta watch the anger, man. I raised my hands to the guy. “Hey, sorry—the Program’s kinda stressful, ya know?”

The boy made an impatient sound and turned away, shaking his head. The girl followed him. Didn’t even accept my apology. So I gave it to Dana.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” I told her. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, “it’s just—”

The bell rang, and we started walking toward class.

“Mm?” I said.

“Why do they keep going for my antennae? You’d think these would be more interesting,” and she cupped her breasts, such as they were. Not that they’re tiny, though she probably wouldn’t need much of a sports bra. They just look small, compared to how muscled her chest and back are. And that was just as well, given the bouncing-around flying of moths.

“Yes, but boys have gotten used to naked tits,” I told her. “Those are new,” and I nodded at her forehead, “to both boys and girls.”

She stuck out her tongue at me, and we arrived at class.

Dana’s friend Tats was there before us, this time in the front row next to the two empty seats. Again, she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. Whatever. I took the chair further away from her.

“Dana, Lupe—do you need relief?” the teacher asked us.

“No, Ms Emerson,” Dana said.

I thought a moment, then shook my head—I could wait till next period, if I had to.

Dana looked a little disappointed. As if she had cause—I still wanted to give her relief, sometime today.

And then we started act II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck and Oberon and Titania, and the four lovers go into the woods. We started by reading aloud the opening of II.i, with me as Puck and Dana as the flitter-fairy. Which got Dana all indignant because it was all wrong—fairies don’t act like that, and they have no king and queen, and Oberon and Titania are nothing like real fairy names, or so she said. If Dânaradriel was typical, she had a point.

Reading with Dana was, well, fun—even though I was standing in front of the class. Both Puck teasing his innocent counterpart from Titania’s court, but also their acting like spies from opposite sides who feel more in common with each other than their masters. By the end of our bit, I could barely keep my eyes off her.

Dana

This time, when Lupe read, he did it much more expressively. He tasted just as uncomfortable, though—like maybe he’d played Lysander as a stick on purpose. Which maybe he had a point, but then what did Hermia see in him?

Anyway, our scene was more fun than yesterday’s. He teased me, I flustered, and we connected. By the time Oberon and Titania came on, I was regretting not taking relief. Especially, not taking relief from Lupe. I was starting to ache down there.

Tatja read Titania (as if Emerson could resist the name thing) and Dave, another basketball player, was Oberon. Tall, imperious jocks as royalty, except of course Tats is nothing like that—she’s a great friend. But she could play Ice Princess to the belt. (I know, it’s supposed to be “to the hilt,” but she wasn’t using a sword, and there’s all that stuff about putting Titania’s girdle around the world.) (Or was it Puck’s girdle? Was Robin supposed to be a cross-dresser? I thought about writing my essay on that.)

What I mean is, we spent a lot of time going through that scene, some of which didn’t make any sense to me—which was why my mind wandered. Especially the whole drought-because-king-and-queen-are-arguing thing.

“You don’t have anything like that in Fairyland?” Emerson asked me.

“It’s Elfland,” I told her.

“Sorry. But, nothing?”

I sighed. “If fairies are unhappy, the land’s unhappy, sure—but it’s no ... no mystical connection, just a matter of not doing our jobs right. And as I said, there’s no fairy royalty anyway.”

“Ah.”

“And no fairy princesses, either.”

At the end of class, Lupe looked at Tats, and they nodded to each other. Handing me over to her protection again? As if I needed it. He looked at me for a long moment that stretched into two, then broke off to scurry away—just before I reached for his hand.

Tatja smiled down at me. Her expression looked suspiciously like my mother’s, last night.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said.

I stamped my foot, harder than I intended—I bounced off the floor.

Tatja shook her head, and we headed out. Then she said, “Do you think he’s cute?”

Who, Lupe? “Of course he’s cute.”

“Nice legs,” she said blandly.

“There’s that, too,” I said. Nicely muscled, that is. And nice buttocks, too. Plus he’s nicely short—I wasn’t always craning my neck up to him. Speaking of which, I looked up at Tats. “Why?”

“It’s just—” and she broke off, as a boy asked me to flap. And right behind him, was Fritz, come to meet us. To meet me.

I did not blush. I was careful about that. Was Tatja trying to find out if I liked Lupe more than Fritz? How was I supposed to tell her? I didn’t know myself!

Though what I did know and see of Lupe, I liked. Hmm.

Then the bell rang, and we had to run to biology. When I burst through the door, Ms Leyden smiled at me.

Oh, right. Time to be a bio specimen. I thumped onto the stool at the front. But no matter what Tats may say, I did not sigh—I was good about that.

“Do you need relief?” Leyden asked me.

Well, kinda, especially after reading with Lupe. But she was sure to turn it into part of class. Sexual responses of an adolescent fairy, with particular notes on exhibitionist tendencies. I shook my head.

“You sure? It might help if you do it beforehand.”

Whatever that meant. I shook my head again.

What it meant was class observations. Yesterday, they’d written down what Leyden told them about me—today, they got to investigate me themselves. By touch, if they wanted. And was there a chance in Goblinwood of them not “investigating” my genitals? I really did sigh. Well, Leyden had warned me. I told her I drew a firm line—my antennae were off-limits, and I reserved the right to stop someone from touching my wings if they weren’t gentle enough. I could not afford to have them damaged. Though she was reluctant, she agreed.

We talked about this while she first checked my pulse, blood pressure, and temperature, and measurements like height and weight. Things we hadn’t gotten to yesterday because Leyden hadn’t been prepared.

Fortunately, the first person chosen to investigate me was Tats. She had come prepared—with a tape measure. Very clinical, taking additional measurements like arm and wing spans, and calling them out to Fritz (and whoever else wanted them).

Other students were less impersonal. Very personal. At least, unlike Leyden, they were clothed. One by one, they felt me up—all over my bare skin. Especially my breasts and my, ah, down there. My mound, I mean, though one boy spent a minute rubbing my feet.

The whole thing made my skin tingle all over, but also made me uncomfortable. Yes, I know—I’d complained about kids not taking advantage of me being a naked Program student, and here was I was annoyed at them for doing just that. But this was different. In the halls, it was—or would be, if anyone did it—spontaneous. This was teacher-directed—nowhere near as fun.

Either way, I was really worked up by the end of class.

Tatja said bye and ran for gym, while Fritz walked with me to math. Accompanied me, almost more of a bodyguard than Tatja had been—glaring at the two kids who’d asked me to wiggle my antennae. I had to explain I couldn’t do that—that was all reflex motion.

Babs found us, just before the bell rang. We started walking rapidly.

“So,” Babs asked me, “who do you want to give you relief?”

I nearly jumped at the spark through my body—oh boy, did I want relief. Especially when she used that sultry voice. But—I looked at her. Why not her?

She chuckled. “You should let someone else have a chance at having their eardrums shattered.”

Did I really scream that loud when I came?

Fritz made an impatient sound. “She’s teasing you,” he told me, giving Babs a Look.

“Oh.”

“Still, the whole point is to explore your sexuality,” Babs said. “You should try someone else.”

I didn’t look at Fritz as he held the door open. After what he did yesterday, it didn’t feel right to ask him. I mean, if he had feelings for me, it wouldn’t be good to encourage him. Not yet, not until I knew more of my feelings for him. Maybe later in the week.

So when Mr. Weinberger asked if I wanted relief, I said yes—and picked Ricardo, a sophomore, from the volunteers.

He grinned as he stood up. It took a moment to work out how we’d do it. I mean, this whole relief thing was kinda awkward for me. I couldn’t like slump in the chair, ‘cause of, yanno, wings—I had to sit sideways and hold onto the back, which doesn’t balance well. Standing up worked, since Ricky’s short for a guy, but it meant getting a hand-job again.

Or so I thought. Turns out if the other person’s short enough when they kneel between my legs, standing up for oral sex works out pretty well. At least if the person giving it holds onto my legs tightly, when I start bating my wings. Also, probably better on their ears. (I tried not to scream, I really did. But it was hard!)

Ricky wasn’t as good as Babs, but that may have been my nearly unbalancing until he held me better. Or the position. I’d have to experiment to see.

I smiled at that thought. I wanted to experiment a lot. No longer hiding my species had a lot going for it.

When I staggered into my seat, Babs looked at me amused and Fritz wooden. Which last puzzled me. If he was jealous, why hadn’t he volunteered? Not that I would have accepted, but still. What was wrong with Ricky, though? It was only then that I realized—Ricky’s a short, wiry Latino, the kid in class closest to Lupe in appearance. I’d gone for him to avoid playing on Fritz’s feelings—and played on them anyway. Now I wanted to give my friend the chance to give me relief next opportunity, but—well, but what about my own feelings? I’d panicked when Fritz kissed me, yesterday. What was I doing?

I made a face and took out my math folder—my What Would a Unicorn Do? one.

I stared at the spinner a moment, then flicked it. The horn stopped at “rear and whiny,” which just goes to show I’m not a unicorn. Just thinking about how I hadn’t ridden one in years made me want to sniffle.

I took out my homework to hand in, incomplete.

Lupe

After that scene with Dana, I needed relief in calculus. You know, the scene we read. Ah, never mind.

Anyway, I took relief solo—quickly. It almost helped me concentrate on the lecture. Almost. We were doing Taylor series and limits of approximation—I wondered whether every time I took relief, I got closer to having a brain without actually reaching it. If I wanked off continuously, would I get close enough to follow this stuff?

Probably not, the way I was feeling.

At least I remembered not to go into the boys’ locker room for P.E. As I finished changing shoes, a girl said, “Lupe.”

I looked up to see Dana’s friend Tats. “Oh. Hi.” I stood.

And only then, seeing her in uniform, I finally realized why she was familiar. She was Tatja Almakova, the school basketball and volleyball star—this year she’d made the all-state team in both. We had two classes together, and I hadn’t even noticed. She smiled at my expression, and looked like she was about to say something—then frowned. My standing there, like a stricken rabbit, had given Luisa’s gang the chance to surround and trap me. As in, feel me up, bodies pressing against mine from all sides.

While bodies rubbing against mine aren’t uncomfortable as wiggly fingers, it still set my teeth on edge. It took a coach’s warning that class was starting to get me away, and by then Tatja was long gone.

It had started raining, and while it wasn’t coming down hard, the wind was chill. I asked to stay inside, in the weight room. Coach Suarez checked the weather and agreed. “Unless you’d rather play basketball with the girls,” he told me.

I gave him a Look—he knows I shoot for shit. Besides, I knew that’d only get me felt up all the more, out on the court. Maybe that appeals to some boys.

It was mostly boys working out, and not many, and none of them linemen—small luck. All of them were determined to ignore my nudity. Suited me fine. I spent most of my time working on my legs, getting up a good sweat. My shoulders could probably use a little work, but I don’t run with them. If I kept with running in college, maybe I’d build up my upper body, but it’s not like I have a long enough stride to make it for real.

When I headed for the girls’ locker room, the gym itself was almost empty. When I reached the locker room, I realized what waited for me inside: Luisa’s posse. An ambush, I thought. They wanted to shower with me again.

“Lupe,” a girl said beside me, and I nearly jumped. Tatja. I looked up at her. She smiled, “Sorry. You okay?”

“For the moment,” I said, glancing back inside. They were definitely waiting for me.

“I have a request for you,” Tatja said. “Shower with me.”

I looked up at her again. A tawny, blue-eyed blonde a foot taller than me. Gorgeously strong body, too—legs and arms and shoulders shaped by both her sports. Luisa’s chicas had some appeal, but they’d be overwhelming; Tatja was just one girl. Besides cleaning up with a friend of Dana and Babs was likely to get fun. I nodded.

We went to the shower head in the corner, where Tatja screened me from the rest of the girls—she apparently had enough personal authority we were left alone. And there, we cleaned up.

No, really, that’s all we did. Didn’t even talk, aside from mechanics of showering. We soaped each other, scrubbing backs where we couldn’t reach ourselves, but that’s it. She didn’t make a play for my penis, and she kept her uncomfortable touching to a minimum. And, well, I’m not stupid—I wouldn’t try anything with a girl who could bend me in two without breaking a sweat. Even if she did have an incredible ass.

I wondered if she was gay. But then, why ask to shower with me? But in that case, why ask and do nothing? I was completely confused, man.

We dried off together, too. It seemed polite to wait for her to dress, after I changed back to regular shoes.

“You’ll eat with us, yes?” she asked as she fastened her bra. Just doing it in front of me, as if it were nothing. I couldn’t remember if she’d been through the Program yet.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, though I wanted to work on my calculus homework. Besides, it wasn’t likely they’d really want me there—so I left.

Dana

On my way to lunch, someone asked to touch my breasts and down there, for the first time in the hallways. Finally! I was thrilled, even if she was a girl—someone taking me as a girl in the Program and not a thing with wings. Well, okay, there’d been all that in bio, but you know what I mean. Someone coming to me on my own.

She didn’t do much, just a brief exploration. “You really do feel normal.”

“Well, yah,” I said.

“Aside from the extras, I mean,” the girl said, looking a little offended.

“Sorry,” I quickly said before Fritz could get huffy. “It’s just, I have bio.”

After a moment, her mouth made an O and she quickly pulled her hand away. I wasn’t sure whether I was glad or peeved she stopped.

Either way, I was kinda worked up when I reached the Commons. At least we’d arrived in time—Tatja still had a place in the cafeteria line for us. “Where’s Lupe?” I asked her.

“Somewhere over there, I think,” waving at the far end of the Commons, where he’d been yesterday.

I tried to peer over the crowd but, yanno, shortness. Plus with the rain, it was more crowded—the air tasted of damp kids and lunch. I whirled on Tats. “You did invite him, yes?”

She laughed. “Yes—I knew you’d want me to.”

I puffed my cheeks and blew out. Babs snorted, while Fritz looked sour. I shied away from that thought.

Lupe was, indeed, in the far end—again at a table alone. This time he was munching a sandwich, a pencil in his other hand as he bent over a math book. I plopped down my tray to his right. He looked up, startled.

“Hey, partner,” I said as I slid into the cold plastic seat. I shuddered. “Bleagh!—if they’re going to make naked kids sit in here, why can’t they give us warm chairs?”

He blinked at me. “They have a sick sense of humor.”

“You may be onto something,” Fritz said, sitting on my other side.

Lupe shrugged. “They came up with the Program, didn’t they?”

“Aw, that’s not sick,” Babs said. Again, she took the corner to Lupe’s left, leaving Tats across from me. “It’s fun.”

He frowned at her a moment, then looked around the table, stopping with me. Then he sighed and put away his book, and started wolfing down his lunch.

“I don’t know about fun,” Tatja said, “but it is good.” She’d gone through it our second week of freshman year, and had a rocky time. She says it gave her more confidence. At the time, I couldn’t see that.

“Is it?” I asked.

“You,” Babs pointed out, “were always afraid of being found out.”

Well, true.

“Plus you’re still off-balance,” Fritz said. “It’s only Tuesday.”

“It’s—” I stopped to count on my fingers. “Okay, you’re right.”

“It always feels like longer,” Tats said.

Lupe snorted silently. I smiled at him, to encourage him to join in. He gave me a wry smile in return.

And so we talked. About the Program, and school, and classes. Stuff. Like friends, yanno. Well, Lupe, not much. But he stayed with us, listening.

And the whole time, his feet met mine under the table. It wasn’t much, but I was really aware of it. Neither of us moved away. I wanted to touch his hand, hold it in mine. I wanted to do what Babs was doing in his lap.

Lupe

Okay, so there was this hot babe on my left, slowly squeezing and stroking my cock, and this cute fairy on my right, who didn’t touch me except with the toe of her sandals. So who did I obsess over? The latter.

The four of them talked about ... well, this and that. Dana mentioned excitedly that someone had finally asked to feel her pussy—not her word—in the hallway. I’d’ve been pleased it took this long, but then, not being treated as a freak does have its points, especially when you aren’t human. Not that Dana’s a freak, or even freaky. A bit ditzy, sometimes, but that’s different.

Fritz and Babs tried to explain what she hadn’t understood in algebra class. I stayed well away from that one, though Fritz kept saying sine-two-theta for sine-squared-theta. When I looked at him funny the first time, he gave me one of those alpha male looks, daring me to interfere. I don’t bother with that stuff—I’ve learned the hard way. And Dana’d get the right formula from the textbook.

Still, it wasn’t a bad way to spend a lunch. The ending, though.

It was bad enough that Babs didn’t get me off, though neither did she bring me as close as yesterday. But still, when the bell rang, I was feeling a little annoyed at her prick-teasing. More than a little. But as we got up, some big guys with letter jackets and a cheerleader stopped Dana with a request. I would have broken away, but I didn’t like the look of this, and Dana was my partner. I was right, for once.

The biggest boy asked to feel Dana’s antennae. Where by “asked” he meant “insisted.”

“No,” she said.

“It’s reasonable,” he insisted, and his posse nodded. The pricks. I wanted Babs to tease them, and see how they felt about it. I kept myself from growling, barely.

“It is not,” Dana insisted back.

“It is too.”

“As if.”

“Yes, it is,” and he reached for it.

And I snapped. I grabbed his arm, yanking it to one side so he’d miss her. I twisted as I pulled, throwing him off balance. Though not much—he yanked back easily. I mean, he had almost a foot and a hundred pounds on me—no way I could hold him.

Several things happened at once. One of his posse started for me, but another caught him. The guy himself said, “What the fuck?” And Dana said, “Lupe!”

“She said no,” I snarled at the guy. I pulled my right hand back to swipe him.

“No fighting!” Dana insisted, grabbing my left arm, the one closest to her.

I looked down at her hand—and saw what she held. My forearm was furry, my fingernails were claws. Fuck—I was losing it. I was both furious and aghast, if that makes any sense. Furious at the prick, sure, but more at myself for loosing it. Losing control. During the day, no less.

Let me be clear: this wasn’t about forgetting and going after this guy, as big as he is. Hell, everyone’s bigger than me. I can take care of my own in a fight—I’ve had to, till the bully boys learn to leave me alone. In another situation like that, I’d defend Dana again in a heartbeat. It was losing control over me that freaked me.

I looked from Dana’s hand to her face. She glared at me sternly. Fuck, I thought again. This time for disappointing her. Somehow, whether it was me or her that gave me strength, I pulled a leash on myself.

And in that moment of distraction, the guy got me: shoved me I think, but it could have been a slap to the shoulder—I wasn’t watching. I stumbled away, twisting so I missed falling into either Dana or Tatja.

A woman called out something. Didn’t catch what, but you don’t need to, in a situation like that—she used the voice that means, “Stop that! Break it up! You’re in trouble now!”

I panicked. Well, sort of. I scrambled away, breaking through the crowd. Instinct. I know better than to get caught in a fight with an entitled jock, one higher status than me, even with witnesses. Especially with his witnesses. It wasn’t until I was several tables away, weaving for the nearest exit, I realized I was abandoning Dana. My partner.

And that I couldn’t go back, not till I got myself under control. My fingers still had claws. I had to hide.

I ran into the first girl’s bathroom I came to, into the furthest, darkest stall. Deep breaths. Slow breaths. Human breaths. Focus on that. Focus on reciting hail Mary full of grace.

After three Hails, I looked at my hands. Fully boy.

I almost pounded the stall wall with my fist, but some girls were chattering over by the sinks. I couldn’t stay hidden, either. I flushed the toilet, and came out to wash my hands, as if I’d been using it. I left as quickly as I could, before the girls—a couple freshmen, I think—could grab me.

All through physics, the only thing I could think of was whether Dana had seen me change.

Dana

Assistant Principal Jamison stopped the dust-up before things got too far. I hoped Lupe was okay, but I didn’t take my eyes off Bradley Denton for a moment—talk about predators. Stupidhead. And far worse names I can’t use. If he’d taken another step towards me, I’d’ve flown off, never mind the columns and tables and hanging fluorescent lights.