* * * * * ‘Susan! What a surprise! I never expected to ever see you again. Come in,’ he said. As soon as she entered his apartment, she knew he wa...n’t alone. There was the smell of a pipe. Steven didn’t smoke and she wondered who did. Maybe he was there with his adopted father or maybe he was there with one of his college professors. ‘Did I come at a bad time? I’m sorry that I barged in on you like this but I was at the bar and…’ ‘The bar? The same bar we were at last week?’ ‘No a different. “What are you here for, Ronald?” I said, not answering his question. “Having fun I hope.” Okay, I was being snide.“Oh, the dancing,” he said. He seemed to realize that the image of him melded tight to my ex-wife’s body might have been kind of in my face. “No, no, no. We were just killing time. I liked the song is all. Really.”“Yeah, whatever. But why are you here, and her. I can’t believe you came all this way just rub my nose in it. And what part of I never wanted to see your ugly face again. ”I inclined my head. “Well played.”Armor jingled. Boots thumped. Louder.“But, I am afraid, I knew of your treachery,” I continued.“Because your little whore told you.” Kushini let out a growling laughter. “Everyone in the Ziggurat knows you love her, Malakisha. That you are so weak you love a human female. We all laugh at you behind your back. You think you’re so smart, so cunning, that you’ve hidden it so well even though you take that little strumpet with you everywhere. We all know you use. The foursome climbed into the Taurus, the taller guys in the front and the girls in the back. “Shit!” Billy muttered. “It was getting to be a good party before that crap started up.”They decided to go to Billy’s so he could put on a new shirt, then decide what they wanted to do next. Billy kept his parka zipped up as they greeted his mother at the door, and nobody told her what happened. She told the group she was going to bed, and if they wanted to, they could go downstairs to the family room.